I've been stripping out my cab before doing the body work and, as everyone who has already done this knows, there are many mystery items that have accumulated over 50 years in the nooks and crannies. I found this up under the dash and, I know I've seen something like this before, but I can't remember what it is other than it's some sort of retainer clip. Do any of you cab junkies recall seeing this thing holding something in place and, if so, what was it?

 

To me that looks like one of the parts of the antenna retaining assembly.

 

Yeah Buddy !!! You have got a rare find there!

What you have is a Vintage Antenna Mounting Bracket (for lack of a better description). Lets you change and lock down the angle of the antenna mounted on the cowl\fender.These usually fall off when the antenna is removed or replaced.
I found nice channel lock pliers inside the door panel of a 74 ford trk. about 6 yrs ago...and always seem to find rusty screewdrivers.

Where's the stash of cash in these old trucks ???

good luck with your project....Ed

 

Thanks guys. That makes perfect sense. I found it over on the antenna side and the PO had installed a "radio" (if you can call it that) and an "antenna" in a cootie-bob masterpiece.

So, you think that little doohickey might be worth several thousand dollars on eBay, eh?

The mice got my stash of cash - it's all in little bitty chewed up fuzzy stuff down inside one of the cowl areas.

Speaking of stash - this is a serious point. If any of you work on a government (especially military) installation, many randomly inspect for illegal substances (marijuana, other illegal drugs) - sometimes using dogs. I had a friend who bought a used vehicle, and got busted for a PO's stash up under the dash. If you aren't doing a total disassembly and cleaning, it might be a good idea to voluntarily have them inspect your used vehicle before they do it for real and bust you for somebody elses leftover stuff. It's a real headache since it's a federal offense on a government installation.

 

You're absolutely right Earl! A security police buddy of mine said that you can have them use their dogs to check out a used car any time... Gives their dogs good practice.


vernon

 

I work on an Air Force base a fair amount of the time, and if you have even a minor fender-bender on base, you can believe the mutts will be sniffing your ride from one end to the other (in addition to you taking the Whiz Quiz). It happened to a guy who bought a car at police auction and they found a couple of kilos of coke hidden away somewhere. He was mighty jammed up til it was resolved.

It's common on 60's era cars to find build sheets and such stuffed into the seat cushions or behind panels, but I've never heard of it on these old trucks; anyone ever found one?

 

Earl,
You remind me of a related story:
Many years ago I was pulled out of a military classroom by security after a guitar case in my BOQ room attracted a dog's attention during a random inspection.

They pulled the case apart and found nothing, and the reason became clear when they let the dog sniff the case's remains. He went nuts over the orange **** carpet-looking fabric that lined the case.

I had recently bought the guitar used, and apparently the PO smoked so much pot near the case that it soaked up enough THC to get the dog's attention!

Everybody got a good laugh and I was released back to class...

 

I was at Shemia Air Base in Alaska, The Drug dog alerted on my room, went streight to the refrigerator and alerted on a tuperware bowl full of M&M's, seems that is what the handler used as the Dog's reward.
Yes I admit it. I'm a Chocoholic.

 

There was a story on the news not long ago about a police drug sniffing dog that was trained with some seized dope, problem was the stuff they used turned out to be counterfit and the dog was great at alerting to talcum powder or cornstarch or some such common substitute and would totally ignore the real thing!

 

I found some sort of electronic gizmo in an unmarked black plastic box about the size of a deck of cards with wires coming out up underneath the dash that had never been connected to anything as far as I could tell. I opened up the box (4 screws) to try to find out what it was and inside was an old folded up florist receipt probably stuck in there to keep the circuit board from rattling in the case. It's a mystery to me why someone would take the screws out to put the receipt inside then just stick the thing up in the wire harness without hooking it to anything. It's also a mystery as to what it is since there were no identifying marks on any part of it?

 

Chuck ??

could it have been a 6 to 12 volt converter for a radio maybe ???

john

 

Don't think so, the 56 was 12V already and it didn't have a radio. Wire lead ends didn't look like they had ever been connected to anything

 

It sound like some home made security system.. one that been disconnected a long time a go.. the give away is the receipt.. this is something a person would do to keep it from rattiling around and shorting out..

 

Take some pictures of the internals and post them here or send them if you still have it. Maybe we can ID it.

 

I didn't throw it away, so I'll dig it out and take some pictures. Looks like everyone enjoys a mystery! Me too, I usually pick mysteries on audio books to lsten to on long trips.