Hello everyone. I traded my buddy my '71 F100 Explorer for a '57 F350 wrecker he 'rescued' out of a long-closed/recently cleared junk-yard. The truck appears to be a 1957 with the original Y-block and 4 speed manual transmission. In addition it has a PTO driving a cable-winch on the wrecker bed. Strangely it has dual headlights, so it's either a very late 1957 or it's had a '58 grill installed. I'm providing some photos, and will load some more today. I'm trying to identify the wrecker-body(company or homebuilt?) and start sourcing some replacement parts. Wish me luck!


Left Front.

Left Rear - can anyone ID that wrecker body?

Right Front.

Right Rear - can anyone ID that wrecker body?

Interior - the box is a set of replacement valve-covers.

Dash - I have a replacement instrument cluster ready to go in.

Top of Y-block.

Left side of engine. I intend to remake the crossover and return this to single exhaust.

Right side of engine.

Serial number plate. Feel free to decode, I can't match it exactly to any I've found on the INet.

 

Neat truck, glad it is being saved. I can't be much help with the vin decode but I will weigh in on the wrecker body. My guess is that it is not a mass produced body like Holmes. I suspect it is "shop" made. Nothing wrong with shop made but I think if it were mass produced the boom would have been made to lower and in your case it looks like the support legs are mounted solid. Good luck with it.

 

Your thread title says 1967 F350 Wrecker.

VIN: F35K7N24287

F35 = F350 // K = 272 2V Medium Duty // 7 = 1957 // N = Norfolk VA Assembly Plant // 24287 = 1957 Numerical Sequence of Assembly, the trucks specific serial number.

Date 19J = Assembled September (J) 19, 1956.

It doesn't appear to be a 1957, since it has dual headlamps.

Since all 1957 F100/1100's have single headlamps, the grille and related headlamp parts have been changed.

 

Thanks Bill. Could you verify the color "B" and the axle "05"? It appears as if the truck was a medium-to-dark blue inside, and I'm wondering if it's the same on the outside. I thought I'd corrected the '67' to '57' in the title, sorry!

 

COLOR: B = This is a shade of blue used 1957/59, but which one, I dunno because my 1956/57 Truck Chassis Parts Catalog is inaccessible* at the present time.

1957/63 Truck Parts Catalog only lists B for 1960 and it's Caribbean Turquoise that was also used 1961/66. This is light bluish green.

TRANS: F = Borg-Warner T-98 4 Speed Manual Transmission.

AXLE: 05 = Timken model B100 Rear Axle / 4.86-1 / 7,200 lbs. Axle Capacity.

*I moved recently, the movers packed my 1,500 books (on a wide variety of topics including USN history) in 36 boxes and I haven't unpacked them all yet.

 

Thanks! You can see what I think is the original blue on the interior shots. I served 24 in the Navy sir, it's got a great history!

 

There looks to be blue on the firewall so likely the outside would be the same..looks like a great project..By the way if you want to change the title from 1967 edit your first post and go advanced that way you can alter the title to the thread

 

Your buddy posted pics of that truck on here awhile back. Interior looks really clean. The way the pipes are supported on the back of the bed, it looks homemade and heavy duty! You've got a decent ratio in the rear end, mine is at 5.13 but was originally 5.84 when I bought my truck. I see in the pics that the rim offset is different on each of the front rims. Have you tried turning the engine over? Pull the plugs and soak the cylinders to loosen them up.

 

Hey I hope he's posted some of the F100! I have the truck at a trusted local mechanic shop, and they've confirmed the engine turns over. We've been using some Marvel Mystery Oil in each piston and along the valve train for a few weeks while we have the starter and radiator rebuilt. I have ordered a water pump and a fuel pump, and the carb is off getting repaired as well. I have new hoses(heater and radiator) waiting as well. I haven't decided what to do about ignition stuff. I was considering an EI upgrade, but I would probably have to replace the generator with an alternator...and I kinda don't want to. If I keep the Gen, I'll just do a full tuneup and replace all ignition components with stock stuff. To be safe the entire brake system minus the pedal and the base plates are simply being replaced. The clutch is getting new cylinders and lines as well.

A big issue is the front wheels. I'd love to keep them, but they do appear to be split-rims of some kind. If so it may be hard to find a tire place willing to remount tubes and tires onto them. As far as I can tell the rears are not split rim, but I haven't had them off. I do have six used mismatched 7.5" x 16" tires once I reach that point though.

The body seems ok except for the windshield and some missing stuff(front turn signals and some trim). The one visual issue I have is that the bed is about 4" lower than the body. I'm going to look for some retro-appearance step-rails to mount under the body that will drop down that 4" and make the bottom line even.

As far as the bed goes I want to cut off the angle-iron 'light bar' up front as it just doesn't match the bed. I plan on mounting the rear-facing lights on the roof itself. I also need to fix the latches on the side boxes, but other than that the bed doesn't need much. The PTO and winch work fine, as do those 'remote' control levers on the back-left. I want to paint the bed matte black, and put non-skid on the flat surfaces.

The interior will get cleaned up, and I plan on removing the poorly placed auxillary electrical switches to one spot with a nice painted steel mount. I have a '57 instrument cluster waiting to go in, and my plan is to simply make everything operational. Years ago I bought an old CB radio that I plan to install. It does appear that I have a radio opening and a speaker up on top, so I'll eventually look for a radio replacement as well.

After all that, my plan is to repaint the cab the same blue it was originally, with a matte black bumper to match the bed. If anyone out there has a set of five old amber "teardrop" lights for the top-front of the roof, or some old searchlights to mount I'd love to make a deal. I do have some old Ford emblems and such laying around that I've picked up over the years.

 

 

I'm running a generator and a pertronix unit. Doesn't seem to be an issue. Maybe consider finding an old rollbar for the front of the bed. You could mount the lights on it instead of drilling into the roof. That way it matches the tubular boom. You can get almost all the brake parts, except the rear drums. They are unattainium. Hopefully yours are in good shape.

 

Your radio hole is not factory, the factory radio hole would have been round. It may have been opened up to mount a later model radio. I'm pretty sure I have about everything you mentioned needing but this is not the place to talk about it. When you get a few more posts we can private message.

 

Thanks for the information on running Pertronix with a generator, the radio hole, brakes made of Unobtanium(isn't that why we went to the Pandora and created Avatars?) and parts availablity! I'll keep you all informed as to his progress. I haven't got a name yet.

 

when the time comes that you start looking for parts I have a gauge cluster and have wheels that will work on the front of that truck for sale at a reasonable price . the wheels are a single 17.5

 

For what it's worth, the wrecker and light bar look homemade but the wrecker body could be commercial. I suspect it may be a Holmes. IIRC Holmes was one of the first (maybe the first) manufacturer to clip the rear corners of the bed for a tighter turning radius. That might be the source of the winch too. With the way the wrecker is built, it's not very flexible. It's good for towing a car but not great for recovery or pulling an engine although it's very robust. Nice rig.

Lou Manglass