After owning many newer Ford Trucks (1989-2006) I am now the still somewhat supprized part-owner of the 1966 F-600 w/ aprox. 2700 original miles you see below. It was purchased new by the Riceville, IA Fire Department May of '66.

The Truck has a Laverne Pumping body on it that is supposed to hold 750 gallons of water. It was in used up until reciently & is supposed to be in working order still.

A friend noticed it being offered on sealed bids while driving through Riceville 2 days before bids were due. I drove out to Riceville to submit our bid before the 5pm dead line this past Monday. Needless to say, Tuesday morning I received a call notifying me that we had submitted the winning bid.

The truck fun to drive! All of the spot lights are funtional along with the rotary red light & siren. The Steering is manual (first vehicle I have driven equipped as such) but is amazingly easy for such a large truck. I have a feeling that that is due the gearing - takes a lot of revolutions to turn a corner. Another first for me on this truck is having a manual engine choke and throttle set lever. The 330 v8 runs really good, but is held back a bit by the 4 speed transmission (granny 1st) and single speed rear axle. Driving it last night I was reminded how much I miss the floor dimmer on newer vehicles.

For a truck that is 43 years old, It is in amazing condition. Most 5 year old vehicles have more rust than this truck!!

I have included a photo of the door tag so that Possibly some one can decode it for me.

Well that's about all I have for now - is getting pretty late.

Looking forward to learning all that I can about my new/old Ford!

T. J.

 

I see 4 HUGE pictures (can you possibly reduce them a bit?). But...where is the pic of the Warranty Plate?

 

Hmmm... That's odd - I guess I missed it. I uploaded the photos the "Photo Album" section and then linked to this thread. apparently the are not re sized/shrunk like when uploading to the "galleries".

Trying the warranty Tag again:



Apologies fore the large size - I've removed them and re sized to 640x480 - hopefully that is small enough.

And if that wasn't bad enough - I see that I have left the "r" out of Purchased in the title of this thread.

T. J.

 

F60 = F600 2WD.

D = 330 2V Heavy Duty FT Engine.

K = Kansas City Assembly Plant.

807613 = 1966, assembled January 1966.

174 = 174" Wheelbase.

J = Rangoon Red.

F602 = F600 2WD / 20,000 lbs. GVWR

481: 4 = Medium Beige Crush Vinyl & Medium Beige Wicker Pattern Vinyl // 81 = 81A Standard Cab.

A = New Process 435 4 Speed Manual Transmission.

62C:

62 = Timken Model F106N Rear Axle / 6.20-1 / non Limited Slip / 15,000 lb. Rear Axle Capacity.

C = Rockwell-Timken Front Axle / 6,000 lbs. Front Axle Capacity.

20,000 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.

164 Net HP @ 3800 RPM.

520893:

52 = Des Moines IA Ford District Sales Zone Office, where the original selling dealer ordered the truck from.

0893 = Domestic Special Order number.

 

Wow, that is awesome. I see some parades in your future. I imagine it was mostly kept inside which means little or no rust. Care to share what you had to give for a brand new truck! Some new hoses and you have your own volunteer fire department.

 

Wow, what a great looking truck, prior owner(s) must have been giving it some TLC. Suspect to see it at a Ca Auto Shows. I like it!!

 

WOW! That is one nice looking truck.

 

CA auto shows? That's kinda far doncha think?

Heck, one round trip from IA will double the original miles, considering that....

The OP lives in IA and says this truck has 2700 actual miles.

 

Absolutely Beautiful! Stupendous! Amazing! are only a few words that come to mind.
I hope you plan to show it off, Great find.

 

Iowa, is'nt that just north of Oxnard. Imagine u are correct, although have seen some of these vintage truck enthusiast who travel some distances and tour the auto show circuit to display their trucks. Anyhow, not sure one would be able to drive fire truck on public roads w/out a day pass from DMV, would be interesting to know. Even better, inquire if it's possible to register the truck as volunteer Fire truck status for unincorporated areas. In the meantime, can only hope T. J. gets bored showing it off in parades and county fairs and decides to travel and share with the rest of us truck enthusiast. Wow, 2700 mi's, that's a heck of alot of fires.

 

Thanks NumberDummy for Decoding the Warranty tag!

Driving this truck on the road, it seems to like about 45mph - it will go 55mph but if my math is right with the 6.20-1 rear axle, that would equal about 2800ish RPM. There is a tachometer on the pumper body, but it would be pretty hard to look at that while driving. With that in mind, I don't think we will venture too far out of the home area with it.

We are the second owners of this truck & I don't think that it has been this far away from Riceville since it was purchased new.

I don't think that there will be many parades in the area left yet this year, but we will hopefully get it in at least one before the summer is over. Should be fun!

An interesting item of note on the 2731 and some odd miles the truck has on it: The pump is power by a transfer case that is divorced from the rear of the transmission. the red lever in the cab in the photo above switches the transfer case between ether power to the rear axle or power to the pump. There is a tag on the dash stating "Pump in 4th" which would be 1:1 through the transmission. There is also a note out side that states that 43mph is equal to 24xx RPM. In a nut shell - whether the truck was driving down the road or pumping water at a stand still - it was racking up miles. So of the miles that are on the odometer, I bet not too many are from actually driving on the road!

The important thing now is to find storage for the old truck. I know that it wont last long if it has to stay out side after being inside its whole life thus far. If we are unable to find somewhere to put it shortly, I think that we will probably try to sell it to some one who appreciates what it is and can give the truck a roof over its head & the care it deserves.

 

Look into getting one of those portable garages made out of a vinyl type material that have zippered doors.

Look in Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, or in other enthusiast car/truck type magazines for the vendors that sell them.

Prices begin at around a C note for the smallest one car type. You should park this truck on a concrete or packed gravel slab, not on dirt or grass.

 

Very nice Truck You can tell its been Garage kept
Looks like the rubber is good........Beware..... It has Widowmakers on it, (5degree Firestone Wheels) They are dangerous, and you probably won't find anyone that will work on them.
Time to start a casual search for some Regular Lockring welded 20" wheels, so you can re-use your good tires.

Greg

 

Very nice Truck You can tell its been Garage kept
Looks like the rubber is good........Beware..... It has Widowmakers on it, (5degree Firestone Wheels) They are dangerous, and you probably won't find anyone that will work on them.
Time to start a casual search for some Regular Lockring welded 20" wheels, so you can re-use your good tires.

Greg

 

I am interested in purchasing your fire truck.