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Been a longtime lurker on here and my Grandma has agreed to selling me her pickup that my grandpa was working on before he passed away. I will be taking it to a restoration course at a community college to do frame suspension etc. but not the body. I do not know the exact year, but it has 2 wiper holes which leads me to believe it is a post war truck. I have had 3 people from the car club that price cars on the regular come and look at it but have been unable to come up with a price. It currently has the cab forward painted in a lacquer. the sides and front of the bed are solid with only surface rust. has both running boards with rust holes around the bolts and pretty wavy, but they are there. No front grille but has both bumpers in rough shape. Has an original tailgate with a solid center but will the need the outer portions of it rebuilt, which my instructor will have me do by hand, along with the running boards. The motor in it is either a 289/302 with a Holley carb and an unknown auto tranny. Has original banjo axle rear end. I have a 1949 ford flathead 226 that will be going in it instead of the v8 that i have bought separate of the truck. If anyone can give even a abroad range of a price it would be much appreciated. We cant seem to find anyone around here that knows enough about what this generation of truck is worth. I also have quite a few pictures I will be posting also.
Thanks, Toader63
bought it for $140 with a 3 speed transmission and 2 clutch discs and pressure plates
1942-1947 half ton, originally equipped with a 4 speed (60 MPH speedometer). The engine you have sitting off to the side is not the original engine, it's a late '47-52 H series 6. The serial number should be stamped on the driver's side of the frame rail, on top, right about where the steering box is. They are not stamped very deeply, so you might have to clean with a wire brush to clean the grime off to see it better. An easier, but often missing source would be inside the glove box door. If there is a plate screwed to the back of the door, that will have a serial number. Post that number, and the year can be determined. Great truck, stick around, you'll get tons of encouragement here, and all the answers you might need.
Got it pulled out of the barn over labor day weekend and just found time to update my post. A little history: MY Grandpa on my Dad's side scooped oats out of it when he was a teenager, and my Grandpa on my Mom's side was in the middle of fixing her up when he passed away, lots of family history. It's going to be a slower build over a few years, but will be running and driving by spring. Found out the vin showed it as a 1 ton? with the v8. Maybe someone else can decode the vin better than me. I will post pictures as i get work done as I am also working on other projects in the school shop. Plans for the tailgate is to rebuild the outer edges and save the middle. I will also be making the running boards by hand since a sheet of sheet metal is $60 vs the $650 it would cost for new ones. Have all but 2 front grille pieces but i have patterns to make those missing. Really looking forward to getting this truck road worthy (as it has been in the barn for over 30 years) and learning lots of new skills. Tach says just over 25,000 although it may have rolled over. Any reliable way to check?
Edit: First 4 of the vin is 799y
Glad to join it! I will do that, i wasn't sure if they designated it as a 1 ton due to added leaf springs or if it was just a mess up from the factory. Ready to learn a lot about these trucks.
This truck originally came with the V8 but I will be putting in a 226. I found the holes where the radiator support slides forward to. Now will i have to do something with the black cap on top and the shield between the grille and the cross member? They seem a simple design and with my instructors help i should be able to remake new ones with different dimensions so i don't have to cut original ones up.
Be aware the 226 you picked up is from a car. The bell housing won't bolt to a stock 47 Ford transmission. The stock clutch linkage for your truck won't work with the bell housing. If you have the stock transmission cross member you will want to find a 48-51 six cylinder truck bell housing to use. If your frame has been hacked already then fabricate up what you need to use what you have.
If you are permanently going with the flathead six you can probably find someone to trade parts with. Most people switch to the V8 during restoration and are looking for the parts you are taking off.
The 226 is from a car but I will be buying a truck bell housing and transmission. There was a 289 v8 with an auto in it, so the old Flathead cross-member is gone. I paid only 140 for the 226 motor and transmission which is why I am going with it.
Quick update, just got done painting the brakes from the backing plate to the drums. Decided not to install the pads since the brakes have to come off when I paint the frame. Next step is to get the motor mounted and drive shaft length. After that I will pull the body to blast and paint the frame. Then the body will go back on and motor in to begin the wiring. Can't get the pictures to my computer but i will keep trying
Making some good progress with the truck. Got the motor fitted to where I want it. Have to weld in a new cross member since the old one was torched out but I still have parts of that on the frame. I will start pulling the bed and cab off on Monday to get it blasted
and painted.
There's another one that someone has welded another pipe to the exhaust manifold on a 6. Makes me wonder why. My 6 doesn't have the extra pipe, so I was curious. There used to be headers, maybe this was the backyard way of making them since they were scarce.
Not entirely sure. I guess if you could get a good weld on cast iron it was the cheap way. The weld looks strong. Only thing I will do to it is make the front exhaust come down instead of out.
Update
