Thanks for the info and I always suspected that this truck may have originally been produced in Canada. I will get under the hood in a moment and take a shot of the casing number.

 

LH side




RH side



Close up of the stamped castings LH and RH with the USA underneath

 

Ross, Thanks for the reply. That doesn't sound like a good setup using the crimped nut for a ground cable. That would make for a very long cable. What then would be the purpose of the crimped nut above it, just above the bead?

 

Mark, there are TWO braided cables. They were essentially using the firewall as a conductor to use two shorter cables. Not a good idea IMO.

Here's some pics where you can kind of see it. In the one pic, you can see the cable from battery to the firewall behind it. In the other you can see part of the cable from behind the air cleaner to the intake manifold (or BH, not sure). You can barely see the second cable just on the left of the carb.

Edit -- I just realized the nut in question is clearly visible in the pics and unused! So the mystery continues... Must be for Big Truck accessories.

 

That is a very nice looking truck DW. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I agree with Bob that the hole in the dash that you asked about should be for the wiper switch. When you get up under the dash you may find out why. If it was converted from vacuum to electric the new switch may not have fit.

I can't really tell from the picture but it looks like your truck has no cowl vent. If not while you are under there you might look up to see if it has a patch panel of was built that way. Sheet metal is often locally sourced and since South Africa has been a major steel producer that would make sense.


As for the weld nuts on the cowl I have the upper one too (the second hole has no weld nut). It has been a while since I took that apart but I think that it had a radio support on it.






I also found these videos on line that might interest you of the Port Elizabeth plant in the 40s.
1940s video Ford's Port Elizabeth assembly plant