I went with my girlfriend to get a rear view mirror for her Explorer. While at one of the Ford dealerships in town we noticed a line row of old cars and trucks in the back of the back lot. Turns out the dealership's owner's son buys old junk cars and has them towed to the back. One of the trucks was a very used 48-52 3/4 ton Marmon Herrington truck. It had no engine, but did have the transfer case, front and rear axles, big five lug wheels, and cast adapters on the rear axle. The truck looked very shot. I forgot to look and see if the front axle had been broken and I didn't have a camera. The dealership is Northside Ford in San Antonio if anyone wants to try and chase down the truck. I could probably get pictures if someone wants them.

Edit, trying to post a link to Google satellite images showing the row of derelict vehicles: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.5499.../data=!3m1!1e3

Second edit (sort of): I accidentally originally posted this in the 1947 and older forum. Oops.

 

Go back and get PICTURES! Please. My trips around the lot failed. I know a couple guys that need those spacers. Stu

 

Maybe I'm the right one to update this story, but hoping I'm not jumping in front of 38 coupe. So here goes. Both Mark (thundersnow70) and I called the Ford dealership to talk to the son of the owner about the truck. Not coordinated, just each of us called. My interest was to add it to my archive of 3/4 ton M-Hs. Neither of us got a call back. So I pm'd 38 coupe. He went back and got a lot of pics that he added to his Photobucket file.

GEDC2388_zpsf7212727.jpg Photo by Fred_Mills | Photobucket

Here are key pictures of the truck today.




After studying his pictures I realized I already had this truck in my archive. I saw it sitting on a junker sales lot in Gallitan Gateway, MT, a few years ago. Here's my picture from that sales lot.


Also, I had before that tried unsuccessfully to get info on the truck from the guy at Desert Classics.com where it was listed. Here's their listing pictures.




Obviously the same truck, and the numbers 38 coupe got match the numbers I got when I found it on the sales lot. So, that's the rest of the story. Stu

 

Great pics. looks like it was set up for duals on the rear?

Cant remember if I ever really shared this pic of the 48 F-3 I found last winter? in pretty decent shape, especially as compared to the ones that came from that lot in Montana

 

Both of these are fairly early trucks based on their axle numbers. The blue truck has axle #434 and the now TX truck has axle #399. Chuck also has or had axle #404 from a '48. Since these same axles would logically have been used under '47 and earlier one ton conversions there's no telling what the earliest would have been under a '48. All in all my guess is there were a little more than 1000 converted in total using this axle. My '50 has axle #782 and my '51 has axle #1023. I have to believe my '51 is one of the last single speed trucks because it has the late year parking brake on the tranny, and by that time the two speed trucks (R32-4) were the only F-2/3s listed in the M-H literature. Stu

 

Stu, thank you for updating this thread. I don't get to log in here on a regular schedule. Interesting that you already had recorded this truck. I hope someone gets some good out of it. As it is, the truck is slowly rusting away and looks pretty sad.

Also on the lot are some other trucks that can be seen in the above photobucket link. I personally am fascinated (in the way that is easy since I don't have to deal with the truck myself) by the C-950 tractor. That thing is taller than me!

 

that mh has alot of miles on it for being in that kind of shape. Mt to Tx, my vote for bucket list truck would be the nice napco suburban sitting next to the mh.

 

I guess I agree, but I know a guy that's done a few long "burn and turns" chasing down miserable old M-H junk! Stu

 

I've heard of that guy. I have also heard of a guy that buys them from the guys that buy them, only he pays 4 times the money and travels twice as far to get them. True MH road warriors! I already have the Texas logistics worked out Stu, still working on the 4x the money part.

 

Ya know, we don't hold a candle to Josh. That dead of winter trip to retrieve his F-2 was insanity. But he pulled it off. Maybe he'll speak up shortly, he's got his fingers in a MH transfer case right now. Stu

 

I dont know, I thought I had picked a good weather weekend but that all changed in an instant. Probably wouldn't have been as bad if the second truck (the chevy) pulling the mh had 4x4 that would have engaged. oh ya and the not being able to see the front of the hood from the blowing snow across Wyoming. Haha
Laying in the snow under the chevy on a mountain pass for a little while and we were back on the road again. Ah good times. I would probably do it again if the need arose.

 

There's this truck in Texas a guy told me about....... Stu

 

is there an MH registry here on FTE?

 

Nothing formal. I try to keep a record of 3/4 tons I've come across. Mark Mossell has a registry over on his Hub Garage page, and I've shared my 3/4 ton info with him, but probably could do a better job of that. There's a few I haven't passed on info to him yet. Stu

http://assets0.hubgarage.com/mygarag...isman/vehicles