I belong to several 53-56 and 48-56 and even a 56 only Facebook pages. They are interesting to see other guys trucks but sometimes their knowledge is questionable. I try to correct them in a nice way. And sometimes I tells guys to join FTE 48-56 forum. I give them the link to our sub-forum.

I have been meaning to start a thread about the Facebook pages and how I think they draw Ford truck owners away from us since some days it seems our traffic is slower than before. But today I read a post that has so many errors and wrong beliefs that I had to share with our own resident experts... Now we aren't all experts in everything Ford. We are all at different stages of our Ford Walk in Ford Knowledge. But together we are very formidable. And I trust you guys becasue it seems like I know you. And some of you I do know personally. And some of you I have slept with! er, or I should say at least slept in the same cabin or yurt. I don't want any vicious rumors started. I might run for office some day!

Here is what I saw on the 56 FordF100 Lovers Facebook page today found at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1956...vity&ref=notif

Original post and follow up comments:
"Just wondering. Was there anything significant about 1956 at the time? Like was this truck made to stand out because of vehicles going to 12 volt that year and being the first year they went to defrost controls in the cab?" (Huh? Did I read that right?)

Comments:

• 4 speed tranny?
• sooooo, the beginning of a dashboard too.(What???!!)
• 1 year body style, 12 volt electrical system , electric wind shield wipers
• oh yeah forgot about previous years having vacuum wipers
• yea there must be cross over ones cause my 56 has vacuum wipers yet I'm told it shouldn't and I wish it didnt
• whatever I have I don’t think they work. Think mine are electric I have a switch with wires (huh? Don't Vacuum wipers have a switch with wires?)

So FTE 48-56 Forum is the best! Much better than F-book.

 

The knowledge base on the 48-52 site is inconsistent. Often it seems that trying to offer serious responses gets in the way of determined drivel.

BTW, unless one is already a member of a private group, others cannot see the posts on the site.

 

I am also a member of some of these groups. I have noticed the lack of knowledge and people being very judgmental about some of the vehicles. My feelings are that it is your truck and your modifications are your choice. Why insult someone if you don't like their choices?

 

I agree abe...this is definitely the site with the most accurate knowledge of 48 to 56 f series trucks.... over the past 15 years I have built 4 trucks ......3 were pretty much stock...a 51 f-1 and a 49 f-4 with stock flatheads and one a 56 f-100 with a 223 straight 6...... the other was 56 f-100 with a 347 crate motor..... pretty cool ..I enjoyed it...but at the end of the day I prefer my stock 51 f-1 with the flatty and my 49 f-4 also with the flatty in it.....I must say that if it wasn't for the knowledge of the guys and the connections from this site I would have been lost..... they definitely steered me to the appropriate vendors and sources for all my parts.....

 

I, like many of you and others here, also belong to at least three "48-56 FB sites. I have noticed from the beginning that the quality of knowledge and information on the FB sites is as good as FTE. I don't really know why but I can through some guesses out there. First, FTE has been around a very long time, I think I first joined around 1996 went was a daily digest that covered everything Ford, later was broken up into the individual groups it is know. Over the years there has been a steady rotation of new members but many haven't stayed long and a solid core of knowledgeable, experienced stayed and a family. FB just seems open to a larger group of people and in being so large you have a larger group of strange people. FB in general appeals to a greater group of people and many belong to variety of FB pages with no real dedication to any. Our members just seem very dedicated to our trucks/

I've seen a lot of BS on the FB sites that I don't would be tolerated here. One big issue that keeps being brought up is the subject of WMs. Every time the subject comes up there is always a group of uneducated people who tell the less informed to ignore dangers associated with WMs. If some one posted this kind of BS here they would be set straight pretty fast. There are other topics brought up on the FB pages that could cause injury or other problems and there seems to be always a lot of misinformation there.

 

I don't Facebook but do have some of the sites bookmarked that are open to view. Used to be able to read all the comments but find now that you can't open all the comments for some reason and it's the same on all the ones I have book marked even though it says
Public
Anyone can see who's in the group and what they post.

 

I agree totally. The knowledge is just not there in those pages. I used to link this forum and politely say "if you want to talk to the world's best experts on these trucks, go here..." But I just gave up.

 

What's facebook ? LOL

 

The only time I refer someone to FTE is a new person who seems to be dedicated to working on their new acquisition. I figure if their new and are really interest in researching their truck FTE is the best place for them.

 

When I started my restoration I joined the FTE and most of the Facebook groups. The main reason for joining the FB groups was the fact that it is easier to post buy/sell ads, and a lot more people who aren't on the FTE see them.

It worked reasonably well, but I was amazed at how ridiculous some of the folks are on there. I would post a very clear "wanted" ad.. Including part numbers/photos/diagrams/description of what I was looking for, and you would still get bombarded with nonsense. Especially for anything specific to F-2 or F-3 trucks. For example, I would post an ad saying that I'm looking for an original F2/F3 "xyz" part. I would specifically say that I needed an original because the only ones reproduced are for F-1s, and wouldn't work on my F-2. Then ten different people would post vendor's catalogs and links to reproduction F-1 parts.

Also, no matter how simple, clear, and straight forward your ad is, there's bound to be people who love to share their unsolicited opinions. I do remember that when I posted a very straight forward ad when I was looking for original exhaust hanger brackets (again, an item that isn't reproduced), some guy chimed in with something along the lines of "why use crappy old parts when you can buy brand new?" I thought it was rather amusing, as anyone who truly believed that probably shouldn't be working on these trucks in the first place. I guess we all should be building 100% reproduction trucks so that we don't have to deal with restoring anything. Secondly, those brackets aren't reproduced and if you are using the original exhaust routing, the originals are obviously the best choice since they were specifically designed for it. I I think he even called me fanatical because I was trying to be factory correct down to that detail. I guess the right answer is to swing by Oreilly's and buy some universal strap hangers??

That was just one of the examples I vaguely remember. There were a lot more, but in the end it was still worth the drama as I found quite a few of the original parts that I needed from those FB buy/sell groups. You might have to put up with people who have more opinions to share than answers, but there's good and bad with everything.

 

I am a member of those sites as well. I understand that the hard core most knowledgeable individuals are on this page. With that said, I have asked a few questions on this forum that have either been ignored or received 1 answer, maybe 2. I pose the same questions on those forums and end up with 20+ responses. I do appreciate the knowledge in this forum. I realize that of the responses on Facebook, only a quarter were close to being knowledgeable, but I rarely use this forum for questions any more due to the lack of responses.

 

Don't dispair about that. It's nothing personal. Sometimes you just need to "bump it to the top." Then guys will see it again.

 

Only good think about FB is the marketplace, I keep finding cool project cars on there. Forget about posting a build thread on a FB page, it gets mixed up in other posts and the information is pretty much lost, nothing like here. Nobody uses craigslist anymore so FB is the place to find stuff.

 

What’s a “WM”?
TIA.

 

WM = widow maker = split rim wheels used on F3 - F-6 trucks