What were the different beds, or type trucks with those different beds? Recently on the 1973 thru 1979 F series forum someone refered to a Styleside as a Fleetside and lots of info came thru about Fleetside being Chevy's thing and Styleside being Ford's. They said ot was so for the 1967 thru 1972 as well. I'm just wondering if the same holds true as far back as the 1961 thru 1966 array? Was it flairside and styleside or did Ford have something else they were calling them back then?


Thanks a bunch, Mike.

 

They are styleside and stepside for almost every year that I know.

 

FORD calls the type of Bed they started with,in Model T's, with separate Fenders, their Flare Side Bed, because tops of bed sides actually Flare outward thru 1979 at least.
In 1957 they came out with "Refrigerator" ( so called because of the squared off appearance). Ford F Series Pick Ups that have slabsided beds with wheel wells instead of fenders. FoMoCo named their "new" look the "Styleside Bed".

Step Side is a registered GMC trademark. GMC Shares it with Chevrolet beds which have separate fenders, with steps ahead of them. "Fleet Side" is what GM Called their Apache, which came along in '56.


Fleetside GM & Styleside FoMoCo are both slabsidebeds with fenders integrated into bed by use of wheel housings instead of outside, bolt on, fenders like Step Side & Flare Side both use.

So FoMoCo has Flare Side, Styleside and Stake Bed or Stake Body which is what they call their flatbed types.

GM Has Fleet Side, Step Side, and Flat beds Or so I was taught back in the day. . . .

When somebody says I want to take my Fleetside Bed off & install a Step Side Bed in it's place, they are talking about GMC or Chevrolet trucks as I understand it.

Often I say why would you want to put a GM Bed on Your Ford F Series Truck? I get a load of ^#*~&%$ over that for being a Smart remark, or a challenge or whatever.

Hope this clears the issue up. . . . .

Oh By The Way. . . . I don't care what Magazines call trucks or their parts, Magazines are simply critics. Critics do not create or name things, they only comment & criticize or critique on what others do or have done. So Don't come telling me ralphs truck mag or truck magazine or whoever says such & such is this or that. The OEMs Name stuff they build, and this is a site about FoMoCo Trucks. Least we cando is use Genuine FoMoCo Nomenclature to keep things Straight, Don't y'all agree?

FBp

 

Thanks Fordboypete. I knew about the Fleetside Stepside GM issue. I wasn't trying to fire anything up or get the whole GM/Ford thing started. I did have a specific question though. (granted I am stumbling around trying to get the question out clearly) I was just wondering when "exactly" Ford started calling them Flairside and Styleside? I gather from your answers that Ford Started Flairside in the very beginning, Model Ts? And I also gather that Ford started calling them Styleside in 1957 when the "Refrigerator" box came out? Is that right? Because I'm about to commit it to memory and I would hate to be missing a few years in there when Ford might have called them something else? Maybe the Ford Flairside and Styleside might have been called something else early on in their production. I'll gladely learn about official names or even nick names! (Such as the refrigerator reference you mentioned- I hadn't heard that one before! Thank you!) That's all I was wondering about. You know, maybe in 57 - 60 they called the new refrigerator bed something different from Styleside? I don't know, I'm just asking! Any help is very much appreciated! Mike.

 

And the "Unibodys" were Integral Cab.

 

Mike,
Flare sides were called "pick up body" and they were flared from day 1 back in the day of T-Models. I read somewhere it was so a tonneau would drip outside the actual cargo area when tied down.

I believe they Started calling them Flareside when the Styleside appeared because there was a need to distinguish between the two different beds. Prior to then they were all just "Pick Up Beds" I think.

I'm sure about 1957, because before that all cab bodies were tall & narrow. 1948-52 F1s, mid 50s Effies from 53-56 . Then 57 thru 60 refrigerators with their wider squared off cabs appeared, an the "new" Styleside bedsides like I described with the wheelhousings etc. fit the wider cabs, Flaresides look really wierd on a 57-60 Cab, almost as wierd as 57-60s style bed on 61-63 slicks IMHO.

In 61, Slicks 60s cabs appeared, with their slick design and "ergo+aero nomics" etc. They used a late 50s thru 60s refrigerator type styleside bed, keeping it right thru 63. With 64 being a newer 64-66 "Slick 60s" Styleside Bed. The 64-5-6 bed fits 61-2-3 trucks & Personally I think they look better but that's just my take on it.

Bobby is Spot on with the "Integral cab". I believe it was FoMoCos great Hope people would "opt" for an integral design & they wouldn't need to make beds. But Robert McNamara who was CEO, was prone to being wrong. I mean look at the Edsel fiasco. FoMoCo went in a deep financial hole as a result.

Uni or Integral cab/ bed trucks use different sheetmetal than others. Ironic Henry Ford was the one that brought uniformity into Auto Manufacturing in order to cut the costs & increase profits & McNamara went & ran it and nearly ran Ford out at the same time. FoMoCo got rid of McNamara next he went to work for the US Givt as secr'ty of Defense for the Viet Nam War, but I digress here. . . . still you get the point I'm sure.

FBp

 

LOL, now you've got me confused. I have a 66 f100 swb. the top rails flair out, but I've got steps in front of the fenders.

Do I have a ford flairside bed?
Thanks,
Judi48

 

So the Eagles got it wrong in their song, Taking It Easy . . . "'its a girl my Lord in a FLATBED FORD.'" LOL. Definitely!! LOL Good info to know when asking for parts.

 

Yes Judi,
If you have a Ford, which we all know you do, and your fenders bolt on to your bed sides, as they do, it is called a FLARE Side Bed because sides FLARE out {as in get wider [as in = light from a Flare spreads outward from the flame, or the fire Flared Up again etc]. . . .} Not flair as in a penchant for doing things.

The "step is an Afterthought because FoMoCo & everybody else eventually, stopped using running boards. You may stand on that "step" but you can't Step into the bed from it. Altho you might could climb into the bed from it, huh?

Mezajd,
I'll give it up to Artistic License Man, The Eagles can call it what ever they want. I used to be at UF when they were there. They play clubs around town for free, great band great tunes too! Besides a stake body Ford got no rythym to it, ya know?

FBp

 

Another thing to consider. Magazine writers today for the most part, don't know diddly squat when it comes to older trucks (and cars) nomenclature. They'll call a Chevy a Styleside, and a Ford a Fleetside.

This gums up the works, and gives false impressions to the newbie's, who then innocently call them wrong.

 

LOL LOL LOL, I'm ROFLMAO!!!

FBP you made my day!!!
Thanks
Judi48

 

The terms fleetside and stepside have become generic terms to the general public. Does the general public ask for an ajustable open end wrench or do they ask for a cresent wrench? The first manufactor that comes up with a good sounding name for a product, that name becomes what the general public accepts as what is should be called. Most people know only fleetside and stepside. Few people know Ford's styleside and flairside or Dodges sweptside and utiline.I think International at one time called there's slabside and fenderside. One year at Pate swap meet I stood by a stylside and later a flairside and ask people "what do you call that type bed?" Nine out of ten said fleetside and the others said widebed. 100% said stepside. I did this in 1985 or 1986, so this debate has been going on a long time. Bottom line-we are not going to change the general public.You can choose to call them by the legaly correct names or be like me and call them whatever comes to mind at the time(usually fleetside and stepside LOL). Thanks, Lyman.