I wound up using Ajax cleanser on the exterior and interior to remove the rust peeking through the paint and the oxidation too! Thanks for all the information and support! I routinely drive it on the weekends and sometimes I attend the Saturday morning cars & coffee crowd. It's amazing how much attention the F3 gets! I love talking to people about it and getting old stories from other owners of the bigger ford trucks!

 

Looks nice! Maybe think about adding some door signage to match the patina.

 

very nice truck! Good to see another one of these back on the road.

Adam

 

Nice to see another truck being saved from crushing.

Do you have any serial numbers to indicate its age, by the looks of the box it would be pre-'50's.

Keep at it, and congratulations on your new truck.

Tom

 

Looks good. Did you upgrade the ring and pinion for better driveability?

 

Hey Mike,
It looks Great!! Nice to see another '50 on here.
That's the old farm truck look I like.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Hi Tom, The number on the plate reads: 98RY274268. It's a 1950, but the bed could've been swapped. There was red paint on the lip/frame of the bed where the wood sits on. The red seems out of place... What tips you off that it may be an earlier box? Here's a pic of the bed:

 

I'm waffling on whether to do this or not. If I want to drive it on the freeway, I'd need to upgrade the brakes (I really don't want to do that). As for regular street drive-ability, It's great! I have the 17.5" wheels, so, the RPM doesn't get too high when traveling 45-50 MPH (50 is max w/o a tach).

 

I was thinking about that, but how do you apply the paint to make it look like it's old?

I was thinking of "Skrnich Welding" and "Ph BR-6902". Skrnich was the last name of the old owner (passed in 2001) and there was a message note found under the seat with this old phone number on it.

 

Easiest way to do it is to pay a professional. They'll be able to use dry-brushing techniques and other various nuances to make the signage match the patina.

 

All 48-52 F2/3 trucks had the bed with the raised side panels, like the 48-50 F1 bedsides. The bed only changed to flat sides in 51-52 F1s.

 

Mine has the raised side panels, so, it should be the correct bed for the truck. Maybe you can't see them because of the angle in the pic...

 

Now for sale $6600 obo, if interested, please contact me by PM or email from the FTE. Thx folks.