would someone kindly tell me what year(s) ford made trucks with what someone would refer to as a short wheel base and what model(s), between the years 1945-1990 only.

I am investigating a missing child case and need some info.

The only thing I know about the truck is:

Older Ford PU
Dull red
Short wheel base
Camper 4-6 inches too short for bed

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR THE TRUCK although that would be a little bit of happy luck.

I AM LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON WHAT MODEL(S) WOULD FIT THIS DESCRIPTION. I would like to show photos of similar trucks to the witnesses, sort of like a suspect photo line up but for trucks, to see if they can pick a truck out of the line up that is similar to what they had seen. Then I will add what they picked out to my report.

TY 4 your help in advance.



Here is the actual information from my report just in case the right person happens to see it and recognizes having seen a truck like the one described below. This truck was used in at least one abduction. This abduction occurred in 1995:

VEHICLE
An older dull red (due to age) possibly ford PU with a short wheel base and a white camper or camper shell that was too short for the truck bed by about a 1/2 foot with windows and curtains and with possible damage to the right rear (passenger side) of it had left the area at about the same time Morgan was last seen. It is believed the truck had Arkansas plates.

THE FOLLOWING PICTURES OF ARKANSAS PLATES ARE ONLY EXAMPLES OF WHAT ARKANSAS PLATES MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE AT THE TIME OF MORGAN'S DISAPPEARANCE AND ARE NOT THE ACTUAL PLATES SEEN ON THE TRUCK.


For all information on this case, and the suspect, you can visit the following link:

Morgan Nick Investigation

scroll past all the links at the top. When you get to the photo of a 6 year old girl, the report begins there.

 

I hate to tell you this, but Ford made short wheel based trucks in every single year in the time frame you listed. With the description you give it seems near impossible to give an exact year without other specific details about the body style.

The camper shell described sounds like a common slide in camper.

For pictures of examples look in the galleries on this site, there are examples of all years of ford trucks.. should be a tab/link on the top of this page "Galleries" and then the "list"

The major body style breakdowns (each age range with a similar body style)
1948-1952
1953-1956
1957-1960
1961-1966
1967-1972
1973-1979
1980-1986
1987-1991
1992-1996

I hope this will be of some assistance

 

At the top of the page, there is a pull down menu for galleries. You can select the year you want and print off every year Ford truck you could imagine. Play with photoshop a little and you could add a camper shell and dull red paint to even the nicest show truck in the collection.

If you are having trouble locating or manuevering through the galleries, you can give me a call and I would be happy to walk you through this over the phone. It's pretty easy though.

Carl Gustafson
281-648-3764 Home
281-744-6711 Cell

 

TY Irondragon. That really norrowed it down for me. lol I will just include each model in my photo line up and have them give that a look. TY again

 

TY Texan2004. I had went through the photo gallery before I posted and read around trying to figure out the short wheel base.

I am still trying to figure out how a camper can be too short for a PU with an already short wheel base... it just doesnt add up but this is what several witnesses in 2 seperate abduction attempts and a successful one state...

What do you make of that?

 

Thats a easy one there.. A short wheel base for a full size truck is longer than a short wheel for a mini truck. And even in some csaes it differs for makes also.. Ford , Dodge , and chevy almost never had the same standards for what was a short wheel base.. Basicly it shorter than there full size truck.. Thats why Camper dont fit every truck out there.. My cap for my 60 will not fit my dads 2005 F-150.. his is smaller even tho its a full size truck..

 

hi madathlon,
Ok well that kinda answers that riddle. It appears that my best option will be having the witnesses look through the gallery here as it is a pretty darn good one, or make an album up that they can look over ( for those without PC access) I take access for granted but there's still folk out there in the sticks that say: internet, whats that? Some new fangled butterfly net or somethin ya use for fly fishin?

 

Feel free to come back here and ask questions. If we can help we will. I think Madathlon answered your last one.

 

TY Texan2004,
You have all been great! I will let you know what the selection ends up narrowed down too, which will probably take some time...you may forget about me by then! But come back non the less I shall, just in case there's an inquiring mind that wants to know Maybe once we get that far, we can work on a mock-up.

 

Pias,

Just a couple of things to keep in mind.

1 - There were many years when the Chevy's looked a lot like the Fords. Dodges always tended to look a bit different. If it is an older truck (Late 40's to early 50's), International and Studebaker made trucks that looked a lot like a Ford to the untrained eye. Since you have more than one witness from more than one event, if you get a consistent identification, you can probably feel comfortable with it.

2 - If it is a later model truck, the 67-72's may look like the 73-79's from a distance. I've mis-identified these from a glance and I know better.

3 - There are a ton of Ford Truck enthusiasts on here. As enthusiasts, we have a tendancy to "Recognize" specific old trucks, like many other folks might recognize a person or a location. If you are able to identify what year truck it is, or narrow it down to a set of years (ex. - 1961 - 1966), I'd recommend that you post on all of the older truck Forums here at FTE with whatever description and time period and location you may have asking for help in identifying the truck or who may have owned it. Come back every 4-6 months and bump the post back up to the top. It may be a long shot, but ....

4 - Another idea would be to speak with folks that were in the Auto repair/parts business in the area or nearby at the time. Dull red paint means truck was not being driven as a show piece and soemone may have been spending money maintaining it, probably frequently.

My point is that I remember every truck I've ever owned and I remember most trucks my friends and family and neighbors have ever owned. Someone here may recognize the truck, even it was 10 - 15 years ago. You never know.

I don't mean to be a junior detective here and I'm not trying to tell you how to go about this. I'm just sharing ideas. As old truck guys, we are oftern looking for hard to find itmes with scant information on how to locate them. A good example of the information we may get could be "there is supposed to be a truck in a town an hour away from hear three miles off the freeway next to a bean field and under a sycamore tree". Usually we locate said truck. Good luck with your investigation and let us know if we can help.

 

My question would be if there is no more specific info about the year and make of the truck, what characteristic has made you conclude that it is a "short wheelbase" model?
With a camper shell that is too short for the bed, my inclination is that it's a LONG BED model with a short bed camper installed. Before basecoat/clearcoat paint almost all red vehicles faded badly if left exposed to weather, a characteristic of the red pigment used.
Good luck in your search.

 

Lightbulb! So exactly what year did Ford introduce base/clearcoat(s)? The length of the bed has been contraversial. Some agree with you, others say different. It is possible that the short camper made it look to be something it was not. It is also possible that their interprutaton or short wheel base actually means low to ground.

I am still working out that detail. Different parts of the country translate things different ways. For example: One region may say soda, another- pop, another- soda pop, and still another- coke, no matter what flavor or brand they want, kinda like kleenex for facial tissue, and Band-aid for an adhesive strip

 

I think that most of the import trucks, in the early 90s had smooth sides and were about 6 feet long. A Ford flareside (with fenders) would typically have a bed about 6 inches longer. Long wheelbase (8 foot) flaresides are unusual. If, when you are talking about a camper for an import truck, you mean a shell only, that might be the combination. I also think a slide-in (with a back door) camper might be able to fit in a flareside bed.
AXracer's note about red paint is right on the money.

 

hi sevenL4,

After tomorrow, when I am hopefully able to clear up a few questions after I speak with LE (Law Enforcement), I hope to have a little better definition of 'camper.' Depending on what resource I use for information, which is every one I can find, again it could boil down to translation. I just haven't wanted to throw the last dice out there (although going to my report you can find it if ya hunt for it) until I can better clarify what is meant.

 

I've been where you are, kinda. Nothing so cold as what you are dealing with. It's a bummer when you are trying to figure out if "older truck" means "older than mine", "older than my dad's", or "older than dirt". Good luck