I have always thought it came from the abbreviation SBC. If you glance at SBC and you are a little deslectic, scrub fits pretty well.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

This is a great read.. As many know I’m a Bonneville and SoCal Dry Lakes racer. I choose a class I had a chance to set records and it has worked out.  My choice of power was GM in origin but much much to do the engine discussed here. When I finally decided that a street car/cruiser was next in line most of my current friends racers and otherwise never knew me in HS had no idea that the only car for me was going to be a 56 Ford Victoria. As some here know my dad bought my mom a new black one when I was 12 and it became my date car in HS. I always knew one would come my way and after my mom died at 96 in 2011 I could start looking. After having it over 10 years and making what I always wanted has been a challenge and fun too. For me it will always have a Y Block unless I win the lottery and can pay someone to fit in a Coyote 4 cam. 

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

I always assumed the ‘hospital supplied’ scrubs were called that, since originally the surgical staff were the only ones who wore them (doctors always ‘scrubbed-up’ before operating). Surgery is a messy business, and physicians didn’t want their thousand-dollar suits stained with blood (nor nurses their traditional all-white uniforms). Centralized industrial severe/HD laundering process usually prevented any need for discarding surgical garb, regardless the source of contamination/staining, and especially before surgical gowns/drapes were made of disposable paper.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

I believe the term ‘scrub’ may come from describing ‘worthless’ vegetation found on very poor land (southwestern desert/badlands?).  Quite apt back in the 50s, when the cheaply made/thin-wall casted SBC ‘throwaway’ motor didn’t even come with an oil filter, and the stamped valve gear usually came loose if revved too high. GM’s subterfuge re: the racing ban, and the duplicity with auto journalists & accessory manufacturers then didn’t exactly endear them to FoMoCo loyalists.  Of course, the Y-Block designers could have made it easier to swap into an older chassis and not lose the hot-rodder market (thus the flood of cheap aftermarket SBC parts that followed).  GM made gradual improvements, the economy of volume/materials secured their engine market, and the shorter stroke/higher revving scrub DID make more HP per CI (at the sacrifice of street-able torque).  
Since we now live in a ‘throwaway’ society, where it’s cheaper to just buy again rather than fix, and competent labor is scarce/dear, the orig. SBC 265 would likely be right at home!

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

I grew up in an area of SC that was largely either Ford or scruby.  I have 6 uncles, and they were divided nearly equally between them, and had 54/55/56 Fords and one '57 scruby bought new at the time.  Those '56 Fairlane Victorias were simply beautiful, and I fell in love with them, and still think they are one of the best looking Ford ever made.  I drove one in high school, college, and dated my college sweetheart in my '56 Fairlane Victoria.  We just celebrated our 56th wedding anniversary, and still like looking at pictures of our Fairlane.  You either love the Y Block, or you don't.  I have a plaque on my garage wall that says "I'd rather push a Ford than drive a scruby."  Have never owned one, and never will.  To each his own.  Joe-JDC

JDC

I really don't think the scrubs term is bad enough! As a lifelong Ford man, I have endured the harassment from GM fans such as: FORD- fix or repair daily, FORD: found on road dead, etc. These two come to mind, but I'm sure there are plenty more! One guy told me he would rather just live next to someone who owned a scruby than to actually own a Ford. I just smiled knowingly and went on driving and enjoying my Fords and still do. By the way, my daily driver Ford F150 is a 1990 model and still looks and drives excellent because of my love for Fords. I have taken very good care of it for 32 years! Every once in a while, someone will randomly stop by and ask if my truck could be for sale. It never is!

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)

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.

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

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.