I explained in a previous post that I'm a newbie, so please pardon me if I ask a dumb question or two. The '51 F1 that I bought has '53 steel fenders on it. After looking around for the right fenders, I understand why. It appears that steel fenders for '53 and up are readily available, but all I have found so far for the 51-52 are fiberglass. I'll go that route if I have to, but I'd rather have steel if I can find them.

Any ideas?

Peace,
-Doraville

 

Welcome to the board.

I take it we are talking about rear fenders here? Yes the 53 and up are readily available as they used them up through the 70's. The basic bed box is the same with the exception of the fender bolt holes.

There is no such thing as reproduction steel fenders for the 48-52 trucks (the 48-50 fenders are slightly different as well as there was a raised panel on the bedsides on the earlier trucks)

Bobby

 

Your best bet might be eBay. The steel ones pop up often, maybe every other month. I rarely see any that don't need repairs though. The NOS rust free ones that do show up on occation go for big $$$.

 

I just saw some steel fenders for a 51 (I believe) on Ebay the other day.

 

I met this man in Charlotte and he had a few steel fenders. His name is Roger Allison. Phone # is 828 779-3280. He said he was somewhere in Ga. but I can't remember where. I have some F-6 fenders for sale and he said he might be interested when he comes through Columbia SC. again. I am putting fiberglass fenders on my 1948 F-1. We cut an F-6 down to F-1 size so I have the F-6 fenders rusting in my back fourty Good luck.

 

Hi Doraville!

Welcome to FTE...And hey, don't worry about asking dumb questions, it gives all of us the opportunity to use up all the dumb answers we have (which run about 10 to 1 against the goos ones).

You shouldn't have too much trouble find ing a set of decent rear fenders for your 51/52. But, here is a stranger question. Are you sure the fenders are just 53 or is the entire bed off a 53-56 series? It would actually be easier to mount the whole newer bed than just the fenders because of the length of the fenders off the 53.

Also, something to know is that most of the parts off the F1s are interchangeable from 48-52. BUT, Ford chanced the design of the bed in late 50 (maybe 51) from the stamped side to the flush side. So if you have a flush sides short bed on your truck, only rear fenders off a late 51 or 52 will work - the earlier ones had notches to fit the bed wont work.

Also, F1 fenders were 2 1/2 inches wider (each) than those from the larger trucks because the long beds were wider.

If you go on ebay on sunday after 7pm PDT, the guys parting out trucks usually post all their pulls from the weekend. Some guys will list a lot of parts which tells you they are cannabalizing a truck. If you see a lot of parts but not fenders ask them if they have any or will have any soon. Chances are they do but are just not listing them because of shipping costs or the like.

Good luck!

 

>Are you sure that you don't have a '53 bed also?

Dan,

Good question. I know that the fenders and tailgate are from a '53-up, but I don't think I know how to tell the difference with the bed. I have uploaded some photos in the gallery here.

Would you mind taking a look?

 

It's not a '51-52 half ton box. This era box doesn't have the big center pocket. To me it almost looks like a homemade box but it could be a '53 box and up.

 

Hi DV,

Well there's lots of weird things I see there. As Bob mentioned, there were no center pockets on the smooth side short beds (late 51 & 52 F1) There were center pockets on the long beds installed on the F2 and F3s. But these still had the panels on the bed sides and also the back wheel well protrusions into the bed. I cant see if yours has those or not - I doubt it since there are no panels either.

Funny thing I see abut this one also is it looks like the back fenders butt right up to the back stake pockets or may even be slightly flared into them. On the F1 short beds with the correct fenders on it there is usually about 1 1/2 inches between those. On th e53-56 short beds that was about 6 inches.

So, no matter what, the bed has been highly modified if not, as Bob mentioned, made from scratch. I don't have a source that gives me the dimensions of the 53 to 56 beds, but I think they were slightly wider (help me guys) than the 48-52s because the tailgates weren't interchangeable (I think). Here are the inside dimensions of an F1 short bed: 78.06" from front to roller pan; 49" wide from side to side; 20.25" from top of roller pan to the top of the beds rolled top edge; and, the tail gate (and thus the bed sides) were 17.56 inched from top to bottom. It was called the "6 1/2 foot pick-up." The "long bed" called the "8 Ft Express" Measured 96.05" from front to roller pan; 54" wide at the tail gate, 48.38 inches between the fender well indents; 21.73" from the top of the roller pan to the top of the rolled top edge; and the tailgate (and bed sides from roller pan to the flair) was 19.2 inches. Maybe these measurements can help.

The 53-56 beds I believe were used on step sides up to 1972! So getting dimensions from them shouldn't be too tough. According to the Parts and Accessories Illistrations catalogue for the 53 - 56, the 1/2 ton short bed didn't have the center pocket either. But the long bed had TWO center pockets and the wheel well indents into the bed. This may be a 53+ long bed that's had the tail chopped off of it.

There is one more give away I just noticed: On all the beds 51/51 F1-F3, and 53-56 short bed, the front panel comes up level with the rolled edge of the bed sides. Only on the 53-56 long bed did that panel only go as high as where the bed sides started to flair. I believe those back fenders were also used on all the Ford Step side to 1972 (along with the beds) so you might just have a later model bed on it. But, Liek th eman said, it's definately not a 51/52 short bed.

Maybe......(drum role please) "Number Dummy" has some books that show these beds better in their later form. Who has Bills Magic Lamp this week?

Looks like a pretty nice truck though!!!!

PS. Also, the sides of you r bed a re very tall. On my F1 there is only 3 1/2 inches from the top of the fender to the bottom of the flare.

 

That makes sense. The guy I bought it from told me that one of the people who came and looked at the truck told him that they thought it was a long bed that had been cut down.

The truck actually doesn't look too bad the way it is, but it's not what I want. I'm shooting for the "resto-rod" look that appears mostly stock on the outside but with updated drivetrain and interior.

Oh well, I guess I need to start looking for the whole bed.

Thanks guys.

 

They sell on e-bay every now and then, but you have to go pick them up. Also, LMC sells new repro beds I think they are around $1200 complete. You'll need running boards too! I see those on e-bay about once every two weeks.

 

Here are the diagrams from the catalogs for the late '50-52 F-1 box, the '48 to early '50 box has raised sides, and the F-2/F-3 8' Express box.



Here is the diagram for the '53-56 boxes:

 

Nice job Bob! Your one picture is worth my thousand words!

In typical Ford manual fashion you always seem to need about four books to ge tthe info you need for the whole picture. I got the dimensions for the F1 out of the salesmans handbook.

I wish I could find an easy way to scan those and download them onto the site....My power point wiring diagrams too.

 

Why would they have two types of short bed boxes? I can see the aesthetic differences between the two, but is there any functional difference?

Never mind... I see in the earlier post that the "Express Box" is what they call the long bed.

 

I just went and measured the bed, and it's bigger in every dimension. I'll bet it's a 53 long bed that has been cut down. They did a decent job...it's not real obvious where it's been cut. I would bet that they cut it off the tail end of the bed.

You know, all of this makes me want to double check the wheel base to make sure this isn't even more of a Frankenstein's monster. Does anyone know the wheel base of a '51 F1 off hand?