Hi All,
I am in the process of first doing some basic research on a possible purchase of a 1940-50 Ford Truck. I much prefer the war year’s era styling. I have decided to expand my research into Ford trucks, as I was previously looking only at Chevy trucks (no tomatoes please).



I am not looking for a trailer queen, but rather an older restoration that I can drive around town in the roughly 5-6 months of pleasant summer weather here in Southeastern Michigan.


I have seen a few trucks that appeal to me visually already in the various ads available, but like my initial Chevy quest, I realize I need to understand much more about these trucks before I even bother the folks selling their treasures.


I am hoping to understand the areas/systems of these vintage trucks that often are problematic, as well as other good and bad aspects of the mid-late 40’s trucks and am hoping someone can point me to some references and/or sites to do my homework.


Example questions I have are what are powertrain issues? what are good combinations in the powertrain?, etc. – I need to know what to look for and ask about bedsides looking at pretty pictures.


I am old enough to remember working on my Ford Maverick in the 1970’s and I seek to be able to turn a wrench again, however I am not equipped to take on a project truck.


Any help or sage advice you could send my way would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks to all who respond,


Joe

 

Welcome aboard Joe! In my opinion the best thing for you to do is to look through the threads here and read, and look at pics.

 

Welcome Joe! This forum has some great members with loads of info. I have learned a lot. 48 is the year the F line was introduced. Anything prior can be called a truck or in some cases a letter/number combo. Like my truck is a 1944 49-T. As far as common issues I can't really help you too much. I think when looking for a truck just make sure you will know there will be work and time into these. Are you looking for a half ton? 1 ton? Etc?

 

What kind of driving will it be? If you have to keep up with busy traffic you might want to consider something with newer drivetrain and disc brakes. While I have an affinity for all old stuff, and more so fords, I personally like the 57 about the best. I hang out here because I have a 40 and I like the gang on this segment of the site the best.

 

Welcome to the forum Joe. There are many people on here that are very knowledgable and always ready to help with technical questions. My advice is to buy as much truck as your budget allows. By this I mean a fully restored truck if you can swing it. NOS parts for 1947 and earlier are becoming harder to find. Although Wa State seems to have an ample supply of old Ford trucks. A few places offer reproduced (Chinese) parts but are marginal at best in my opinion. Many things to consider and I wish you luck!

 

Hi All,
Thank you all for the warm welcome and helpful advise. Judging from the responses I have so far, I think I left a few details out.

I am looking for a 1/2 ton, short bed truck for pleasure driving in the summer time. I anticipate driving under 1500 miles a year, and I hope to stay off of freeways. Much like the early Chevys I looked at, I also see the progression of braking and powertrain systems beyond the early Ford pickups I am looking, which would point to a younger truck, but I am really driven to the mid-late forties trucks as their styling speaks louder than anything more modern to me.

I am looking for an older restoration, as I have no space yet to take on a resto project. I also am driven to a truck that is as OEM as possible, while not caring at all about numbers matching ( I am buying a truck to enjoy, not an investment). I do not want a full "rotisserie" resto, as the prices on these trucks is well above what I can spend. I am hoping to find a truck where the restoration is very good to excellent, but has enough wear and tear to make the price below my $25K (max negotiated with the wife ) total budget to get it to my driveway.

I am ok with wrenching on it to keep her running smoothly, and actually miss being able to see my spark plugs, let alone being able to replace them. I am not able to do a major resto - neither funding nor garage space exists for that.

One thing that drove me to ask for advise here was driven from my research on the early Chevy trucks of the 40's (known as the Art Deco era for them) - I found out that the original engines of this time were not pressure oiled at the bottom end, and many owners swapped out the original engine (216 Cu. in.) for a post 1953 (235 Cu in.) that was pressure oiled. Further research revealed to me that the rear end ratios for these trucks was quite high ( 4.11 std, 4.55 optional) which would make driving these trucks much above 40 MPH quite problematic, unless I wanted to shell the engine from excessive RPM

I am just beginning to research the flathead V-8's I am seeing in these trucks, but cant find much detail on the trannys ( 4 speed?) and rear ends of the time. I suspect that since I am looking for a truck that was sold before we had freeways in the US and these trucks mostly had homes on farms, The 40's Ford's will probably have the same top end speed limitations. I do not plan on driving normally on the expressway, but I would like the option to drive to a show 50-100 miles away a few times.

I am trying to determine if the 40's era pickups are feasible for me, and if not I will seek out one built in the decade of my birth ( 1950's) - but the styling of the 40's just knocks me out - I also note the 50's and 60's trucks are most popular and also have higher prices for comparable truck conditions - I can see why and if the issues with these older trucks are such that they are really not feasible, I will shift to a newer one.

I am hoping to catch up with an owner or two (perhaps even visit someone nearby if possible) who has a vintage vehicle and can tell me their experience directly. this would be ideal

I value all opinions highly and appreciate all the responses so far

Thanks again to all!

Joe

 

Most any stock truck built up to about the mid 50's will at the
least need a rear gear change to get you up to road speed.
The stock engine will work well enough. What works the best
from what I have seen is an auto trans although I like the later
model 5 speed manual in them. If it was me this is what I would
look or from the 40 pick up, up through the 53 year as I love the
flat engine. Just my 2c

 

Well, your price is in a good neighborhood and you should be able to find a dandy. A lot of people have switched to a T5 overdrive 5 speed and adapters are readily available to install on a flathead. Also you could do a ring and pinion change. If you get a T5 from a v6 or 4 banger Mustang, they are cheap and have a pretty low 1sr gear. I have one in my rpu behind a 260 with 3.50 gears and can still take off in second pretty easy if I want to. I paid $100 for it at a junkyard and built my own adapter (with the help of my machinst)

 

If you are looking for a half ton from the '40s, the Ford with either a flathead 8 or 6 will do well. The Ford don't have the speed limitations that the others makes had. One of my '46 half tons had the flathead 6, 3 speed trans (better suited for what you want) and the stock rear end, 3.78 gears, and would do 60 mph easy. I didn't use it often at those speeds, but it was possible.
The budget you have will buy you a nice truck. The 40-41 will be more, as they are more desirable, but the 42-47 is still a great choice, and my personal favorite. And if you end up with a Ford, please, feel free to ask any and all questions you'll have. You'll find this is a great group here who are always willing to lend a hand.

 

And I am one of those happy to jump in and lend a hand when the time comes. The flathead ford is a good engine. Six, 59ab or 8ba/8rt. The 8ba (newer) type have better access to the simple distributor. You need to come down to Honest Gary's Used Jailbars, on Low overhead Orcas Island.

 

While you are looking at Ford trucks there are a few technical things that may help your search:

All Ford 1/2 ton trucks built 1941 and before are on passenger car chassis. This is good for drive-ability. These trucks have the drive shaft enclosed in a tube, a system called torque tube drive. You can install (if the truck doesn't already have it) a two speed overdrive rear axle, a Columbia axle. These axles are not inexpensive but they will get you going highway speeds, 70+ m.p.h. The price for a turn key Columbia with all the parts and controls ready to install these days can be up to $4,500. A more economical solution is to install a Mitchell overdrive that is available new today (get the 36% unit) for around $2,300.

1942 through 1947 pickups used an open drive version of the above torque tube axle. Theoretically you could put together a Columbia for one of these trucks, but I have never seen it done. A high speed ring and pinion, 3.54 ratio, is readily available that will allow you to cruise happily up to about 65 m.p.h.

1948-mid 1950 pickups use a Dana 41 axle. Earlier this year a high speed ring and pinion became available for this axle. It too will allow you to cruise to to about 65 m.p.h.

I see no need to change the suspension or brakes on any 1939 through 1952 Ford half ton pickup. If you can't lock up the brakes on dry pavement you need to fix your brakes. The steering is also no problem if your steering box, king pins, etc. are in good shape. Don't think you need a hot rod to get a nice driving truck.

Any Ford flathead V8 engine built will more or less bolt into any Ford pickup built between 1935 and 1953. If you really care about having a correct engine for your truck you need to learn all the specific details. Otherwise you just need to know that the later the flathead, the better the design. Don't be turned off by an 8BA style engine in a 47 and earlier truck.

Also, any Ford flathead six motor will bolt into any six cylinder truck. As with the V8 motors, later is better. Earlier motors are fine, later is simply an improvement.

You want a stock three speed transmission. The four speed transmission as mentioned above is a slow shifting, heavy truck unit.

The T-5 and other later transmissions do not just bolt in. To install any of these in a 1/2 ton you have to cut your cross member. I don't care for that myself.

The battery in a stock 6V truck is positive ground. Do not swap the battery cables to negative ground if the truck is still 6V, you will probably fry the regulator and generator. 12V conversions typically switch to negative ground.

Post pictures here of trucks you are looking at and we can give feedback.

And a belated Welcome to FTE.

 

i have a 41 1/2 ton body and bed ,seller wanted to keep motor ,trans, rear end and frame. i am 65 years old and don't go fast. any advise what i could use for running gear? was thinking about cj7 ? bad idea?

 

You night have to stretch a cj7. Have you read the build thread using the Ford Exploder chassis?