Hey Perry, do you have a jersey barrier for a rear bumper? Sure did a job on that pickup! At least his work light under the hood is still working.

 

Had a pair of F350 frame rails, a 3/16" thick verticle crossmember and a 1/4" thick bumper plus the pressure treated 2 x 8 boards in my 2 x 3" square tube framed deck that convinced him he was going any further. Now you know why I like gen 6 F350 flat deck dually trucks

 

Before pulling the steakman engine I went looking for engine #4. It is beyond me why I continued my quest for another one of these things my friends called a boat anchor. I had by now been given a 51 Merc flathead that had been recently rebuilt but had a badly cracked block. Had a perfect 10/10, 4" crank which I wanted in a new engine. A friend had told me about an old guy he had met at the MacDonalds in Mt Vernon that had a flathead V8 in an old Nalley's Pickle truck behind his barn. Ran when parked. This engine was available for the pulling. Now the truck's owner was a character. His name was Holley Merchant and he lived with a bunch of other retired folks in an encampment alongside the Skagit River. A huge levy obscured any view of the river itself. The place was a mix of abandoned vehicles and trailer houses where Holley and his buddies lived. From what I gathered it had always been Holley's home and as his cronies, one by one lost their farms to industry, urban sprawl and unpaid back taxes, he offered them a corner to park a motorhome or trailer. I would guess this little community was set on a two or three acre remnant of what was once a family farm.
I arrived there one sunny winter morning with tools in hand and the neighborhood wrench turners were eager to help me pull the engine. After all it was something to do. But first we had to go for coffee. This involved two vehicles to get all of us to MacDonalds for the .25 senior coffee. I rode in the back of Holley's old ford escort with another guy and two dogs. There was no back seat as this was his 'truck', so we kind of squatted back there. Pretty fun breakfast, lots of banter and teasing among them. Upon return , a guy named John showed up with an ancient case tractor with a loader and a chain. At least 3 of us worked on pulling the boat anchor and best of all nobody had to explain to anyone else what needed to be done and in what order. The Skagit Valley is a very wet place in winter so there was plenty of mud and grease to be had. I pulled the heads at home and this 59AB looked real good to the naked eye and I was hopeful. I now needed to find the right guy to do the machining.
One road lead to Dave Tatum of Tatum's Custom Engines also in Mt. Vernon Wa. Amazing shop and operation. He specialized in flathead V8s and had a very long history with them. When I inquired about price he said it depends on what is wanted. He was an active enthusiast in Bonneville Salt Flats racing and other expensive endeavors. His numbers were in the 5000.-13,000. range at that time. I decided to look at other options. At an auto parts store in Anacortes I learned that Tatum wasn't turning his own cranks at that time, but outsourced this and some other machine work to a one man shop in Sedro-Wooley Wa. I called Ron Eliason and he said yes he did some of Dave's machine work and was well versed and equipped to handle all or any portion of flathead rebuilding. He did all the tests and proclaimed the pickle truck block near perfect and the 4" crank good to go as is. This was gonna be a great engine!

 

Love the story!!!!

 

Great stories GB!! Keep it coming. This is better than the last PNW account I read, The Egg and I,lol.

 

Before I met him I thought someone named Holley Merchant would be a carburetor salesman.... Of course it coulda been Hawley. Never saw it written out.

 

The 4" stroke V8 was just the ticket for more power and better road speeds with this tonner. It was still running like new when I sold it 8 years later.Keep in mind, ford's first attempt at a one ton mid sized truck was built with a standard 4:11 rear axle. Just like so many 3/4 ton rigs we have all owned. They will do highway speeds. Now imagine this gearing with 34" 7.50 x 17s and at 1/1 final ratio it's geared higher than many 'modern' trucks. This engine did not live an easy life. The 38 was my work truck, my only truck and business was booming in the 80s and 90s. We took on a huge cabinet job in Seattle and spent a lot of time running up and down interstate 5 with a lot of it at night in the winter. Much of this was towing my two axle trailer. I had converted to 12 v neg with a gm one wire. With mechanical cable brakes on the truck, having good trailer brakes was a priority. While I hauled some heavy loads in my business, maybe the tonner's worst duty was with my hobby. Collecting old tractors and stationary engines. One evening my seven year old son and I were returning home from our annual 4 day outing at Lynden Wa with a very heavy load of old iron on the trailer. With the strong running V8 and the noticeable increase in low end torque since the merc crank, I decided to tackle our hill up the mountain at 9 pm with my son asleep next to me. We made all the hills but the last one. We got 3/4 way up and had a good run in granny low, but as we neared the crest I knew we needed to downshift but there was nothing left. The engine started to knock as we 'powered out' and then quickly boiled ove when she gave it up. I stood on the brakes and held the manual trailer brake lever while my son blocked all the wheels with rocks. We then went and woke up a hippie guy who was renting an A frame near the hill. I put him in my old landcruiser wagon set in low range 4wd, chained to the bumper of the 38. Upon the starting signal from my son, the hippie and I both engaged our clutches at the same time and we started out from a standstill on a hill I could not crest alone. Over the top we went. ... Wife has dinner ready. To be continued. edit: with the '39 model yer, Henry reduced the axle ratio to something like 4:86. Seems some farmers wanted to go uphill with a load....

 

my dad was driving a log truck when he was young. he had a 6 cyl chevrolet truck not quit sure what year. lots of mountains here,he would say that he often pushed the starter button to finish of a hill.

 

Ah ha! That was probably the first use of gas/electric hybrid propulsion.

 

Good old ford starter!