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Hi, yes I am new to all of this..I bought a 59 F100 Panel Truck--gonna be my retirement project--in researching it seems like I should have found a 56 or older--can someone tell me why parts etc for a 59 are so hard to find--did the panel truck sort of fade away in 59? seems gas tanks and radiators don't exist.. help---and many thanks JD
First, welcome. Glad to have you. You'll find that this is a good group.
Panel trucks as a breed are pretty rare. I don't think the '57 to '60s are any more rare than the earlier ones. I've got a good friend that uses his '57 as his daily driver. He's had to do some detective work to find sheet metal, but no worse than I've had to do on my '51/'52s. Stu
Shadow,the tail lights are going to be nearly "unobtanium"(I think it's the tail lights).I would guess the radiator will be the same as the trucks.The gas tank is located behind the seat on pickups, underneath for a panel truck.Just checking the numbers produced will show you you'll have a hard time finding some vehicle specific parts.Ebay,a nationwide craiglist search engine like craiglook or search tempest(?),and posting in FTE's classified section are a good start.If you post specific items in this forum,Numberdummy will eventually be along to help.
Thanks I already know where the radiator and gas tank go--just wondering why the 59's aren't so numerous and where to find the tank and radiator to purchase..but thanks for the info so far...
Those are EBay auction numbers,by the way.I specified tank locations simply to let you know that since there were gazillions of trucks,but only a relative few panels produced,it won't be easy to find a panel tank.I was not implying that you weren't smart enough to figure out where one was.
I took no offense--sorry if it seemed so---well this panel I have is in good shape -someone stole the radiator just before I picked it up.. and the gas tank didn't have a cap on the filler tube for a long time and sat outside soooo in trying to find those two items I discovered this is to be a treasure hunt--thank You all for the info --I'll be back
Good luck on finding parts, most of the parts from the 57-60 trucks will fit the panels. Most of the vendors are geared towards the earlier trucks, but as the 57-60 are becoming more and more popular there is starting to be more parts available for them.
Start ordering the free catalogs from the vendors, they are useful tools.
Its always good to see a fellow New Mexican on here
Bobby