As you may or may not know, I am in the market for my last cruiser. I am looking for a '48-'52 F-1. I have looked at every site on the internet and find prices that are outrageous. I also have some great prices but the trucks are too far away (isn't that Murphy's law # 62 or maybe #63)?

Is it just me or are there 30 somethings with a pocketful of money wanting these old trucks? Now there are exceptions to every rule but I would bet that mostly the buyers of these trucks are older guys. Now some older guys do have more money than god but I bet most are like me, living on a pension and not a lot of extra money to be able to lay out $110,000.00 for a truck. I have seen trucks that are still sitting in fields that have been in that same position for 30 years and they want 8 grand for it! But in all fairness there are folks out there that know the value, like the one that is just a cab and chassis for $650.00. Or the one here for $3900.00 which seems very fair, but again, too far away.

So the search goes on.

Phew! Thanks for letting me vent.

Later!
Mr. Ed

 

Askin' ain't gettin'. Have a stack with you to fan out, you'll find some good deals.

 

There is a good one on eBay right now for about $3k, looks like a good start for someone.

 

If you find one too far away, maybe a fellow FTE member whos close to it would be willing to take a look at it for you. Then have it shipped. If it's a good deal the shipping cost won't hurt it.

 

Spend a few days in Phoenix or Tucson or anywhere in a good climate. Find a solid truck and tow it home.

The money you save on rust repair will pay for your "vacation".

My F3 fit on a U-Haul car hauler.........I mean my 65 Mustang. The F3 was well within size and weight limits of the trailer. They just didn't like any tow vehicle less than a 1 ton diesel pickup.

Find a cheap flight and rent a truck and trailer back?

 

What he said. /\

I looked quite a while for a specific F series truck. A trusted forum member told me of one near him and gave the truck favorable reports. With this information, I negotiated a price with the seller, shipping costs factored in. Trusted forum member, Ross, was even on site when the shipper loaded the truck.

 

You are getting some good advice on finding a truck from the dry part of the country. My advice to add is buy the best sheet metal truck that you can find.
You have not indicated what you are looking for, stock or modified. a driver or project. If a project how do you feel about doing a project. Anything needing body work and paint should be considerable cheaper and for good reason. An example, my 49 was a ground up and the paint/body shop materials doing it myself were about $3000.

 

Here's is a project on CL. It's in AZ but doesn't say exactly where.

1951 Ford truck

 

I can't tell you how many times I have flown to the East or Midwest to pick up cars/trucks/parts. You can't sit around and wait for them to come to you...as you have already learned, there are many others out there who are more than willing to do what is necessary to find what they want and bring it home. A 16 foot box rental truck will hold an F1, I have flown to various parts of the country, rented a truck and drove it home. People tell me that I am "lucky"...I say that luck happens when opportunity meets preparedness. Don't vent...prepare!

 

I feel your pain. A little OT rant ahead, you've been warned!

Like it or not, old iron - not only classic trucks, but muscle cars, full-size land yachts, even early-80s stuff - is getting harder to find as the years roll by. Even rides that weren't considered cool rod or cruiser material a few decades ago are hot now. I remember when nobody would look twice at third-gen F-series trucks, especially the '58-'60s, with their quad headlights and honking big grille. Nobody wanted them in the 80's and early 90's, but now they're popular. (And good reason too, they're sweet looking rigs. I love seeing them at car shows.)

Plus, the car hobby has exploded in popularity over the last 15 or so years, so there are more folks looking for cars. The market is bigger and the supply is smaller. And Barret-Jackson fever (as I like to call it) makes some people think their junk is worth tons of money. Add the buying and selling power of the Internet, where your market isn't just your neighborhood but millions of people, and you have our current situation.

Yep, it's enough to make a guy miss the days of yore, when I got my aunt's '68 Cutlass for FREE because in the mid-70's, after the gas crunch, nobody wanted a V8. Now try finding a low-mileage, one-owner '68 Cutlass. With a V8. And a manual trans. Yeah. I wish I had held on to that car. And my '73 Ford van. And a few dozen others.

Anyway, back to reality. Some folks want stupid money for their stuff. That's how it is, but there are still bargains out there. You just have to be patient and persistent. I looked for 6 months straight - every day on craigslist, the Little Nickel, eBay classifieds (not the auction site) - for a nice, workable '48-'56 Effie that wasn't priced in the stratosphere. Oh, I found a lot of basket cases for $5-6k. And some pretty solid trucks for $12-14k. Some people might say that's not bad, but my budget dictated a solid truck at basket case prices. Eventually, I came across the '53 I ended up buying. It was somewhat local, and fairly priced, and totally worth the effort I put into finding it.

The moral? Don't give up. Keep looking. You will find your next pride and joy. It's out there, waiting for you. You've just got to go find it!

 

seen this in CL
1952 ford f1

 

What's hard for me to accept, and I suspect a lot of us older guys, is inflation. Go price new cars, it will open your eyes. Or new trucks, OMG. Just going by the Consumer Price Index, a buck is worth 35% less today than 15 years ago. The cost of paint and body work has gone up probably 2X that. I see it on parts I bought for my truck back in '06. MSD distributor: I gagged at it being $250 in '06, now they are almost $500.

 

Yup, people think their rusted bucket of bolts is worth huge money. Just look at this one: 1948 Ford F1

$10,500. Yes, you read that correctly.

Or this one: 1951 Ford F1

Yup. $35,000. And all that makes it special is the drivetrain, wheels and brakes. Not worth $20K over the expected price of a factory original "OK" driver IMHO.

Then we get into a more acceptable price range: Here is one for $8,000 in your back yard. 1951 Ford F1 Original

One more. $9,000. Still not "bad." http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/5573300810.html

 

Are you looking for a driver or a project? And in what price range? I seem to bump into so many people now that have something sitting in their back yard once we get talking about my F500 when I'm cruising around town here in CT.

 

What gets me about trucks like that is you can certainly build one like it for less money. Those are the ones I really don't understand.