I live in eastern Iowa and just picked up a 1959 F-250 4X4 yesterday. It has a 292. The truck is out of Colorado and have VERY little rust. I have some general questions I was hoping you could help with.


1. BENCH SEAT: It looks like the bench seat had a fire at sometime. It is totally shot. What should I look for as a replacement?


2. BED: The bed is not attached to the frame. I'm assuming it can be bolted down. Is there a kit for this or can you tell me what bolt sizes I need?


3. MIRRORS: It is missing the outside mirrors. I like the factory ones and would like to find something similar. Are the available repo or are they the same on multiple years?


4. WHEELS/TIRES: What would have been the original style wheel and tires? Size? Suggestions on where to buy?


5. EXTERIOR BODY: Will fenders from other years work? Doors? Hood? Grille? Is there a difference between F-250 model and other series (ie F-100 fenders the same as F-250)?


Also, if anyone in the midwest area has parts available. I would be interested.

That's all I've got for now! I would appreciate any help or advice! Thanks, Dave. Shissler95@aol.com

 

An auto upholstery shop should be able to restore the original seats, put in new springs, padding, and covering, if you want to spend the money. Seats from '57 to '60, and somewhere into the 1960's Ford trucks are a bolt-in replacement if you can find a nice one. Almost any other seat could be a candidate, if you make adapters or drill holes, but watch out for width (since these trucks are narrower than more recent models), and seat back thickness (if you're tight for legroom).

Bed bolts: a place that sells replacement beds (Mar-K ?) may have bolt kits. Or just find some good grade carriage bolts locally.

Which factory mirrors? The fancy chrome ones are available, but the plain white mirrors on a stalk aren't as far as I know. Maybe you can just get a new mirror head and clean up the old arm and mount.

Tires... brochures should list the type, probably skinny bias ply tires with zig-zag treads. Modern A/T or M/T radials should be better for overall driving.

Most body parts should be the same, except maybe fenders.

 

1st, congrats on the 4x4 purchase, and welcome to the board.
sorry i can't answer any '59 questions exactly,
but i'd recommend in the future only asking a single (or related pair) question in one post, with a very clear title. lots of knowledge on this board, but everyone doesn't have time to open and read every thread.

also we all like pictures, much easier to explain/visuallize.....

just my .02

 

Sorry for all the questions in one post. I just got excited and wanted to learn as much as I could. I did several hours of searches on the forum before making my first post. It seems EXTREMELY hard to find information on these! (options, original equipment, etc.).


Any suggested reading would be great too. Any help with my questions above would be great too! Thanks!

 

nice truck by the way yor orginal wheels are 17 inches in diamter and hould have a 7.50x17 tire on them

 

Nice truck alright looks like a good project

 

Wow that's some cool 59 4x4. I can't remember when I last saw such an interesting looking project. Good luck. That's a good one. I have a 58--much modified and can't answer much specifically, but I'll check over your list. And welcome to the FTE list for sure. I was thinking you might get a big education about the specifics of your truck with some of the aftermarket suppliers. You don't necessarily have to buy from them, but they're a great base of knowledge and tell you sometimes what you have or should have that is missing etc. And they give you ideas too. And of course sometimes its good--like especially in your case with the less common 4x4-I would guess its less prevalent-that you might want to check out ebay etc for a factory manual of some kind. I've got one for my F1 and it comes in real handy. Here are a few aftermarket truck people, some of the catalogs are on line and some mail you a catalog for free and some mail you a catalog if you pay them a few bucks. This isn't a complete list, but these are the catalogs that are handy for me at the moment:
LMC Truck 1-800-541-8525
NPD National Parts Depot 1-800-521-6104
Hot Rod's Classic Truck Parts www.hotrodstrucks.com
Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts 57-66 cat www.dennis-carpenter.com
Sacramento Vintage Ford www.vintage-ford.com


Good luck
Tom

 

Welcome to the sight. Nice looking truck. I have a sixty that wished it was a 4x4. Can't help but notice the way your front bumper is sloped, hopefully a bent bracket?? I can see lots of fun memories ahead...

 

I can tell you that in general the 58-60 are unique because you've got the 4 headlights. And also that these years are not nearly so popular with suppliers of aftermarket stuff. There is lots of aftermarket support for the earlier F1's and also for the F100's thru 56-You can build the whole truck if you want, but once a person gets to 57-60 I guess they didn't sell so many? or that not as popular with collectors etc? I don't know. I don't take it personal, but in building my 58 I was pretty happy when I could find a replacement part available. I have a styleside(no rear fenders) bed and just this last year finally found someone -Dennis Carpenter -who now sells a replacement tailgate--And yes its more expensive than the 56F100's etc who have had replacement tailgates available as long as I can remember--and in many different configurations-custom/etc. and for less money too. So we don't share in the economy of scale as some of the more plentiful or popular trucks.

Just to look at the pictures of your truck make me think the body work looks like any other 59--F100 or F250, but I could be wrong. I know the badging of course is different, and maybe there is some difference in trim--but it looks like the same body to me.

When I look at the Sacto Ford catalog I see that they sell the same front fender repair panel for 1957-60. And this is pretty common when I was looking for 58 stuff. For sure your hood is different. There seem to be lots of changes in the hoods during this era, and like I said you've got the 4 headlights-a 57 has pretty much the same body, but a different grill and only 2 headlights. But like I said the fenders look the same and I think the doors are likely the same as well. The tailgates often look the same, but don't trust your eyes. You've got to measure. There are slight differences in height and width in these later tailgates

Most of these catalog outfits sell replacement kits for you upholsery--if you want that. I've only bought the OEM style rubber mats, but it fits great and I'm pleased that its available. If you want to buy a upholsery kit and repair the OEM style upholstery you can or you could buy the kit and take it to a pro or? etc

I hope your seat metal springs etc are pretty good. I know they can replace a few springs, but I don't know when the outer perimemter breaks and everything is all rusted bad etc--I don't know about fixing that. And unfortunately I've seen lots of cool seats available for sale on ebay etc--I was looking for one for my F1--but when I found a good used one-it was clear across the country and that's a big, clunky expensive thing to ship and I couldn't see the shipping cost. I finally found one on Craigs list just over the hill from where I live, but I had to pay too much for it and its not great. Better than what I had, but nothing like some of the seats for sale in Missouri or wherever--but I'm in California and the shipping was a couple hundred or?

Oh by the way if you ever have to rewire/replace or? your headlight relay etc, I had to "go to school" on that one already and get back to me if you get stuck. There's a specific relay and it can all be a little confusing. I'd have to check my notes, but I've got the notes, and the headlights and tailights--they all work.

Good luck Tom

 

Welcome aboard, you have a very neat truck!
The F250 front fenders may have larger wheel openings.

 

Dave

Welcome to FTE & it's always nice to see another '57-'60, "Orphan Years" truck owner.

Most of the questions you've got have been answered already by other members.

There are actually 4 different styles of Factory installed Mirrors, the Round Chrome ones & 3 difference Trailer styles, Telescopic w/ round or rectangular mirror, Non-telescopic s.a.a. & Tri-mounts i.e West Coast style.

The F/M-250's came w/ several sizes of Rims/Tires;

Tire size & Ply rating
6.50x16----6
7x17.5----6
8x17.5----6 & 8
8x19.5----8

Now this is for Informational purpasses so you know the Body Differences between the '57-'58 year sets & the '59-'60 year sets.

"The '57-'58 F/M-series trucks will swap perfectly between themselves & '59-'60 F/M-series trucks will swap perfectly between themselves, But not between the two Sets of Year Models.

The '57-'58s F/M-series trucks have the ROUND Turn Signals, the Wider Lower Fender section for the Round T/S, Taller Grille, Narrower Grille/Vallance set-up & Shallow Peak Hood.

The '59-'60s F/M-series trucks have the RECTANGULAR Turn Signals, Narrower Lower Fenders for the Rectangular T/S, Shorter Grille, Wider Grille/Vallance set-up & Progresively Deeper Peak & Taller Upper Sections on the Hoods.

Because of these Body changes between year Sets, if one wishes to incorporate singular Front Cap parts from either of the 2 Year Sets, one has a Great deal of Body work ahead of themselves to do, because it will be necessary to either Fill-in the Gaps between the Sheet Metal or get rid of Sheet Metal no longer needed from the swap.

Plus the Peaks on the '59-'60 Hood are To Deep for a Proper fit w/ the '57-'58 Grilles, as they will not close or if one manages to force the fit, they'll Rub horridly.

The only way to avoid this is either to leave your truck the way it came out of the Factory or Swap-out the Complete Front Cap between the 2 Year Sets."

For Interiors, besides the Black ('57-'58) & White ('59-'60) *****, the '57-'58s had Horn Buttons (H/B) & the '59-'60s had Horn Rings (H/R) & a New style steering wheel that fit it.

Mechanicals, Frames, Cabs, Interiors (except for ***** & h/b's) are all interchangable between the '57-'60 years models (except for the front caps between the '57-'58 year sets & the '59-'60 years sets).
__________________

 

Dave

Welcome to FTE & it's always nice to see another '57-'60, "Orphan Years" truck owner.

Most of the questions you've got have been answered already by other members.

There are actually 4 different styles of Factory installed Mirrors, the Round Chrome ones & 3 difference Trailer styles, Telescopic w/ round or rectangular mirror, Non-telescopic s.a.a. & Tri-mounts i.e West Coast style.

The F/M-250's came w/ several sizes of Rims/Tires;

Tire size & Ply rating
6.50x16----6
7x17.5----6
8x17.5----6 & 8
8x19.5----8

Now this is for Informational purpasses so you know the Body Differences between the '57-'58 year sets & the '59-'60 year sets.

"The '57-'58 F/M-series trucks will swap perfectly between themselves & '59-'60 F/M-series trucks will swap perfectly between themselves, But not between the two Sets of Year Models.

The '57-'58s F/M-series trucks have the ROUND Turn Signals, the Wider Lower Fender section for the Round T/S, Taller Grille, Narrower Grille/Vallance set-up & Shallow Peak Hood.

The '59-'60s F/M-series trucks have the RECTANGULAR Turn Signals, Narrower Lower Fenders for the Rectangular T/S, Shorter Grille, Wider Grille/Vallance set-up & Progresively Deeper Peak & Taller Upper Sections on the Hoods.

Because of these Body changes between year Sets, if one wishes to incorporate singular Front Cap parts from either of the 2 Year Sets, one has a Great deal of Body work ahead of themselves to do, because it will be necessary to either Fill-in the Gaps between the Sheet Metal or get rid of Sheet Metal no longer needed from the swap.

Plus the Peaks on the '59-'60 Hood are To Deep for a Proper fit w/ the '57-'58 Grilles, as they will not close or if one manages to force the fit, they'll Rub horridly.

The only way to avoid this is either to leave your truck the way it came out of the Factory or Swap-out the Complete Front Cap between the 2 Year Sets."

For Interiors, besides the Black ('57-'58) & White ('59-'60) *****, the '57-'58s had Horn Buttons (H/B) & the '59-'60s had Horn Rings (H/R) & a New style steering wheel that fit it.

Mechanicals, Frames, Cabs, Interiors (except for ***** & h/b's) are all interchangable between the '57-'60 years models (except for the front caps between the '57-'58 year sets & the '59-'60 years sets).
__________________

 

Thanks for all the information! This is great! This is all new to me. My last project was a 1970 BOSS 302, much easier (be a bit more expensive) to find parts and documentation. I guess these trucks are pretty old and "Orphan Years" is right! It's like the aftermarket parts companies forgot them...

Does anyone have any specific suggestions for wheels/tires to give the original skinny tire look? I was thinking 17.5 or around there. 19.5" may be overboard for me. The picture below motivated me to buy this truck. I've got a ways to go!

 

Hey welcome to the site looks like a great project truck. I would love to restore one myself but unfortunatly there are so few around worth restoring. Lucky you. Good Luck on your truck. Lots off hard work ahead but in the end its always worth it.

 

That appears to be the original (optional) grille guard. I've seen a picture in the Ford accessory catalog, but I don't think I've ever seen one on a real truck before.

These make great looking 4x4s... rent "Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre III)" to see a '59 flareside, and "Nightmare On Elm Street IV" to see a '59 styleside. Sadly the trucks don't look so great by the end of the movies...