I saw this on CL recently, and although I don't know that much about M_H's, other than what I've learned here over the years, I always appreciate a nice working truck. I also thought it was a bit unusual to have an F1 conversion, as many I've seen have been the bigger, heavy-duty work trucks. The seller claims it is pretty rare.

It looks to me like the seller wants an arm, leg, hand, an armpit, three mules, two chickens, and perpetual tickets to the world series for it (55K), but what do I know about prices for these .









more pics here:

https://grandrapids.craigslist.org/c...347736082.html

 

Sure looks nice.
a Meadow Green MH....yep I'd buy it if the Powerball numbers hit for me. And if I could spare a mule and a few chickens and then begin to make a couple of personal enhancements.
White side walls on a 4x4.....I'd put them on something different myself and that would be easy enough to swap for a larger diameter black side wall tire.
The red seat and blue door panels - not sure where that color combination came from. Again, something that can be remedied if a single color scheme is wanted. I'd pick black or saddle tan myself.

Tom

 

That's one of Rods trucks that he had in his M-H collection. Someone bought it (this summer?) and I'm sure their now trying to flip it for a huge profit, compared to what they paid Rod for it.

 

What is with the red M-H underpinnings?

 

This F-1 is from the Rod Kruithoff collection. Rod seems to have sold a few of his collection to a local guy in MI. He first sold the yellow F-2, then the Glenmist Green F-3, and now the Meadow Green F-1. All 1952s, and we've also heard that his red 1952 Ranger is for sale (if you think this F-1 is expensive). Rod restored his trucks to his taste. White walls, chrome, red drive trains, etc. The gray/red interior is correct for any of the 5 Star Extra optioned trucks. Agree it's not the best combo with the green. What looks blue in the picture is no doubt the correct darker gray vinyl. Stu

 

So Stu, ya gonna buy the Ranger?

 

Nice truck. Makes me wish I had purchased the 52 f1 that was for sale a year ago up in Montana. The guy was asking 4k for it. The front axle was apart so that was the bad sign of troubles though.

 

Yep, here it is parked next to the Ranger in the line up

 

The number I heard has six digits! And if it was to be me I'd have to undo the non-original features. So no, I'm not interested in it. If I ever dare to start on my '51 it'll have to be done right, no extra garnish, and put back to its original base level Silvertone Gray (or is it Grey?) color. In the time I've had it it's gotten clean paper, numerous NOS or better used pieces, and is safely stored out of the weather. That's better than it's gotten from some prior caregivers. Stu

 

That one is definitely pretty sharp. Seems like they would have closed the hood all the way before taking pictures, though. The paint looks too light, must just be the camera or the lighting? Done to the restorer's liking, but not very close to how it would've looked when new. I see a lot of repro parts, and some things underneath not quite put together right. The steering stabilizer is one example, and the shock lower mounts are another. All the 1/2 Ton front axles I've seen have a very prominent number stamped on the front of the LH axle tube - can't see it on this one. Stu, are the splash pans for the 6 cylinder 52's hard to find, or different from the ones on the V8's? Seems like you or someone else posted about that once. Here's a picture of a '52 F1 that was in Truck Trader around 1992. I went down and took a look at it - was pretty nice, but it didn't run or drive as well as mine, so passed on it. The last time my '52 sold it was for a two digit number. - Bob

 

Back when I got my first truck, an R32-4 two speed, the prominent axle numbers became the obvious way to archive the number of trucks that were produced. The axles pretty clearly were installed in number order across '51, '52, and early '53 and showed that between 300 and 400 per year were produced. When I bought my first R3-4, and then the LD7-4, I found axle numbers but, on mine anyway, they are much less prominent than on the R32-4s. I've now archived the few R3-4s I've found, but haven't tried to do this on the half tons. Chuck has said that years ago he and Don Chew got together and compared notes on half tons. They concluded that about 200 per year were converted.

The change to the 215 engine in 1952 directed the redesign and relocation of the motor mount diagonals. The splash pan thus had to be redesigned to clear the 215 pan, and to fit the new locations of the motor mount to front cross member rivets. The same pan was used on both V8 and six cylinder because of those new rivet locations. If a restorer of a V8 1952 has tried to use the 48-51 original or reproduction pan it's very obvious that the pan's rivet cut outs don't fit the frame. As you probably have seen on your truck and others, M-H took a torch to their trucks' pans to allow the pan to not hit the differential. Stu

 

Stu, thanks for clearing that up about the 6 cylinder splash pan being the same in '52. I cleaned mine up and painted it earlier this year, but left the "custom" torch cut alone. Another question that's been bugging me: I have several NAPCO (Chevy) buddies and they claim that Marmon-Herrington had to remove the bodies on the Ford's to do the conversion. I told them I doubted that, but don't know for sure. I believe I've seen assembly line pictures from the 40's of the larger trucks with the cabs off the frame, though. Do you happen to know if it was required on 1/2 and 3/4 tons? - Bob

 

First I'll quote Chuck. About 10 years ago he emailed me saying the following, citing an old meeting where he and Don Chew compared notes. Chuck wrote:

"F-1s were basically hand built, one by one. It's not likely they built more than 2 per week, so we figured less than 200 per year makes sense. F-2s and F-3s, on the other hand, had to come completely apart, as did the larger trucks. To make this cost effective, they had to build these on an assembly line. Therefore, they must have built a lot more of them than F-1s." Further down in that email Chuck estimated 400-500 F-2s/3s per year. I've tried to archive the ones I've found based on their unique axle numbers. The numbers suggest 300-400 per year of the combined R3-4 and R32-4 models.

So answering your question, I can see where the F-1 chassis modifications could have been made with the truck up on a lift. The addition of the front stabilizer spring hangers needed frames jigged and holes drilled. Same with the front and rear transfer case mounting locations. Tight working spaces, but doable. Probably the tranny cover with slot for the lever was jigged and part of the kit.

Another factor on F-1s, Chuck has written that not all F-1s were factory installed. A few dealer kits were made available sometime after 1948 with strict controls. It's likely I think that a dealer would install a kit doing as I describe above rather than disassembling the whole truck.

The bigger trucks needed to have the transmission cross member modified to allow a clear path for the front driveshaft. This required rivet removal, cross member removal, installation of a hoop in the cross member, and reriveting the cross member back into its location. I've had my two R32-4s down to their frames, and parted one of them out. It looked to me that there were different shaped rivet heads on these cross members. I think M-H pulled the cross member, then reinstalled a new or previously jigged/modified crossmember.

The installation of the transfer case also required removal of the third cross member's rivets. The frame rails then could be spread to allow the transfer case supports to be bolted to their jigged holes. Once the transfer case was in the third cross member was bolted back in place rather than reriveted. Below is a pic of my spare R32-4 cross member waiting for a donor frame someday, and a pic of M-H assembly line workers installing a transfer case in an F-5/6 with double walled frame. Interesting to me, this picture doesn't show the rivets removed in the third cross member. Maybe the shorter F-2/3 frame made that necessary. Stu

 

Surprised by the fact that they modified the guards with with a torch and didn't bother to clean them up, but I guess that is part of the M-H uniqueness.

 

Yeah, you'd think that with the price of the converted truck being double the price of the truck alone they could have spent a nickel cleaning up that scar. But no. Another oddity was using up parts from different eras than the truck. The 46/47 half tons continued use of "wide five" wheels and hubs, and my 1950 R3-4 has the 47 and earlier one ton rear axle having the 5 x 6 7/8" bolt pattern. The manual includes mention of this, it's not a later in its life axle swap. Stu