Here and other Ford-related forums, some users refer to scruby products as “scrubs” or “scruby.” It seems pretty common, but I have never found an explanation of the origin of this term. Does anyone know where it came from?

1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

Jerry Christenson?

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

The first time I heard of the C H E V Y’s being referred to as scrubs was by Jerry Christenson about 20+ years ago.  Jerry did some writing for The Y-Block Magazine back in the day and the ‘scrub’ term was used by him frequently.  I also remember Jerry’s tow vehicle with the ‘Nuke GM’ license plates.  I can always look back and attribute my heavy involvement with the Ford Y engines being due to Jerry.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Today I think it’s just dumb. Never heard it until I became a part of YBlock family by taking the YBlock Magazine, FOMOCO times by the CVA and sharing what little knowledge I have here. I don’t have a h**don for any engine or family of engines or USA manufacturers, they all have a place in our past and the past of the USA.
 Do I have a preference??? Yes and one of them is to root against against Toyota in NASCAR races. Do I run a Che V8 based engine in our 1/2 mile dirt car….hell yes and to build a competitive Ford would hurt my wallet way to much. 

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

I am not familiar with Jerry Christenson. Any ideas why “scrub” is the word he picked? I don’t understand the reference beyond a certain pop/r&b song by TLC, which uses the term derogatorily.

I have also heard scruby referred to as Brand X. I take it to be a sort of “we shall not speak of that here” playful negging of other brands more so than actual disdain for them. scruby forums often refer to Ford as “Ferd.” There are probably other terms used. Not sure about Mopar! Maybe they stay out of it

1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

Scrub is a part of good hearted banter among car guys. I'm sure the first time I heard it referring to a che.y was from Jerry Christenson and it certainly was a passion of his. I believe if his race car hauler, a Ford, broke down on the side of the road he would refuse a tow by a gm product. In the day we all had our preferences and continually looked for gags to pull on owners or supporters of any other brand. I've been a Ford guy since my first Y-Block, a 57 convertible bought around 1960. Over the years I've been involved with dirt track and drag racing and have worked on and even driven some non Ford cars. My second street car was a 1941 Che.y 4 door sedan. All original and in very nice condition. Guy slid through a stop sign on snow and totaled. I then had a 1951 with a gmc 6 cylinder engine with 3 carbs. So I'm not a novice when it comes to scrubs. So I say pull up your big boys pants. If you choose not to use the term that is fine with me. I choose to use it in the same way as I did 70 years ago and most of the time in between. A lot of my scrub friends back in the racing days also wanted to run Fords but the cost was in most cases prohibitive. From the 50's on the hot rod industry and car magazines had an affair with GM that influenced our hobby's. Brand X parts are plentiful and cheap because of their overwhelming supply. That is why building a Ford or MOPAR engine is so pricey. I won't get into the falsified history of drag racing and NASCAR pushed by these same publishers. That's another story altogether.

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I saw the other thread about wheels/tires and had forgotten all about the term "Scruby" so I was clueless until reading this.  At the end of the day, aren't they all just blocks of metal with holes in them?  I was a scruby guy for awhile only because, BACK IN THE DAY, they seemed to be thinking more about the consumer- their bread and butter engine was in use for 30-something years and parts were plentiful and cheap and they were reliable and simple.  This thing bolted to that thing and most of the other things they made...whereas Ford was constantly reinventing the wheel...They used Y blocks in cars until this year and started phasing them out in favor of FEs and Windsors (I think) but this transmission didn't bolt up to that one without this thing or without machine work...The 9 inch was a masterpiece, on the other hand.  
I always liked old stuff of all flavors and it's just coincidence that every OLD vehicle I've had a Y block (or started with one, anyway), but it sure gets boring at a car show when everyone has the same engine.  That being said, if the Y block in my Model A crapped out, I don't know if it would get another  Y block to replace it.  

For modern vehicles, though-  I wouldn't buy a scruby at half the price of a Ford.  Ford took the hard times of 2008 and LEARNED from their mistakes and adapted and started making really great stuff.  GM makes the same garbage that they made in 2007...and they took the bailout money.  

Looking back at my other posts in this thread, I just realized that the forum is automatically converting “Che*y” to “scruby.” It does not make the conversion in the preview, but does after posting. I’m guessing you guys already knew that

Let’s see what it does with this: “scrubrolet.”

1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

Exactly.  I grew up on a Ford street.  All my friends raced Fords.  By the time I got my driver's license, Ford had moved on to the FE engines.   As a teenager, I idolized guys with 390, 406 & 427 FEs, which seemed to be in everything with four wheels when I was a kid. My first street car was a 56 Ford with a Y-Block that I bought off a car lot for $300.  Bagging groceries wasn't a lucrative career choice, so my car didn't win many street races. Later when I started making money, I got into dedicated race cars.  It didn't take me long to figure out the way to go fast cheap was to own a scruby. I didn't abandon my love for Fords of all type. My TBird is a time machine.  Just starting up my Y-Block brings back all those memories, some good some bad.  This forum is about Y-Blocks as it should be. It's fun to poke fun at scruby's, but it's not serious.  If I want to get angry at something, I'll watch Toyotas on NASCAR.

My wife has been in the medical profession most of her life so I’m well acquainted with the term ‘scrubs’.  I would take a good guess that the term scrubs being used to describe a particular GM product originated from the ‘throw away’ or simple clothing worn by the medical personnel.  Those uniforms (scrubs) have since evolved into daily wear but they were originally designed to be economically discarded after being soiled or used around infectious diseases.  Considering what the Ford products have been called by the opposing side over the years, the scrubs term is really not too bad.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)