O.k. I'm taking a poll
We all put lots of time and money in our trucks but I'm finding that I really need to use mine (like a truck). I would hate to scratch the bed paint up badly but I need to make landfill runs, etc...but I'm taking some heat for using it that way...
? Use a truck like a truck...or keep the white gloves on and baby it?
yes...or...no
thanks, Ed

 

Ed, I would say no hauling. Mine looks similar to yours, and if I wanted to haul stuff in it, i wouldn't have spent such time and money on the finish. I guess that's easy for me to say as I have another late model truck and a trailer. SAILBOAT FUEL ONLY!! Your 54 turned out great, BTW.

 

Since my truck is nowhere near being a thing of beauty I voted for "Use it". Right now I have no problems tossing stuff in the bed. If and when I sink all the time, effort, and cash into the bed then I would think twice about hauling stuff...........(sailboat fuel.....lol...I like that)

Bobby

 

I put a rubber mat on the floor of the coe and use pads for the sides..

 

Right now I plan on using mine for a truck, just be careful what I put in it. Later after I have been able to go through it fixing all the body work and bed work, I will be alot more careful what I put in it. I will be putting a trailer hitch on it so if I need to haul anything major I will borrow my brother-n-law's trailor. Hope to have my truck looking like e william's.

 

OK I have one thats a "hide and baby it". But I have otheres if need be they will get used.
To be honest I dont like putting stuff in the bed of my 05 F150 ( its too hard to load and get out). Thats why I bought the 16 foot trailer.

Kevin Bigwin

 

Mine is getting a 302, AOD automatic, 9" rear, power discs and engineered deck 'wood' for the bed. I wanted modern running gear but no lowering or doing anything to the exterior that would make it look less than 1952. It will be used as a pick up. My trailer is ok behind the Bronco but life just sucks without a working pick up.
Mike

 

Not having either one of my '53s any ways near done I have not had to make the dreaded decision. However I do face this delimma with my '03 F-350 dually diesel. It was the most I ever paid for a truck when I got it and after a few additions to make it the way I wanted it the register cha-chinged at 50K. In addition to being too darn much money to start with, it is bay far the most plush and luxurious vehicle I have ever owned. I do use it to tow my trailers and my camper. The bed is Rhino lined and I keep a bed mat in it too. It has a really nice Jason cap on it so there isn't a lot that gets hauled in the bed that would be considered nasty stuff. Last year I bought a Bridgeport milling machine about 160 miles away from home We took off the cap and I hauled the mill home. I set it on two 4 X 6's on the rubber mat and secured it with cross tied heavy duty ratchet straps. That is the biggest thing I ever hauled in it and there were a lot of people who saw it and couldn't believe I did that, They were even more surprised when I did it again in less than six months and I also was pulling a trailer with a 6,000# LeBlonde lathe on it. That trip was for one of my friends.

My point in all this is that I think you can have it both ways with precautions. The first of my '53s is currently planed as a light duty 4WD with moderate off road capabilities. I will build a bed with all the looks of a stock bed but the interior will be 1/8' tread plate floor and sides with ample tie dowms to secure anything heavy. At the same time I plan on making it look nice with a little bling here and there. I don't plan on beating it around. I have a '93 E-350 diesel long wheel base van that I have had since it was new. It has 256K on it now and is starting to look a little rough. It is still good solid safe transportation. It is a cargo van with tie downs and a plywood floor which has probably hauled a thousand of those cargo baskets and containers as well as cement blocks and about everything else you could think of putting it it. It has a ver heavy duty set of roof top racks on it. I use it when I go buy steel and load the 20' and 24' steel on the top and I can put 8' and 10' flat sheets inside. It will carry up to 6,000#. It has just enough dings and scratches that I don't worry about going to the dump or the scrap yards with it and it can pull a heck of a trailer load. If the thing died tomorrow it wouldn't owe me a thing but I sure would miss it.

I would have to say that if you have a really nice showy truck that you want to keep that way, either take extreme precautions when hauling or get a beater that is big, ugly and safe. They aren't all that expensive if you look in the right places. I only keep liability insurance on the old stuff because they wouldn't give you what you paid for the full coverage. Added on to the rest of my fleet it doesn't cost that much. Now if I could only find a way to get a cheap license for it. Yeah, right...

Later ...

 

Mine was intended to be a driver.. the paint may change/has changed the plan...

I bought a new flatbed trailer to haul her on.. then when I saw the paint, I discovered that I didn't dare expose her to rocks & other debrie.. so I sold the flatbed and bought a closed trailer.

Sam

 

We rebuilt our 58 with the bed insides undercoated (before Rhino liner type products) and put a rubber mat on the floor so that hauling was not out of the question. I don't use it much but I do use it for Home Depot runs and the like. The only thing I won't use it for is landfill runs!

Lou Manglass

 

I nearly never ever mess up a truck--hauling anything. I use a tarp...or carpet and also have a 1/2 dozen trailers to use.
If you do not use your new truck to haul...You might as well have a van.....and I have 1 of them too.
Old trucks --are really cool hauling stuff down the road and a part of Americana!!
Just use a trailer if you are going to the dump...or hauling manure.....LOL
I vote to use the truck....but use caution not to ding or scratch it up!!! Bill

 

Hey Bill,
Do you really get that manure to haul??? Is that how you cleann the family privy ???



Later Man...

 

Mine is currently a driver and I can haul small clean thngs in it but when I get it painted and the wood bed installed I won't be hauling anything in it but air. I used soft springs in the rear to make it ride smoothly so the hauling capacity has been drastically reduced anyway. Besides, I have my Dodge Dakota to do any heavy hauling...

 

well i have my 64 F250 4wd i drug out of a buddies coral and there isnt a straight panel on it and it has a flatbed on it and ill haul anything or go anywhere in it. My 59 when done will also have a flatbed and i will use it to haul whatever i need. course this is on a home built flatbed not a nice shiny box

 

Dave--that privy is 150 plus years old and a real piece of ''Americana''
And I hauled manure many times in my 56 with my Grandpa,and it is some Good memories.
I had the spare tire mounted in the bed, and we both had pitch -forks and I blew-out the spare-tire with the pitch-fork and Grandpa laughed and we both started laughing....it was one of ''those moment''...LOL
I also hauled my ''WELLS INDEX MILL'' from Philadelphia to my place with my 78 f250 super-cab dually and tied it to the 5th wheel hitch and it didn't get a scratch.....but I have hauled machine-tools for many moons.
Bill