Originally Posted by Kristof

They are indeed cable guides for a winch,this was something of a more standard accesorie


Greetings Kristof

Originally Posted by raytasch

Now that certainly must have been interesting, gaining access to the winch. Was the winch permanently mounted up under the front end? And was it PTO driven? Envision the truck bogged in mud to the hubs, where you need to run the cable out.

Originally Posted by Kristof

Well raytasch,let me make it even more fun! It was almost never mounted on the front,so where do you ask?Well almost completely in the back of the chasis! Almost at the end of the loading box,and the rollers you see in the front are also under the chasis! If you take a good look at the second picture in this thread of the ford f6 with the shelter cab,look at the chasis at the back.Just in front of the spare wheels you can see a round shape,that's it! And it is indeed PTO driven.Usually there is also a hatch inthe loading box for "easy" acces.
So if you run into the scenario you pose,it won't be pretty

This kind of winches was used on several trucks here,and all equally fun in this way.

Originally Posted by Tandorini

The first picture in kristof his first post, is a picture from me, it would be nice if kristof ask me if he may use the picture.
The man in the pale trousers, is my grandfather, and the oririnal picture is in my possession.

Originally Posted by Tandorini

you know the picture is from me, i know where you take him from and so you know where you can find me, a pm would be nice then if you want to use the picture.

Originally Posted by Kristof

I recieved it in hand from a veteran,so I do not know you and do not have any contact data! So there is no need to be offensive .


Greetings Kristof

Originally Posted by Kristof

Hello my fellow Ford lovers!

I have been a member for a small year now and I thought its time that I would share
some off Belgiums militairy history.
I am the extremely proud owner of a ford f1 wich is extremely rare in my country,
almost no one knows about ford f1 here,but almost everyone here remembers
his big brother the Ford f6 COE. Because of the typical "grill".
Unfortunately they have almost all "passed away" making this one also very rare here.
They where all taken apart with cutters,scrapyards,and even just compressed into
cubes. (the sadness...........)

And it is because of that fact that I want to share some original pictures!
I found no pictures here of anywhere of the COE in military service in Belgium.
Also not one picture of the completely rebuilt version of it. Made for the Belgian militairy.
So this is the debut of them on this forum so they won't be forgotten!

Some faces have been blurred at request of the veteran.

The Ford F6 COE trucks were the standard Belgian army trucks in the 50/60's.
Entire devisions of them drove here and called it home.
If you where in the militairy in those years you drove them, it was that simple.
The following pictures show the ford f6 truck with a soldier, and also a f6 truck
with its driver on the bonnet.Ready to depart on the train.
As you will notice in the pictures the Belgian militairy modified them in all sort of manners.
They made extra handles on the cab for getting in easyer. Some where outfitted witch a
grill guard. Others where outfitted with a Belgian blackout light (also visible in the pictures)
One they the militairy did to all of them was paint the original traffic indicators shut,so they werent visible anymore. And placed traffic indicators right beside the grill on the fender. They also recieved traffic indicators of there doors, some even completely on the cab.
On the pictures you also see the plate of Marmon herrington on the side of the hoods.

In the end it was simple, if a f6 truck was regularly used for something it was modified for
convenience.

If you have more questions I will try to answer them as good as I can.













Then the Next version of the ford F6 COE was the completely modified "Artillery Puller"
These ford truck where extensively modified. Wich also became there own demise.
The belgian military had these build to what they wanted from it,without taking any regard to
what they could. Because all of the ford trucks in Belgium had the straight 6 cilynder engine.
There was not one V8 in any of them. (dont know why this was)
As you can immediatly see in the following pictures of it,it was FAR to heavy for the engine.
It was modified as followed, the cab was expanded to hold 7 to 8 soldier. Begind the cab was a separate part covered with a canvas wich held ammunition. And there was a specially modified "pipe" in the truck from the back to the front inside the truck. This was for a spare cannon barrel. Behind the truck the was a trailer that had extra ammunition and accessories.
And behind that trailer (yes you read correct) was the cannon that belonged with the truck.
Ultimately his weight was his demise, the truck alone without any trailers weighed in at around 6 tons or 13 250 LBS.
I have multiple veterans that drove this truck and they all said the same,it was a nightmare.
It was so heavy the clutch couldn't take it, the truck jumped,rocked, did all kind of weird things when you wanted to start moving. And offcourse it was as slow as a snail.
The belgian militairy build these to work in the field,but they couldn't even drive decently on the road. So they all got a new assignment.
They became the standard truck in the army to learn new cadets to drive. The idea behind this was " If you can drive this you can drive anything".
Later also all the other f6 trucks followed in there footsteps as they all became driving school vehicles. ( I will search in my albums for a picture of one with the driving school sign on it, I know I have one somewhere).







And on a seperate note, the Belgian militairy also used some ford F3 trucks as ambulance trucks!



Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

Many Greetings from Belgium ,Kristof

I will also post pictures of the original belgian blackout lamp that I have in my possesion that you see in these pictures!