Hey lately I have been searching for a 38-47 half ton. I prefer the 38-39 and 42-47 grills. Most of these ads online are wrong or the truck is a lot of work I don't want at the moment. If any of you know where a decent running truck is let me know. I don't want a $20000 truck either. I like the patina on the older trucks.

 

Posting your location would help in your search.

 

Weird I thought I have on my profile. I am in Highlands Ranch Colorado.

 

Some have discussed a 'nationwide Craigslist search'. Sounded difficult so I just look in surrounding cities or further out, but only in dry climates of course. You are in a good area.

 

You might try the Ford Barn. There are a couple of guys from Colorado that I have dealt with about my '39 pick up. Post a wanted ad and see what pops up.

 

Yea I guess best I can do is post some want ads. A guy in North Dakota has a lot of old trucks and cars but I am not sure if the drive up there would be worth it.

 

I just remembered seeing this a month ago on CL Montana. Good patina, good runner and it's still listed. Once you get it to a more populated area, it will be worth quite a bit more than that. No affiliation with this seller. https://montana.craigslist.org/cto/4826482667.html

 

I looked at that one a month ago or so (also on CL not in person) and the price has been cut by $2k since then.

 

Ah interesting I did see that on Craigslist well. I wish he had more pictures though. I found this today which could be a good truck. 1938 Ford Pickup, 1/2 Ton, Complete Mostly Original Truck

 

Don't know if it matters or not but '38's had mechanical brakes. You might want to look for '39 or newer so you would have hydraulics. Just something to consider IMO.

 

Interesting. Are mechanical brakes just harder on the truck? Just not as efficient?

 

I daily drove a 38 tonner for nearly 10 years. They have self energizing cable brakes whice are better than the earlier rod actuated brakes. They work ok, but these days everyone else's brakes work amazingly well. Therein lies the problem. One of them anyway. Cable brakes are not very efficient and in order to work as designed they need to be kept well adjusted, which can be fairly complicated and time consuming. I have owned perhaps 6 other big trucks with rod actuated mechanical brakes. The '38s cable system is superior for sure and the one advantage is it is very rare to lose all braking at once like a single master cylinder such as the '39 and later vehicles has. Henry Ford stubbornly adhered to the mechanical brakes years after most every other manufacturer had gone to hydraulics. His motto on the subject was 'The safety of steel, from pedal to wheel'. Meaning no messy fluid to leak out and cause total brake failure. That scenario has happened to me twice too many times. Bottom line from my experience is get a truck with hydraulic brakes, rebuild them and maintain them. Maybe the '38 is an easy swap to the '39s hydraulic brakes if you really want that truck. Confused now?

 

Thanks GB. You as well as others are great at informing the community about this. As I am only 22 I have a learned a lot about these but a lot more ahead of me. I did however look at the ad again and the guy said he put hydraulic brakes in. I still think he wants a couple grand to much though. Maybe I could haggle him down.

 

It would be nice if it ran AND if it had a title. The no title thing normally drops the price by a lot. It varies state by state, but it can be a huge PITA. I still vote for Rygate Montana, or wait a bit. New ones show up all the time. I will keep my eyes peeled.

 

Yea I have gone through the no title process. Not fun.