My grandson, 18 yrs old, inherited a 46 Ford pickup, but his mother wanted it titled in my name for personal reasons. I want to get it into good running condition before trying any restoration efforts. I'm not much of a mechanical person so I would like a little guidance in getting a proper analysis of what needs done. I would like to know if there is any historical automotive business in my geographical area that could or would do such an analysis. I live near Portsmouth, Ohio which is near the southern tip of Ohio.
The truck seems to be in pretty good shape, the previous owner kept it covered and started it up weekly, however since he died it's probably only been started a couple of times. Right now it needs a battery. My grandsons uncle on his dads side, was the last to drive it and he said it ran good but was hard to drive. He didn't elaborate much and I didn't ask. At the time I was only concerned it getting it under cover.
My grandsons other grandfather owns a bodyshop but doesn't seem to be much interested in helping other than maybe a paint job. The boys father is out of the picture, when he was in the picture he seemed only interested in beer, bikes and drugs. He never spent any time at all with his son.
So give me a little help if you can on getting started on fixing up this wonderful old truck for my grandson
Thanks,
Ron Newman
740 456 5076 evenings
Well Ron, it sounds like you have a good specimen to start out with. There are a lot of folks on this forum that have a lot of knowledge of these trucks. Check out the 'Read First' Thread at the top of the list and see a lot of vendors that sell parts. Send off for catalogs from the web sites and see what is out there. A lot of them are free. Is this truck going to be driven often on the streets and highways? The brakes are what I would have checked out first. Put some pictures in the Gallary for us to see.
To Fomoko1 and Loholland, thanks for your reply. As for reposting to a different link, is there an easy way to do this or do I have to retype the whole message. I'm kind of a slow typist.
I'll see about posting a picture, my grandson will have to help me with that.
I'll also look at some of the websites you mentioned.
OK, look in the gallery for Ron's 46 Ford pickup. That's my grandson in the picture, he's the one who helped me jump through the hoops to post the pictures. He thinks he can help me repost the original message in the 47 and older forum.
Thanks, Ron
Ron,
Sounds like you have a good truck to start with as far as running goes. I look in your gallery and that is a very nice truck. I'd say as far as hard to drive he might have been talking about the trans to. The 46 we have I couldn't shift it without grinding the gears. You just have to learn how to shift it or double clucth it. Tell him to just be patient and he will figure it out. My 51 trans is syncronized but his is not. So he will have to learn how to DRIVE his truck. I live in Ashland, Ky not to far from you really. If you all can starting in May-Oct the 3rd Sat. of each month in Wheelerburg, Ohio at the McDonalds they have a big car show there from 5pm-10pm. You all come and bring your truck. You don't see alot of F1's there at all. I had mine there (1951 F1) a couple of times last year. You meet a lot of good people. If he brings his truck he will have alot of people asking question's about it. Just b/c you don't see them. A good running flathead it hard to beat. I would check brakes and fluids and try to start it. If it has been drove and started like you said then it will fire up with little work at all.
To Restoringmy46, Thanks for your reply. I will be attending that show in Wheelersburg. Don't know yet if I can bring the truck. I've kind of been waiting for spring to build a garage enclosure for it before I start working on the truck. Will you be bringing your truck to the show? Let me know and I'll be looking for you.
Thanks, Ron
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Fixing up my grandson's 46 Ford pickup
