Every once in a while a member will post a bit of history of their trucks on the board. I always find them interesting. The bits of history add personal value to your trucks that can’t have a monetary value put on them. I have my own memories about my original truck, the F-2, the one that infected me with the old truck bug. I remember the day my dad bought it when I was about 8 or 9 years old over 35 years ago. I have an extremely bad memory but I can see that day like it was a recording playing in front of me on a TV. There are many stories I have personally of this truck.

Although he F-4 and panel don’t have much history with me they have their own stories that are interesting, at least I think so. My wife and kids really don't care about them. Maybe some day one of my kids' kids will enjoy the stories.

Many posters also mention that they would like to find the history of their trucks. I think it would be a great idea to write down the history of what you do know about your trucks. Even if you got it from the corner lot and don't know a thing about it before the day you got it. Remember the old saying,” Today is the start of the rest of your life." The day you got your truck is the start of the rest of its life.

Write down where you got it. When you got it. How you got it. How much you paid for it. What you did to it. Stories about things that went wrong. Remember, tragedy plus time equals humor. I have some pretty colorful exploits relating to my trucks. Your stories might not seem too exiting to you but just think if the original owner, and then the following owners had written this information down and passed it along. Maybe some time in the future your grandchildren might enjoy hearing about the history of your truck, you might not be around to tell them.

I’m not posting this to have you post your stories here. I just want you to write them down somewhere so they can be passed along to either your descendants or future owners of your truck. I think its important.

 

Bob,

I think this is a great idea. I have often wondered how my truck went from its once proud stature to the rough old beat to heck truck I aquired.
I sure wish I were more of a wordsmith like jniolon, fergie, or himmelburg. Those guys could write the weather report and make it a humorous and interesting read.

Good suggestion
Bobby

 

One more thing I didn't think of when I did the first post; pictures, take lots of pictures, either digitally or on film, and keep them, and the written stories, in a safe place, I suggest in the same place you keep the rest of you valueables.

I know there were pictures taken of my dad with my F-2 but I have never been able to find them. I wish my parents would have taken care of family pictures and dated them with a short description on the back. My wife's family have kept records since their ancestors came over from the old country. They have albums of family pictures with dates, names and places written on the back.

 

my 48 coe was a old farm truck and it had been sitting since the 60s .The inside of the cab was fill with junk . a box with all kinds of paper's was in it I open to see ,there was a bunch of letters for the war 2 in the pacific .The guy was writing home and telling he was ok ,AND THE BIGE there was a book of stock's 14 all sign but no name on them
$60.000. per ...wow wish I could **** the money away to see if there were good

 

That's a pretty good idea, Bob. I'm sure my grandson would like to know more about Grampa's truck some day, since he's a big fan of it already. It will turn out to be quite a long novel if I include the background on the 20 albums I have in my gallery. Sheesh! I can't believe what I've done to it.

When I heard the story from the PO of how he built it as his daughter's first car, I was sold. I figured nobody would build junk to put his daughter in. She had a very heavy foot, however, because by the time I bought it 8 years later, it was thrashed mechanically. Most of the first year's work was just getting it to a safe driving condition again. Kids!

Like Bobby, I wonder what the stories were for each of the 6 colors it had on it and who owned it and where it has been. Originally, it was a 6 with three on the tree, but the motor, tranny and rear end were changed long before the PO got it. It has a long hot rod history.

 

Hey Bob, thats a good idea! I got my '56 from the widow of the original owner for $500. It was a farm truck that delivered fuel to the tractors on the farm. It was bought from a local Ford dealer, and I have a good picture of him in front of it before he died. He had an open house at his dealership, and a car show. He remembered selling the truck new.


As I told you guys before, my brother's first vehicle was a '54 F100 truck. It was white with blue flames (my dad painted it) We did a vinyl interior in it, and a blue bed cover on it. I was 8years old and it definately had an affect on me!! There is a picture of it in my gallery, with me as a kid standing in front of it.

 

48fordcoe, those WWII letters must have given you a chill. I know they would done it to me. Just think what that GI, and his family, was going through at that time. Just think where he might have been when he was writing them and what was going on around him, very powerful stuff.

Even if you guys, and gals, don't have the history of your truck we're making history now, we should preserve it.

 

My truck doesn't have much history with me yet, but I did find a notebook in the glovebox detailing all the maintenance and repairs done from about 1960 to sometime in the early 90's. It's not as cool as having the whole truck's history, of who bought it and when and why, but it's a start.

 

I can trace Willard, my 49, back to purchase by the PO in 1962 in downtown San Jose. It had already surrendered the flathead V8 in exchange for a 56 Nailhead Buick which is how I bought it in 1977.

 

When I saw the episode of overhaulin' when they customized CHIP FOOSE'S 56 Ford F100 --the history he had with his truck,and the history I have with my truck was a parallel universe.....I loved my 56 so much I have stories I wrote about it in high school,and still have them.
The high cost of mopars brought me back to my 1st love,and this is why it is important to me. I truly love the times I shared in my ole 56 and will tell the stories to all that will listen.........Bill

 

Bob, perhaps we should tell the guys about the book that Judy Scott wrote and published in 2000, "Tough Tales, Stories of Owners and Fans of Ford F-Series Trucks."

What it is, is a compilation of Ford truck owners stories about their beloved Trucks. The story of my truck is in it as well as Bob's. Don Neighbors, who has '54 F-250, is in. He stops in here once in a while with the name of Grover. Ray Cardogno, who has a fleet of big and unusual trucks, and used to write to the forum before 2000 is in it with stories of 2 of his trucks. those are the only names I recognize now.

It is a neat little book and I guess we can say "we are in a book!"

Bob, some good pointers here. And I too wish I had more pics of my truck when my Grandpa owned it. We've got plaenty of pics of his workhorses from the old days, the John Deere tractors from later years but I have one picture of the truck and it is hard to see. My grandfather also died before I finished the truck. He died at the age of 100 in 1998. He knew I was fixing up the truck but it was not finished until July 1999.

 

I've kinda fallen into the digital media trap with my truck. It's really easy to take a bunch of pics with a digital camera, but if anything happens to my computer...they're gone.

I didn't think we were supposed to post the history of our truck in this post, but what the heck..

I bought mine from the original family. The original owner sold it to his nephew in 1964 where I'm assuming it got a repaint, and '56 Desoto hubcaps. It was a shop truck for a welding company until 1988 (there's all kinds of crazy metal pieces in the glove box and under the seat.) From 88 until 07, it hauled hay on the family farm, and spent most of it's life in a barn.

 

There's a lot of alternatives to storing your digital information. You can get a free online hosting site, burn your images on CDs or jump drives. Have the images printed on hard copies like conventional pictures, Walmart and Walgreens have this service among others. I wouldn't trust valueable pictures to my hard drive on my computer, I've had a few crash and lost a lot of information. I have gotten into the habit of backing up my important information, personal and business.

 

I bought my 51 from a friend who had started the build, he had a light stroke and lost interest plus couldn't do much after the stroke for awhile. He hadn't changed the title into his name so on the ohio title it read previous owner as clearmont county ohio police vechile, Bubba bought it from a friend of his but none had done any title work.Had no trouble getting KY. title. My friend Bubba sure wishes he had it back now, wait till the paint goes on ,I'll get to see a grown man cry then.

 

I bought a MYBOOK just for backing everything up. I'm also starting to write pertinent information in a 5 subject notebook...one subject for each of 4 projects, and the last for various odds and ends. The most important pics may just end up on paper like Bob.

the first 48 F1 originally was bought from the local JY bya friend of mine. He tore it all apart and was gonna street rod it. Pretty careless in his attempt to dismantle, it ended up in pieces, and most was sold or scrapped. He sold to a coworker, who I got it free from. In talking to the JY guy, he said it came from a bricklayer outside of town a ways, and drove it right up til it ended up in the JY. I don't know what year.

The "new" 48 F1 came from a guy in MN (south of me, but who isn't, lol) and he bought it from a guy who bought from the county? IIRC. it has sat since 1994. That's all I know.

My uncle's, someday will be mine, 49 F6 was a sawmill truck for many years, and looks like it sat there for many years more, lol.

Now for my 78 F150? My dad bought it new in 1978 and I started driving it in 1988. that truck and I have more memories than anything else. I'll always keep it. The 85 F150 came from a guy after he hit a deer. I pd. $300 and have been driving it ever since. The 79 Bronco, the guy paid me to take it, and I've been driving that ever since, too. Matter of fact, I spent more buying the "Green Manalishi" than I did all the others combined.