I am having some difficulty with finding out what my truck really is, a 49 or a 50....just received the title from the previous owner, it states a 1950 Ford, which is what I thought I was buying. I put the vin number in the Vin decoder provided through a website sponsored by Ford and it says it's a 1949......

Vin is 97HC316809

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have intention of a complete frame off restoration and would like to make sure I have all the proper parts and paperwork. This truck is so unbelievably solid and pretty much rust free it is unreal for a truck here in Michigan.

Thanks

 

Ford carried over the vin number series from 1949 to 1950. All '49 and '50 serial numbers begin with the number 9. If your title says 1950, that's what I would go with. Your consecutive unit number appears to be high enough to corroborate that. No worries.

Just noticed this is your first post. Welcome to the forum!

 

I agree with Wayne. Plus, these trucks are not "numbers matching". By the way, 48-50 shared the same body style so parts are the same.

 

Thanks guys. This is a great site. I hope to come here often for advice and help with the restoration. This truck has been sitting in a garage for 20 years and now it's in mine. Very excited about the project my son and I will be working on together. Must admit though, we now have a divided shop. The 50 Ford must share space with my 65 Chevy, yes, it's a Chevy. This is actually my first Ford project, but I love the old round fender trucks....thank again guys...

 

Hello and another welcome to the forum. Everybody here loves pictures....so you'll have to post a pic on your garage find!!

Dan

 

Welcome Aboard! Always good to see another '50 being saved.
Let us know what your plan is as you start to dig in over there.
It's easy to pull them apart - seems to take years to get them back up
& running. If it's currently a driver why not keep it going & just fix
stuff one weekend at a time. Common modifications for our trucks...

o Replacing the rear axle with an 8.8 inch from an Explorer or a 9 inch from older F150's to get highway gears. (A weekend or two).

o Front Disc Brake Conversion - There are kits that will replace the front drums with disc brakes for some stopping power. (Upgrade to a dual chamber master cylinder at the same time).

o Toyota Steering Box - Fit's in about the same space as current steering box - easy to find parts & tightens up steering.

o Front Suspension & Axle - Upgrade all the bushings, king pins, etc. ($800) or do a full Axle replacement with a "Mustang II" or other options ($1,000's). Upgrading & refurbing the existing stock axle - a couple of weeks. Mustang II conversion - major frame surgery & 3 to 4 months.

Good luck over there!

Ben in Austin
1950 F1


Good luck over there!

 

Thanks everyone, this is a great site. I will learn how to download the pictures and put some of them on here. Headed down to the shop right now to start making a plan. Thanks so much for all the suggestions and support.

 

Welcome to FTE!

Go to Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket and sign up for a free account. Then create an album for your truck. Upload any pics you want to post on FTE to that album. Have this album open on your computer when you want to post pics on FTE.

While you're making a post on FTE, select the pic you want to post from your Photobucket album. When the large version of the pic is open, right mouse click on it and select "View Image Info". The image info will be highlighted and will look something like this:
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ghtsafter1.jpg

Copy that highlighted info (right click / copy).

When you have the spot in your post where you want the pic to be placed, select the "Insert Image" icon at the top of the post (looks like a mountain) and paste (right click / paste) the image info you copied in the highlighted box (just shows "http://" when it opens).

Your pic will be placed in the post.

 

Thanks Joe. We, meaning the wife and I, just went down to the shop and took some pictures of it. Now I am going to see if she will help me post them.
Hopefully I will have something up yet tonight.

 

welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great find and looking forward to seeing the pics.

 

Welcome to the site, Im glad to see another father son build coming on board. Its something you will both enjoy and remember for the rest of your lives. You are now both part of the FTE family.

 

Welcome to the board!
There's a couple of body cues that might clear up the mystery a little bit. Ford made some changes in mid year 1950. Somewhere in mid year 1950 they changed to the bigger back window and the bed changed from the rounded stake pockets and bumped out bed sides to the square stake pockets with flat bed sides.

Have fun with the truck
Bobby

 

Where are you in MI? Looking forward to your pics, hope you have better luck with uploads than I have had......

 

There were a number of running changes to the F-1 during the 1950 model year, including a redesigned box and the addition of the column shifted 3 speed transmission. But the wider rear window was not one of them. That was definitely a change along with the other body and trim updates for '51.

 

Wayne,

Ok, cool, thanks for filling me in. Learn something new everyday

Bobby