alright then.

I've been an old bike guy for awhile. Abilities have come some great distance in the past few years - no qualms with rebuilding carbs, motors or screwing with points and drum brakes. I got that stuff, self taught just from screwing around.

Never got into cars because I thought they required just a little more resources than I had and have available. I'm an undergrad [almost there!] with no garage. I do my bike work in the yard or borrowed garage [for a weekend or so] or the bedroom [got a '68 BSA in there now]. But recently a friend inherited a '68 VW camper he asked me to get running, which was a damn breeze and really put a spell on me to maybe make the move to a set of classic 4 wheels.

Of course, I fell in love with the early sixties fords.


All that being said; these old girls make pretty competent daily drivers, right? Ideally I'd like to score an older restoration or a solid original - as I have no strong desire for a car project at this point. It'd be nice to think about rebuilding it in a few years, but not now.

Are there major differences between these years that would lead to cheaper running costs? Any work would most likely be done by me, so really I'm just interested in parts costs and availability.

Will a short bed fit a motorcycle? 2?

MPG is a concern, I'd like to get around 18-20... is that doable? Does the straight 6 get the best?

Anything else you all would like to cue me in on please, blab away. I'm a complete stranger to cars and such.


this is going to be great.
Thanks.

 

Welcome to FTE.
I can answer some of the questions you have,
Yes a Motorcycle will fit it in a short bed, my ninja fits fine.
yes a I6 will get better milage than a V8, but not the 18-20 you might want. best 14-15
In my opinion it would better to look for a 65 or 66, they have the twin I beam front end suspension.
Brake's and power steering can be added to them easy enough from a 69-79 ford parts truck equiped with them.
daily driver? I drive mine every day for work. some days more than 60 miles

 

hi bloodwiser. i'll chime in here because i'm bored and i'm killing time until 5:00. admitidely(sp) i have almost no experience since i just recently bought my first "old" truck, a 64 4x4. but until you get a few hits from the more experienced folks on the board here is what i've learned so far. 65 and 66 trucks are pbly a little easier to get parts for than the 61-64 yrs. but having said that there is alot of after market stuff available and what ain't available you can usually find or the folks on here can help you find it (numberdummy comes to mind).

get a truck already in pretty good shape it's alot easier and cheaper in the long run. mine is a rust bucket but hey thats just me i like welding on them.

gas mileage?. i'll go out on a limb and guess you might get close to 18-20 with the right engine, especially if you swap rear ends.

will a short bed fit a motercycle? yes it will but you'll want to stick with a stepside(flairside) for the bsa otherwize the tailgate won't shut. (i'm being a smartalec, the way the question was worded gave the impression you were wanting to adapt a shortbed to your bsa. to be honest i think your bike would pbly fit in back of a short bed).

like i said i'm a newbie so take my advise with a grain of salt until some more experienced members jump in.

oh and guess what it's 5:06= time to tap a brewski.

good luck.

(edit- it looks like bill w beat my post by about a minute. read thru bills reply and it looks like i was pretty close on my guess. and yes we agree the shortbed will fit)

 

bloodweiser,

I see you're form New York. I was born in the city, but grew up on LI. I'm on the other coast now... Here's my 2 cents. I have 3 trucks, all long boxes. I like the look of the LB better than the SB. My 69 Triumph fits fine in the LB with the tailgate closed. Lots of room for two bikes if you need it.

My favorite engine is the inline six. Lots of torque, better gas mileage than the eight. A 2.75 or 3.00 rear end will help mileage, too.

65 and up will have twin I beam front suspension, and 73 and up will have front disc brakes. You can always retro fit a 65 and up with 73 and up disc brakes if you prefer the earlier body style, but want front disc brakes. Lots of folks here have done that.

Parts are available from various sources, no problem there. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience here on this site. No matter how weird the problem, someone here will know how to fix it.

My 77 was my daily driver, but now my 72 is the daily. The 77 is my winter beater. My 67 is my current "project", and is my therapy when the world gets too weird. These old trucks were built to last, and are easy to work on.

Welcome to the best Ford truck site on the net!

Keep on truckin'

John

 

Like the others said a '65 or '66 wil drive better because of twin I beams
My neighbor hauled a harley in his short bed don't know about other brands
My '66 with 352 would get a solid 17+ mpg think it had 3.55 gears

 

I like the way you think Bloodweiser.
These trucks are even simpler to work on than that VW Bus. Plenty of room in the engine bay. In fact, too much...you have to climb in and sit on the inner fenders sometimes to do the work. Simple, big hammer technology.

A long bed will cost less than a short bed, generally. No problem fitting a bike in the back of a LB.

I would look for a six cylinder. Too many dismiss the six as 'slow' but they really aren't bad, especially if you swap in a newer model 300 which is a great engine. The FE V-8 in my truck can get 15 mpg with the stick but you have to treat it gently. The six will get probably 18-20 if properly tuned. My truck buddy has a '66 with the original six and got 24 on a highway trip a couple years ago if you can believe it. We still tease him about it today.

Any of these trucks can do work as a daily driver but the 65-66 is much easier to upgrade the brake on and shares more parts with the newer trucks. The cab is also a little bit larger.

Whatever you do buy the most solid, unrusted truck you can find. These things do like to rust and should not see duty on the road during salt season or they will evaporate. That's true of any truck of the pre-galvanized era prior to the 1980s. The added up front expense of buying a truck from a 'dry' state that doesn't need rust repair will easily cover any costs to get it home, believe me.

There's some good reading on my web site about how I came to get my truck and some things to look out for on them. My truck is a nice driver quality vehicle, mostly original (except the paint) and cost me $2700-ish bucks back when I bought it because it was a longbed 2wd and nobody in that area of NC wanted a truck like that.
http://mongrelmotorsports.homestead.com/Ford.html

 

Hot damn.

Alright, well, crap. Is there anyone around driving in the salty winter that is the north east? I had thought about how well or not well these gals would handle in the winter - but didn't think twice about them being very susceptible to salt.

I'm pretty **** about washing my truck and my girlfriend's car down in the winter - they make it to the car wash once a week during the saltiest of seasons. Is this not enough effort to keep an old ford in one piece? What about pre treatment? POR15?




That's great to know about MPG. I'm not a speed demon, at least not on 4 wheels. That's what motorcycles are for. I'm a back roads kinda guy anyhow, despise the interstates and if I need to use them its only for a handful of miles. But I've got to ask, what's top speed of a 223?



Thanks everyone. Keep it coming.

 

Mine is a daily driver. They were driven daily when new. No reason they can't be driven daily now.

18-20 on the highway is certainly doable though I don't know that it will happen if original gearing is maintained.