OK gang, have established (I hope,) a gallery of pics, happy viewing!

 

Hello, thanks for the reply, check out the photo gallery I have put up. To answer your questions, I can't imagine it will be more work than starting with a clear field, designing and building a house (and still adding on to it), rebuilding airplanes, tractors, lawn mowers, boats, and or just about anything else with an engine or seats.
Want something I can put antique plates on, go to shows, and yet still be able to haul something (like my tractor or an airplane)if I need to. Nice thing about the truck guys around here, they are happy to see an old truck brought back to life, so what if not perfectly original. I hope Grundy (?) Insurance will write a policy on this, have heard good things about them. Also have to find out if I'll need a CDL to drive this.

 

That is definitely not a 1957, although it does have single headlights, which could be where the confusion comes from. It's some year after 1960.

That said, it sounds like your plans are reasonable. The engine compartment doesn't look that bad... it wouldn't surprise me if you could drive it out of the woods under its own power with a day or two of work, if the engine hasn't seized solid.

 

Congrats on getting the gallery thing worked out. That is going to be quite a project just getting that out of the woods.

Judging from the grill I think you have a 1965 or 66 truck and not a 1957, doesn't matter much, its still a Ford and thats the important part

Bobby

 

The VIN Plate in your gallery is kinda hard to read, but here's what I came up with.

F60CE790571

F60 = F600 2WD

C = 330 2V Medium Duty

E = Mahwah NJ Assembly Plant

790571 = 1966

Wheelbase = 194 inches

Color J = Rangoon Red

F600 = F600 2WD (gas) 17,000 lbs. GVWR

Body code 481

4 ? = Medium Beige Vinyl ?

81 = 81A Standard Cab

Transmission A = Either: New Process 435 4 Speed / or / Clark 5 Speed Direct (A refered to either trans in 1966).

F7 ? F7 = Eaton (Model # 13802) 2 Speed 5.83-1 & 8.11-1

17000 lbs GVWR

168 HP @ 3800 RPM

DSO 12 = Buffalo NY Ford Sales District (where original selling dealer ordered truck).

Not sure of Axle code...The 4 ? in the body code was hard to make out.

 

That is probably a 65-66. The engine is a FT, the big brother of the FE series. Maybe a 330 or 361.

Good luck getting it out of the woods, I have been there and done that before!

 

If I`m looking at the right gallery all I see is about a 66 model year truck.....

 

VIN decoded = Post 20

 

Thanks, just got that far and noticed that.

 

number dummy--you are funny--hahaha!!! Bill

 

Hi gang, thanks for the inputs and corrections, guess that's what happens when I try to decode a Ford truck VIN using a Mercury truck VIN example!!
Dumb question maybe; how do I easily tell if the that is the original engine? Have played with a few FE blocks, late 60's vintage, but haven't wrenched on one in 20 years.
I know Mopar use to stamp the engine size on the block, what did Ford do on these?
The yard owner told me that the guy he got it from said the engine had blown and had been swapped for one out of a car, he thought the truck was a 1962, I thought it looked older, did a web search, found a VIN number breakout for a Mercury truck of similar vintage, (1960) and tried to go from there.
Buffalo NY would make sense, that is close to here, but the truck has AZ tags on it..No matter, question is now, can I get it running and drive it out. Do the brakes shoes on these things sieze up to the drums like cars do when they sit?
Thanks and will keep posting on progress. Going to try to get it running before I fork over any cash, yard owner is agreeable. Price of scrap steel here is almost $150 a ton, so I hope I haven't paid too much for it....yet.

 

Most FE engines have 352 cast into the block on the left front of the engine. But just because it's cast 352, doesn't mean it is one. The 352 block is the basis for the (360) 390, 410 and 428. Is there a carb tag number, any sort of tag on the coil? Can you make out the number stamped on the base of the dizzy, just below the rim of the cap?

 

Hi Bill, will check it out and advise numbers, is the color/shape of the valve covers and the air cleaner shape consistant with a '66?
Have you got any pics of what this truck should look like?
Thanks

 

Bill, carb tag numbers;
top row; C5MFB
bottom row; D 5FG
Looks like an old style Autolite 2BBL, manual choke.
Didn't bother with dizzy, no tools with me this evening, and the mosquito's were hungry...
So, what do these numbers mean?
Thanks

 

That's what the carb would have been as original, an Auto-Lite manual choked 2 barrel. BUT, someone removed the auto choke from this carb and swapped the manual choke set up to it. That carb originally was on a 1965 Mercury 390. The tag is from 1965: C = Decade = 1960's / 5 = year = 1965 / M = Mercury.


The oil bath air cleaner is the original. The engine was painted black, the red valve covers point to the size of the engine. Can't recall what color red refered to (330?). Ford used the color of the valve cover(s) to designate what engine was used from 1952 thru 1967. The valve covers are correct for 1965/67. Prior to 1965, the covers were rounded, after 1967, the covers have Powered by Ford on them, and the entire engine was painted Ford Blue for the first time.