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

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