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I want to thank everyone who has posted pictures of their pickup's. My Dad bought one brand new in 61 for his plumbing and heating business, I wish I had some pictures of that truck! I have fond memories of sitting on a folding boat seat on the engine cover between my Dad and Uncle while they puffed their pipes, Velvet pipe tobacco, Zippo and Ronsonol ;lighter fluid. Child endangerment, but somehow I lived.
Something I have wondered about after looking at pictures is the front bumper. Where these an option like the rear one? I notice a great many of these are absent, I've never paid any attention to the vans, maybe they are the same way.
Thanks Emil. I thought so but I've seen so many I was starting to wonder. I do remember that Dad;s didn't have a glove box door because that was an option ($5.00 if I remember right) he didn't need. HD clutch and cooling, rear bumper and spare tire yes, door and radio- we can live without!
Besides the optional glove box door, other options include the passenger seat along with the passenger arm rest and visor. If you were just making deliveries around town, you had no need for a passenger seat.
The heater was optional.
You already mentioned the optional rear bumper.
The radio was a rare option. Most did not come with one.
The tailgate on the pickup was optional.
The 1961's were offered with a single tail light and no directional signals in states where they still were not required. The parts book shows a "dummy" tail light housing for the right rear light. Simple trucks.
The 1961's were offered with a single tail light and no directional signals in states where they still were not required. The parts book shows a "dummy" tail light housing for the right rear light. Simple trucks.
Quite true. You were required to have only one brake light, and some states still allowed hand signals to indicate turns.
With this option, the right side was just a reflector, the left was tail light and brake light. I wonder how many of these were made, if any.
I searched for the part - the blind tail light housing that's called out in the parts book - but it appears long extinct. I suppose the turn signal switch was simply omitted in those trucks too.
A Ford Assembly Manual would give more information, but nobody's reproduced them and I've never heard of an original one around.
And yes, there was an optional white painted or chrome rear bumper you could order if you had the full size tailgate. There was an optional *low* tailgate that would swing to the ground so you could back right up to a loading dock, since the tailgate couldn't hold much weight.
Speaking of rear bumper options, some of the Econoline pickups were special ordered with utility boxes on one side or the other. Many utility companies did this to have all of the small parts ready. When they did that, they usually also ordered the truck without a rear bumper and tailgate. Most installed step bumpers like you see here. The regular bumper bracket came though holes cut in the rear valance. Here you see there are no holes cut in the valance, and the bumper brackets go under the valance rather than through it.
