In my quest for a 67-72 F250 I came upon a 61 F250 4x4. I had but only a few minutes to eyeball it and it appears to be in decent shape but a couple items struck me as odd.

1. Standard front radius fenders, I was under the impression 4x's had the larger ones.

2. Matching bed, again I thought ALL of these shared the 57-60 style side bed. This one matched the cab style.

3. I cant remember if I saw it but I think but no in cab tank filler, I am sure these trucks had it. There was a hacked fuel fill opening in the side of the bed so I am thinking paranoid previous owner.

4. Front window/windsheild cracked and the guy kept going on and on about how easy they are to get, which makes me think their not. True?

He said 289 power but he was mistaken and it must be a 292, I recognized the exhaust manifold in my breif run around the truck. Runs good and he claims under 100k miles and the interior although old was original and in excellent shape. He is desperate for cash so I may get it, where do I look for rust and other issues when I get more time to poke at it? Thanks for the help.

 

If the bed wheel wells dont have a full radius opening...like the 57-60 style bed and had a rear lower body line that begins in front of the rear wheel opening and comes up and rearward to the end of the bed and wraps around...thats a 64-6 Styleside bed...no factory offered bed access aux. fuel tank. All did have in cab tank like 67-72 trucks.
Fenders...larger radiused fenders were 4WD only EXCEPT 1966 F100 4WD trucks...those also used the Styleside bed that matches the nose and cab body lines. Those trucks also had front coil springs as well unlike the other 4WD that had leafs up front. The 4WD cabs will have a large built in foot step with three ribs when you open the door...except the 66 F100 4WD which uses the 2WD cab used in 65 and 66. Those cabs also have the door sill area similar to the 67-72...narrow flat step area, no ribs, straight edge of the cab floor. Has same kickup at the rear part of the cab floor as the 67-72 trucks.
If the truck is an integral bodies truck...its not a factory 4WD...no integral bodied truck was ever outfitted for 4WD duty from the factory.
F100 4WD trucks VIN will begin F11, F250 will begin F26...tags on the driver door rear latch face on 64 up trucks, in the glovebox door on the earlier trucks. The VIN on 61-6 trucks is on the top surface of the passenger side frame rail about 12 inches or so in front of the engine crossmember...its about parallel with the alternator as you stand at the side of the truck. Early trucks will also have a generator...1964 trucks had BOTH as that was the transition year. 61-3 frames will have three front bumper holes in a triangular pattern on the front bumper face area, 64 up have 2 on top of each other.
You know the 292 it sounds like...2 studs up through each valve cover hold them on and the front crossover exhaust pipe as well.



Let me know what it actually ends up being if you look at it again...the last 6 of the VIN is the only positive way to determine the year of the truck as it also is how build date is determined as well.




- cs65

 

These old trucks have had so many owners and so many conversions in 50years...

Front windshield: any auto glass shop can get them approx $300

Side glass: can be found through the catalog sellers approx $100ea

Fenders on the F250 4x4 should have larger opening(they aren't larger in size though)

Yes it should have the refrigerator box bed but the matching bed it has is much better looking IMOA

Yes it should have the in the cab tank.


Some of the early 4x4 trucks are conversions. Some from other factories and some home grown. It could be a 1/2 ton truck with a body swap. It is hard to say without decoding the door plate.



RUST: it is inevitable. Floor boards can be rotted through, rear cab corners, cab mounts, radiator core support, bottom of fenders, etc. Anything can be fixed it is just a matter of what you want put into it.

 

Ford started making their own 4WD trucks in house starting with the 1959 model year....prior years were farmed out to builders to convert.



- cs65

 

First F150 = 1975 available with 2WD or 4WD.

1979 was the first year Ford offered F350's with 4WD.
----------------------------------------------------
The windshield is the same: 1961/66 F100/1100 / 1963/69 N/NT500/1000 / 1967/69 F800/1000 and is available as Clear, Tinted, or with a Sun Band from any autoglass shop.

Since the side windows are flat as a board, any autoglass shop can cut new ones from glass stock.

289 engines were installed in 1963/68 Passenger Cars/Ranchero's only.

The only available V8 in 1961/64 F100/250's was the 292 2V, its distributor is behind the carburetor.

All 1961/66's have the in-cab fuel tank. An auxillary fuel tank was not offered by Ford until 1967.

 

Thanks guys I'm going to try to get back over there to take more time, hopefully without him there. It's not a Unibody and there is a square hacked in the side of the bed for a gas fill. It had the rams horn exhaust manifold but it was dark and didnt get but a quick scan of the motor.
So the bed is not original, nor are the front fenders so I am looking at a converted or body swapped truck and his claimed one owner (family member of his) 70k miles is in doubt. Has the CA black plates so I hope that it will negate any major rust being a CA truck. Thanks again guys.

 

CA black plates were first issued in 1963, so where was the truck beforehand?

Commercial CA black plates were issued thru 1970, so depending on the letter sequence (before or after the 5 digit number), where was the truck beforehand?

People make a big "to do" over CA black plates, but that doesn't mean the vehicle was sold new in CA. One has to know when the sequence of black plates were issued, and by what specific DMV office.

How many FTE members know all a this jazz? One...that I know of.

btw: The odometers of trucks of this vintage read to 99,999.9 miles, then return to ZERO! So how many miles does the truck really have: 70,000, 170,000, 270,000 or?

I'll betcha it has at least 170,000 miles when you consider that over the past 49 years, if the seller claims it has 70,000 miles, that's an average of less than 1500 miles per year.

Private sellers can lie just as well as used car dealers and lawyers. Many people are gullible and believe everything the sellers claim, so some a them get stuck with rolling piles of misery aka money pits!

 

Rams horns are not stock on it either. Might not mean much, but could indicate an engine swap. Definitely not a 289, though. I guess you know the basics for identifying a Y? Valve covers held on with 2 nuts/studs and distributor in back, angled toward passenger side.

 

Rams horns and 283 cubic inches?

Look at the vin it will tell what was delivered fromt he factory.

Oh yea, I have been smacked around on the large opening fenders on all four wheel drives, I have seen at least 25 to 30 trucks of the 61 to 66 vintage with the small fender openings. F250 and F100s.

Garbz

 

Spoke to him about it yesterday and he is off his hard sell so I found out a few things. He put the black plates on because he thought it was cool "vintage look" he says, the truck is not registered and on non op but has a trail of previous owners that never transferred title. It's not this truck that was family owned but one just like it "was I not clear on that?" he says. He is still convinced that it is a 289 (he is less than knowledgeable about Fords) and I hate when memory fails me but I think it had the Y block but now he has me wondering, could be swapped. It has a saddle style tank mounted to the frame and the in cab tank is out but he has it and all the parts, was like that when he got it. I told him I would like to spend some time on it in the daylight and he agreed but wants some time to go over a few things, don't like the sound of that. The more I see this body style the more it grows on me even though it wont really suit my needs/desire, 67-72 tow vehicle, I think if we can make a deal I'll get it. Thanks for the input no need for me to worry much sounds like all the help I'll ever need on it is right here.

 

Since the seller initially "lied like a rug" inre to the black plates and so called family ownership, how much can you trust of what he claims now?

The cloudy title may be a real b!tch to register. Seller claims it's a non-op, but how do you know if that's true...or not?

Since the title hasn't been transfered in years, how could the seller get a non op for it, since his name isn't on the title?

The way to find out is...call the CA DMV's 800 number, and run the VIN.

 

He can lie all he wants because what I see is what I get, I am no stranger to old fords just never gone this old before. Essentially he said he has done everything up to getting the title and has a paper trail to prove it just needs to be weighed and vin verified to get a title in his name that he will sign and give to me. I am well schooled in DMV issues so I will know if it's a nightmare or not. I will get the VIN# and post it up for help deciphering. A new issue has come up and it is a serious blocker to new old Fords many of you may have to deal with it also it's called "The Wife".

 

LOL...thus the reason I dont have one anymore...one less issue to prevent me from getting my toys :-)


- cs65

 

Me neither! there a impediment for sure to goals in truck building. 9 years and counting!

Garbz

 

As garbz and cs65 stated above...this may be a new issue for you, but it's not for (pick one) some/most others.

"She, who must be obeyed" is in-famous for gumming up the works.