Hey All,

Do any of you folks know of a good resource for F-3 Replacement Parts such as:

Bed Parts - 8' Bed
Tail Gate
Fenders, etc...

Thanks!
John

 

Generally, no. You might get in touch with Mack Products, Moberly, MO

http://www.mackhils.com/mack_products/

They seem to make a good bit of the sheetmetal parts for the other retailers.

 

Boy am I glad to hear somebody else with the same problem. As many of these as are out there, you'd think a repop company would be making some of these pieces. I've been gathering up pieces for my 52 F3 MH for a while now and have had the most luck at the Iola swap meet. There's a guy from Wisc who sets up at Iola, don't know his name, who seems to have his ear to the ground and finds such pieces for the bigger Fords. I got a "new take off" (he called it) tail gate from the guy as well as some nice straight rear fenders. Glenn Marion and Mike Dennis, who both advertise in Hemmings every month, also have pieces for our trucks pretty regularly. I've gotten a couple things from one or the other of these sources and have had good luck. Obviously Ebay is another good source. Chuck (Chuck4850) at Chuck's Trucks is also great to work with. The "head board" for the bed is the impossible piece to find. I've bought three parts trucks as donors for the MH and all have bashed in head boards. Has anybody had luck shrinking and straightening this piece? Stu

 

Northern Classic Trucks sells the headboard separately, for an F-1, so does LMC I believe. Is it the same as the F-3 headboard? I would think the headboard is the same but the sides would be longer.

 

Life would be so simple were that the case. The beds on the Express F2s and F3s are both longer AND wider. That's why the pieces are gold. I've got all the cataloges and have called around. Nobody that I've found makes repop pieces for the back half of these hard working/hard used Express bed trucks. Stu

 

Hey Truckdog,
Hello to a fellow M-H enthusiast. I have a '52 F3 AWD also. Does yours have the V8? Let me hear some details about it. Are you going to restore it to original specs?

 

Bone stock with a dream of making it as nice as Chuck's. I've resisted pulling it apart until I can gather all needed bits, and until I get a 48 Power Wagon back on its wheels. The MH is a V8, red, not a straight piece of metal on it. It's got the Budd 5 hole x 17" rims (Budd #59340) that I'd like to find a few more of (got any?). I've got 7, but some have more rust than I'd like. They're as hard to find as the bed pieces. Stu

 

Truck Dog,

Who is this Chuck that you speak of?

Thanks!
John

 

Chuck Mantiglia of Chuck's Trucks in Hamden Conn. He's Chuck4850 on this site and others. He's one of the main men when talking Marmon-Herringtons. Check his web site at chuckstrucksllc.com for pictures of his F1 MH and Ranger. Stu

 

My 52 F3 has a later box. I don't know if it was built that way or not. I have an old photo of the truck, and it had that box in the photo. I works fine; the running boards meet the box like it was intended to be that way. The box and fender design changed in 53, so I wonder if my truck was built by Ford that way or if it was done later. I think that the headboard from a later 8' box pickup would work on an earlier box, though would technically not be correct. I've got photos in my gallery that show the box.

 

Stu,

Are you talking about the guy at Iola that had a big RV who had a couple of sets of rear fenders and front fenders for the F-2s and larger? He also had some trims pieces and a SS grill kit for a F-7 or 8. He was asking big $$ for what he had. Somewhere around $350-500 for the rears and more for the sets of fronts he had. I must say they were solid parts but a little more than I would pay for them myself.

If this is the guy his contact info was:

Rod's Antiques
10910 Stanton St.
Zeelandm MI 49484
616-875-7774

 

Steve - yours is absolutely beautiful. The bed sure looks good on the truck, and if it's a late production truck, may be original. The factory sure didn't worry too much about it when they carried over the 60 bed to the later trucks, so who's to say they didn't change over early to the new bed when they ran out at the end of the 52 model run. I'll keep this option in the back of my head it all else fails. As for the guy at Iola, it's been a year or two since I got the pieces from the guy. I don't recall it being Michigan but the fellow did have a motor home and, like a lot of dealers, his asking prices were brutal. I got him to give me a package price on the fenders and tailgate, but I still had to pay to get them. Stu

 

Thanks all for the responses and the info. I think I could get by with just a new head board and fix all the other stuff. I was hoping to do a condensed restoration with replacement parts to save time on body work. But I guess I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way, I'll have to work my fool head off for the next three or four years Thanks again for the info guys!

John

 

I've got five rims, look to be in good shape. I ,like you, plan to restore him to original. I also haven't pulled him apart yet, I have to finish another project first. If you can locate a 40's M-series one ton Studebaker around, they have the same rims. I knew where one was, may have to sniff it out again.

 

John,

Like I told you last Saturday, the biggest fool is the idiot who drags home a rusty piece of junk, missing parts, that someone didn't want and has visions of restoring it back into a beautiful truck. It has to be the stupidest thing anyone ever does. That being said, it has never stopped me, you know that first hand

Your fun is only starting, enjoy it will be well worth it when you get your first thumbs up as you drive it down the road for the first time, even if it isn't finished .

Old trucks, it's a sickness. A decease I hope they never find a cure for!




Talk to you later,

Bob