I drove this baby home today.

1964 Ford pickup

Not perfect but pretty dang close for being 50 years old.

Im the first owner outside of the family. 49,000 original miles they say. Pop's hobby was restoring trucks. He spent a lot of time and money on this one. H also has a 65 flareside with a brand spanking new 428CJ engine in it, the asking price on that is 25k, A guy offered 20k and they wouldn't take it. Pops passed and the misses wants to move into a condo so all must go.

Four safety issues I need to address:

1. No seatbelts.
2. Pops was getting old, I see missing bolts, like the ones for the rear of the seat mounts on both sides.
3. Brakes, they are in good condition but pull when braking moderately. Does a 64 have self adjusting drums?
4. 255/70R15s all the way around, its pretty tough to steer, Im thinking 235/75R15s on the front on 15x6 wheels.

No data plate on the door, Pops must have forgot it or lost it when he removed it for paint. I will have to locate and highlight the frame VIN so I can get it titled.

The 292 is pretty disappointing in the performance category. I drove it about 125 miles home today and it ran well but top speed was about 55 mph. I have no idea what gears are in it, Im crawling under it tomorrow and seeing if the tag is on the pumpkin.

My first y-block, Im going to have to do some reading and decide if I want to keep it or drop in a 302/AOD.

I was surprised that it has an automatic, pretty rare for a 64 flareside Im thinking.

Im happy, the misses is happy, my dogs are happy. Its been a good day.

 

congrats, y blocks rule keep it and be unique

 

I cant really decide what color it is.

No transmission cooler??? That's odd.

 

Awesome....

 

Congrats on the newest addition to the fleet. Looks great hopefully I'll be able to buy a one owner or family kept slick or bumpside they are usually the cleanest and almost original trucks to find because they're taken care of.

 

that is beautiful. wish i saw it first!

 

With the help of experts on here, I'm sure that you could come up with the info that would have been on the plate. If you have that, Marti Auto Works can make you a tag. I think this would be much more hassle-free.

 

Hop up that y-block.

They sound wicked with duals.

 

It took 1/2 the day but I located the VIN and it matches the title.

Everything I read said the frame stamp should be back by the firewall.

I found it the last place I looked (Because I quit looking when I found it) It was up by the generator on the outside of the rail. A couple of the stamps are very faint but they are all readable.

I never found the stamp that should be under the cab. The frame under the cab is very clean and is easy to see with a mirror. I followed it from the firewall to the bed, no VIN that I could find.

 

Pretty fancy! Yeah, I agree, if you don't like the Y, it ain't runnin' right, lol. Mine's geared a little low, but will cruise 80+ all day long no problem. They sound nice, too. Never understood why people want to dis the Y blocks.

You have drum brakes all around. They are "self adjusting", but they need attention now and then. The self adjustment is supposed to operate when braking firmly when traveling in reverse, backing up.

Steering should not be difficult except when at a dead stop, say when trying to parallel park. Other than that it should be nice and smooth. In some ways manual steering is superior to power steering, in my opinion. Oftentimes steering linkage, kingpins, gearbox has not been lubed for decades. This will make steering difficult.

 

Im guessing the oil bath and oem exhaust are killing the performance potential of the 292.

The 255/70/15s on the front are making the steering pretty challenging. I had to lay my chesseburger in the seat today to back out of a parking spot. 235/75s are on the way.

 

I run the OEM filter and exhaust on mine, it's not drag strip material but it will smoke the tires and there's no problem getting past 55.

 

Could be.

That mesh stuff in the top part of the oil bath air cleaners gets pretty gunked up and can be cleaned with kerosene.

Or....you could do this to it if you want to run a paper filter but keep the look of the oil bath.

'54 Ford Club of America - Forum • View topic - Converting an Oil-Bath Air-Cleaner to a Paper Filter.

This is example was done on a 55 Ford, but I think the conversion would be pretty universal.

 

Theres lots of room under the hood, I like a 14x6 paper element on a dropped base.

 

Nice looking truck! I have a 64 with the 292 and a 4 spd trans. 4:10 limited slip rear and back when it was my daily driver I would cruise 70 all day long on the highway and also would run 70 pulling a 2 place snowmobile trailer in the winter. And that was with the stock single exhaust and 2 bbl carb. If you could only get 55 there is something wrong. Do not dump the Y block, they are classic and belong in 64 and earlier trucks and trust me, done right they run! Check out my restore thread.