I have a feeling my 55 is an old 1/2 ton pu army truck. Is there any value restoring it to original? The dash is OD and under the emblems.

 

Does your truck have a data plate on the firewall inside the cab? Alot of civvy trucks were used on bases for every day tasks. Look and see if there's a plate riveted to the firewall in the center. It's around 4x6 inches in size. I collected military vehicles for 25 years before I came back to flatheads and civvy trucks. There is a big market for restored military vehicles. There are not many vehicles like yours that are restored. most got surplussed out and then used up and junked. If it is decent, I'd restore it to original.

 

No data plate, or holes through the insulation board. I guess the data plate would be the key to the restoration because anybody could paint one OD. The OD color would not be a stock color option for 55 would it? The truck condition is rust in the usual places and life as a farm truck plus paintbrush paint job.

 

Is there a normal data plate under the hood and on the glove box door? I'm not that familiar with the 53-56 trucks. I have a data plate here from a 51 and it is marked "US ARMY" on it with contract numbers which the truck was ordered under. Someone could have painted it with OD paint as back then there was lots of it sold as surplus at cheap prices. Is it a light OD, being the WWII color or is it a dark OD color being post war(Korea or later) ?

 

It has a Ford data plate in the glove box and under color code it has a "U". Maybe this is the key to wheather its army.

 

Color code U on '55 trucks is Meadow Green. Weathered, it resembles OD. I removed that color from my '48.

 

I have a '55 "effie" that is an Army truck. The vin plate that was tacked to the dash stated it was property of the U. S. Army. That will be the only visible way to tell. Do a history check of the vin registration if you can. Good luck!

Mike

 

Oh, I did not restore mine to original. I rodded it out. Camaro subframe, 9' rear, 351 W and c-4 tranny.

Mike