Who on this board knows what an N series Ford looks like? Or what it is for that matter? The N series or N cab Fords are Ford's forgotten truck. They were produced from 1962 through 1969. They were medium and heavy duty trucks. They started at N 500 and went up to the N 1000, they came in both gas and diesel. Many were equipped with the famed 401, 477, 534 Super Duty gas engines and were dubbed Super Duty's by the Super Duty name tags attached to the hood of the truck. The N series trucks marked Fords entry into the short conventional market or cab forward as they were commonly called. They were replaced in 1969 by the now famous L series trucks. My next project is to build a N cab Ford into a street rod hauler. I have a page dedicated to these forgotten trucks on my web page. Click on N series truck at the bottom of the opening page. www.michellesfords.com

Michelle

 

Yes Michelle a neighbor of mine has a grain truck that is a N series. He still uses this truck. Its in great shape. There are not many around but there are some. Fords most popular truck of that era was the cabover. There were tons of them sold around here> Not many left anymore.

 

Hi Michelle,
Great site! I remember the N-Series very well.
Cool looking trucks for sure!

 

Hey Kenny looking at your 1959 Ford truck I see a lot of similarities to todays superduty. The front that looks bold. And the boxes look similar. Maybe its just me. I see a lot of the same features.

 

Michelle, your website is really fantastic in my opinion! I enjoyed it very much and I thank you for the time and effort you have obviously put into it.

Yes, I do remember the N Series of Fords. As a matter of fact, a neighbor of mine still has one and uses it weekly. It has a 534 in it. He and I rebuilt it just a couple of years ago. He regularly uses it to haul farm equipment for his shop and for machinery sales. He is a Ford fanatic--good fellow, needless to say--and he runs his N for thousands of miles each year and loves it.

We had an N on our family farm when we raised soybeans and wheat and milo. Ours had the 477 in it. My aunt sold it when my grandfather passed away. It was the first big truck I ever drove, as a matter of fact.

My neighbor says his N is a C-Series with an attitude...LOL. It can surely get the work done.

Again, thank you!

 

Thanks for the kind words Loan Ranger, your very sweet.

Michelle

 

You have an excellent site Michelle. Loads of great pictures of old Ford cars and trucks. The falcon tech site is cool as well, I read about your trials in converting a C4 Falcon back to manual.

The midi music on some of the pages is corny though

 

Michelle.........Funny how you ask that. I just bought an N Series sales brochure off of Ebay. Got it this week.

Go to ebay and type in N Series, and more sales brochures may be up for bid. This will show you what they look like. My answer is, they were a cross between a short convential nose and a cabover. Ford's cabover was the C Series and their Over the road truck was the H Series, somewhat similar to the C series.

Growing up in Ft. Wayne, Indiana a local dump trucking outfit had one and they nicknamed it "Old Smokey".

 

Michelle....A Texas gal? I am here in East Texas between Canton and Athens. Slowly restoring a 1951 F-3 pickup. Spent quite a bit of time in West Texas in 1993. From Abilene, to Pecos, to Van Horn, to Midland Odessa, to Andrews, etc.

Ahhhh, I see you had a sweet spot for a 1963 Galaxie 500 Xl also. That was my very first car. I bought it for $150.00 in 1976. Pretty rusty! The Galaxie had a 390 4V, factory 4-speed, console and bucket seats and it was a convertible. Now look at what they are going for!!! Ran like a scalded dog. The gas guage didn't work and it LOVED Sunoco 260 premium fuel back then.

Great site Michelle!!

 

Hi very interesting info on the N and H but many more big ford trucks are the
everlasting "C" series (just ask almost any fire department_)
I believe the C was produced almost 40 years 57 -97 any one else to verify or dispute this?
Currently I drive a 1993 Aeromax LTLA9000 with Cummins N14 (Currently showing 177900 on the second time around) but I got started in trucking with a 1977 C originally 534 Gas but converted to 3208 Cat.
Does anyone know of a site featuring either of these?

 

I may one day do a page on the forever young C model. The N model was the forgotton Ford truck but the C model was the truck that never aged. The Dick Clark of trucks so to speak. I have quite a few pictures of C models in my collection of Ford truck pictures. As for the Aeromax LTLA 9000, I once one of them too. I owned a 1992 model. Email me off the board and I will send you some pictures of it.

Michelle

 

The C series did not run quite that long, it was dropped in 1993. I have one of the last, a 1990 model. I hear tell by that time they were having to use big rubber hammers in the factory to get the body panel bolt holes to line up. Seems the tooling was that worn out from stamping so many of them.

Apparently the 3208 Cat was designed specifically for this truck (it was called an 1140 back at first, then it progressed through several models to 1160, then Cat renumbered their engines). The 3208 started in the early 70s and was also on its last legs in the early 90s. A bit smoky, but quiet, and nice to drive.

Apparently it was dropped because of the lack of a suitable big V8 to replace the 3208 which was no longer certifiable for road use. Other engines used in the C included some Detroit 2-cycles, the forgettable Cummins "triple nickel" 555, the terrible 8.2L Detroit 4-cycle, and of course the Super Duty gas V8 series. At 10.4L and 250 HP the Cat was the top of the heap. A little sluggish by today's standards but really not all that bad even now.

Birken

 

I remember the N's. The 600's and 700's were a pretty good truck with the big 6 or the FT V-8's. The heavy duty models were also good with the Super Duty V-8's. The ND-1000's with the N series Cummins diesels were disasters. You had to remove the cab to do any serious work on them. The engine room was so tight that they had to put a buldge on the hood for the radiator top tank, and the cap stuck right out through the hood. The engine was pretty much in the cab with the driver. The early versions used the same roof as the pickup cab, and was quite cramped. The later versions had a raised roof, which made things a little better. I hate to say it, but truckers in those days didn't think much of Fords at all. Dodge had a better rep., believe it or not. Things got better when the H series cabover (a truck widely known as the 'Two Story Falcon' to give you an idea of how great it was) was replaced by the W series cabover. The W was a serious attempt, not a cobbled together truck like the H and diesel N series was. Same with the L series. It didn't take long to see that Ford had a real heavy duty truck in the Louisville series, and with the W and the L they were able to compete with GMC and International, and blow Dodge out of the big diesel truck business. It was sad to see Ford bail out of the heavy duty truck market just when they built the best big diesel they ever made, the 1997 Aeromax. It looks like they are back to being a joke again......

 

Having been exposed to both the early models with the flat roof and the later models with the raised roof. The head room was about the same. When the railsed roof came along the seat was raised by about the same distance that the roof was raised, thus giving you more leg room and better visibility. It sure was a lot easier on the legs during a long trip. The N series is truly Fords forgotten truck. Other than the people on this board and a few older truckers and salesmen, few people would have a clue as to what an N series is. Generally they were good trucks and served their owners well. I have mentioned this before but for some of the newer people on this board I will mention it again, I have devoted two pages on my web site to the N and H series Fords. You can find it at www.michellesfords.com

Michelle
Chelle's 56 Hauler

 

That's right. As I remember, when they raised the roof Ford started offering real big truck air seats in the N series, too. Great website, by the way!