Last year we started looking for an effie for the wife to drive. I have my 55 Ford Fairlane and she has always wanted a truck for her. Unfortunately, everything we looked at was wrong. Too fast, too many little scratchs, wrong color, etc. So I started looking for a project. We found a 54 f100 in Rio Linda, right down the highway from us. The owner hadspent ten years and lots of money on it and had finally given up on the idea of ever finishing. It had a completely rebuilt 67 Mustang 289/c4. It also had a volarie front end and a 9" rearend from a 78 Lincoln Versilles with disk brakes. It ran great, but the bed and body needed lots of work. Minor rust, but lots of dents and bondo. The seller threw in an extra trans, a new windshield, new door rubbers, spare, and much more. We loaded the bed down, after making the deal, and the wife and I headed home with her following in the mini van. After about a mile, we hit a stopsign and I got a strong wiff of smoke. I thought the thing was on fire and was going to burn down right there on the side of the road! As I got out I saw the large cloud of smoke coming from the rear fender wells. In her usual understated manner, my wife pointed out to me that she was noticing some smoke coming from the rear of the truck. The truck only had three leaf springs on each side and with all the extra weight, the fenders were rubbing on the extrawide TA Radials. We transfered some of the weight to the van and managed to limp the rest of the way home. That was eight months ago. The new fenders and bed will be installed soon and the truck will be ready for the painter. After a Rod Door interior and new matched smoothies with 255 70s, it should be ready for cruising. John

 

In 1948 my Grandfather started our family business. We make oil field controls (valves, level controls, thermostats, etc.) for the production of oil and gas. My Grandfather held several patents and the product he started the company with revolutionized the gas pressure control industry.

Fast forward 55 years to 2003.

We are a healthy company with about 250 employees. We sell product all over the world and continue to be innovators in our industry. About a year ago I was promoted to Vice President of Manufacturing and my brother was made Vice President of Operations. Our father is the Executive Vice President and our Gradfather still serves as President (90 years old!) Over the last 20 years or so the company had kind of lost sight of what we are good at. We are innovators. So we have been attempting to revitalize that spirit. I was speaking to the employees at our monthly meeting and was talking to them about this and recalling our heritage and that we kind of wanted to play up on that, sort of retro. Well that word caught the attention of several of the guys in the shop. Later that day they came to me with the idea to buy and restore a 1948 Ford F-1 (we use Ford 150 and 250 trucks exclusively in our business and have about 25 of them in the fleet).

It turns out that the 1948 Ford F-1 was sort of an innovation itself. Bonus Built, new designs, better comfort, better quality, etc. We thought it was a great parallel to our story and would be a great marketing tool.

We scrounged around and found a 48 F-1 not far from Oklahoma City (where we are) and bought it. It ran (flat V8, not original but very old) and was driveable for about 2 days until the guys got their hands on it.

Now it is in a million pieces all over the warehouse and we are well on the way to a complete rebuild. Our goal is for it to look basically stock from the outside, but to be updated mechanically. So far the list of improvements:

New 451 with AOD tranny
Holly fuel injection (single point)
Ford 9" Rearend from '71 F-100
New rear leaf springs custom made locally
Dakota IFS from Industrial Chassis and a donor '80 something Dodge
(we drilled new front rotors filled the old holes and pressed in new studs to create 5x5.5 bolt circle on Dakota rotors to match the rear)
Power steering
Ididit tilt column with shift and digital shift indicator
Dakota Digital cruise control
Westach gauges (4" speedo, 3" tach, 3"quad in custom billet dash insert)
Everything underneath will powdercoated, painted or undercoated
Everything on top will be stainless (bumpers, trim, bolts, etc) chrome or Ford red.
We are putting in an aluminum plank bed with ss strips
Spare tire carrier from 2000 or later F-150 (crank down and up!)
Saddle gas tank in front of rear axle with filler in front part of rear fender
Power windows (keeping the vents!) using Autoloc window crank switch to hide the fact
ALL new electrical, wiring, switches, etc.
New wheels (Vintique probably)

So that's our story so far. My brother has always been a car nut. Several of the guys in our shop have rebuilt and restored several cars and trucks (mostly c***y) and we have a complete manufacturing facility and can make or repair almost anything. So far this has been a great thing for our guys. They love working on the truck, even those who aren't actively involved keep track of what is going on, and everybody is waiting for a ride!

We have already gotten lots of great info from this board. You guys are great and we really appreciate your help and advice.

That's our story, email if you want to know anything else.

 

Alright, I'm gonna cry!

48inokc is rebuilding his truck from the ground up and his company is paying for it!!! The whole load!!

Do you need another brother? I could be your brother in charge of Materials and Planning!

 

Greetings Guys ,
My story starts back a few years ago ,
Since I've been a collector for . . ... well : Since 1981
My first F-1 was rather short lived , since I stripped off the paint in order to
do a tilt front ........ that rusted out in no - time !!!
About another two years later ( 1984 )
I traded off a nice 1955 Chev fleetside for the 1951 F-1 short narrow box truck
Wasn't pretty , but it would go like it was a reincarnated mustang !
Had the 302 block with the small - cavity heads off of a 289 !
Someone figured it was pushing 11.5:1 compression ......
Of course I didn't & still don't know if that was just some cool sort of numbers the toss out , but It made me feel good , just the same ;-)
The trans was a four on the floor , the stick was R E A L L Y - S H O R T !!!!
two bucket seats mounted on 2 X 4 bracings . . . . . .
Took me from Portland , Oregon to Columbus Georgia in what would figure out to be
less than 24 hours , only getting pulled over once !!!!!
The Officer was impressed - enough ( I'm guessing ) that he just gave me a verbal
warning , letting me know that I'll get there in one piece & live to brag another day ;-)
. . . . . . . . . .I ended up selling that truck a few years later ,
after I reasoned that because it had sat for about one year ;
I guess I don't need it so much ...... may as well sell 'im .

The ink wasn't even dry on the title / I was certainly regretting it already !

Now last year ( 2013 )
I was making arrangements for another truck to be fixed up @ the body & fender
shop ;
The shop owner thought he'd be funny by opening the garage - door
to show off another customers's truck ;

Turned out to be a fine looking 1951 F-1 Panel delivery truck !!!!
I bought It ON THE SPOT !!!!
Of course it took him an hour to have the customer call me back .

Then I was simply on a mission to get the body pounded back into shape .
I was in charge of dismantling as well as putting it all back together , once
that paint was finally applied .
from the time I bought it til now has been 8 months and the to do list is
growing much smaller by the week .
. . . . . . . this is the truck that the old one just couldn't have been ,
aside from the memories .

This one is full of Stainless , a few of the ol' details that I remember from the
1st one ........ the one I call " the original " .......
The Original old oak wood work , reworked in order to show off the wood grain .
The old fuel filler is now hidden behind a hinged panel .
I nearly gave up on finding the wind-wing - vents .......
only to be able to be thankful for the internet for helping to " find " those parts
that may not be found otherwise ;-))

All for now ,
Tim

 

My story starts at a truck show about 30 miles from home . I had recently finished a 1950 Dodge pick up and had it in the show . Just to test the waters I put a for sale sign in the window . Late in the day a fellow was standing by the truck and I ask if he was interested . He said no , but by the phone number on the for sale sign he knew I lived near him . He had bought a 1926 Buick body at the swap meet and wanted to know if I would truck it home for him . Well the Dodge had fresh paint and a nice red oak wood floor , that I didn't want scratched up . But I told him if he found a tarp to put in the bed I would take it to his house . We got loaded up and he is going to ride with me as he had gone to the show with some buddies . On the way home , we are talking cars and I say that I had always wanted a panel . He tells me about a friend of his with a panel that is for sale . I called the guy and find the panel has been sold . Two months later I buy a 1963 Rancharo and start the rebuild . About 4 months later I get a call from the guy with the panel . The deal had fallen through and did I still want the truck , Well I told him no as I had the Rancharo . My wife asked me what the call was about, and she said I should at least go look at it . So we go and look , it is apart sitting on jack stands , but body is pretty good and the 239 y block runs . She decides that I should get it . 2 years later the Dodge,Rancharo,and Z3 are gone and the panel is on the road . 5 years and 23000 miles later , it is still my daily driver . All because I gave a old Buick a ride home .

 

I had been talking about getting an old truck for a couple of decades, at least. But raising kids and all that other "life" stuff never allowed it to go beyond talk. But then one day the kids were gone and life was a little more manageable.

My son, who also lives in Riverside, got a job farther from home and decided to take the local train service to a station near his place of business instead of fighting the horrible traffic every day. He wanted to buy a daily driver to keep at the destination station so he could drive it the few blocks to work and back to the station each day. His wife found a "1951 F1" on Craigslist 26 miles away so he went to check it out. The battery was dead, but it started when jumped. It ran out of gas while he was sitting in it in the driveway. Turns out it is an F4, not F1. The guy said he'd charge the battery and get some gas if my son could come back tomorrow.

I was on vacation that week, and my son asked me if I wanted to go look at this old truck with him. So, when we got there, the battery had not been charged and it was still out of gas. The sellers' son went to get some gas, and when the battery was jumped again, she fired right up. But the 226 wouldn't idle. I tried to adjust the idle down, but it always stalled at around 1,500 rpm.

I told my son the carb probably needed to be rebuilt or replaced. My son suspected it had widow makers on it (thanks to Stu McMillan), it had no lights and the wiring was bare everywhere it could be seen. I told my son it would probably take several months to make it drivable. We never drove it, or we would have discovered it had no brakes! So, he gave up on it and we drove home.

I explained what happened to my wife when I got home, never saying anything about "me" getting the truck.

The next morning, out of the blue she says "You can get that truck if you want it." I was shocked, and said "Let me think about it. OK." So we drove back that afternoon and got the truck I now call Betsy. The seller drives a tow truck, and offered to tow it the 26 miles to my house for $50, so I took him up on it. The truck hadn't been registered since '79, so that trip home was actually illegal since the rear wheels were touching a CA road.

That was July 21, 2011. I first drove Betsy in December of 2012. I got lucky with this truck for several reasons, considering how little I knew about old trucks at the time. And I'm learning more every time I work on her.
FTE has been a blessing.

 

About six years ago I was elbow deep in doing the restoration of a '57 Chevy. One morning I got a call from a neighbor who owns a deli/convenience store. One of his regulars came in for coffee and to shoot the breeze. This guy was trying to sell an old Ford truck and all he was getting was a bunch of whackos and no-shows. He was fed up and said if anyone there wanted it to just come and get it for free. The shop owner looked up my number in the phone book and called me.
"A guy here has an old Ford truck that he wants hauled off"
me - "I have no room for another vehicle, no money and no time..........But what is it?"
"He says a 1951 Ford"
me- let me turn on the computer - hold on a second"
"He says take it or leave it"
me-(after looking at Google images of '51 trucks) "I'll take it!"

Turns out the truck after seeing it in person was a disaster. The owner had been driving it and the engine seized. So it got hauled into the back of a city parking lot where it sat for five years. In that time, aside from continuing to rust, it was inhabited by crack-heads, homeless bums, and others who used the cab as a shelter and a toilet.
I hauled it home anyway - not sure what my wife would think.
The cab roof was stomped in, all the glass was broken, the cab floor was rotted through. There was used underwear, McDonald's cups and empty crack baggies under the seat. The bed and rear fenders were gone and replaced with a wooden structure.
The front fenders had rust holes big enough to pass a loaf of bread through. The wheels didn't match. It had 12v wiring that was scary to even look at. Various patches, jury-rigs and clown engineering was present.
It sat in my yard for three years (under a tarp) before I started to look it over and get serious about finding parts. Now it has become my primary project and I hope to have it complete by the end of this summer.
The truck, back in the 80's and 90's was used by an outdoor puppet theater group who put all their gear in it and used it in parades.

Tom