hey guys my uncle gave me a 45 as an xmas gift in 04. it was my grandfathers and he and my father had bought it in the 60s sometime. my dad drove it to college and then it became a farm truck for my grandfather. at some point the 6cyl gave out and my dad bought a bored v8 flathead to put in it. sometime mi to late 80s he parked it in the field behind his house and didnt drive it again. dad says it ran when parked. a few years ago my grandmother died (a long while after my granddad) and my uncle acquired it and moved it to the barn at my parents house. its in rought shape but i think it can be brought back. not looking for a full resto, mostly just get it running, fix the major body problems and roll with it a while until i can put cash aside for paint. ive sat on it for over a year now and want to get started but i dont know where or how. i need it to be reliable and able to haul some stuff.

has anyone put a newer frame/engine/suspension under these trucks? maybe a ranger setup from a few years ago. having just bought a house and a baby on the way i expect this to take 2 years or more and be done in pieces as i can sneak some money to the project.
thanks for checking it out and helping me.
here she is in her curent home:

 

Welcome to FTE!
Here's what you've got: more likely 46 or 47 (the war was still underway in '45 so not many trucks made it to civilian production). If you can come up with a serial number we can figure out what you have for sure. It should look like 1GC123456 or 71GC123456 since it was originally a 6 cyl. If it actually is a 45 it is fairly rare.

The engine has 48- 53 heads at least and is likely a later replacement engine. More hp than the stock version. The 42-47 trucks had water pipe outlets in the center of the heads.

I drive daily a stock 48 and it works for it's keep. There's nothing wrong with your stock setup. There's no need to go to the expense of a frame/engine swap if you can rebuild what you have. They work just fine and ride surprisingly well. In my opinion, of course.

You can check my gallery - I have about $6000 in my '48 and 2 years of my spare time. A word of advice - don't sneak the money from the family budget - talk to your wife about it and keep her in the loop. Payoff is long term, believe me.

 

thanks for the reply.
my dad told me that the car was an army truck before they bought it. they lived in maryland somewhere when it was bought.
title says ident number is 99c656504 yr of maunfacture is listed as 45, i cant look for any numbers on the body right now the truck is 4 hours away at my parents and i managed to break my ankle a few weeks ago.

i certainly cant sneak anything away from my wife, she works for wachovia and has access to see everything that comes and goes... mostly i hope to put things like bonuses from work and proceeds from selling off other things.

im a total newb at older domestic vehicles. ive been into watercooled vws for a few years now. i have a 89 cabriolet that i did an engine swap into from a gti and am now swapping for another newer engine and also an audi tt that im using as my daily driver. im looking forward to having something simpler (hopefully) to work on.

as for the condition of the truck, do you guys think it looks to be worth saving?

 

I tried to reply earlier but it must have gotten eaten. Sorry if this comes out twice.

I am currently putting an 88 Ranger chassis under my 46, and it's a lot of work. Since your truck is mostly complete I would try to work with what you have. The frame swap is very time consuming, and I always seem to be short the extra hands I need to move the cab and front clip around while I modify the mounts.

I would definitely paint it before driving it. Even if it's just some cheap implement paint. My truck had some house paint on it, and all of the metal under the remaining house paint was still shiny when stripped. The parts without paint were pitted and very hard to fix. Any protective coating will save metal work later. You can always strip the crappy paint off later when you get around to painting it for real.

Your truck is definitely worth the effort. Mine wasn't half as nice when I started, and not nearly as complete.

 

implement paint is a can do. bad pun, unintentional.
dad told me that when they got it, it was coverd with a blue paint that was flaking off and showing the original color (he thinks it was a dark green). he said my grandfather sanded it down to bare metal and repainted the car in the color that you can see in the pics. the front end is really the worst part of the truck. grill is toast (bottom of it rotted off), feders have some holes (only place i saw on the truck with more than surface rust)
definitely hope to get it going, kinda sentimental since i remember it being in the field behind my granparents when i was growing up. i always wanted to play in it but my grandmother said there were snakes in it and i better stay out. that scared me straight for sure.

 

forum newb with a 45, looking for info/help

r3dstar (99c656504) 1945

You have got yourself a 1945 for sure as per the V.I.N. above. Just checked my book and that is the designation serial number for that year. Its a model 83 with the as you mentioned had the original 6 cyl 226 C.I.D. which was an optional engine for that year.
The 1945 had the honor of being the 31,000,000 th. Ford built. This is not saying that your was that one, as there were 19,706 built in the pickups. Now get this the cost was $918.00, and yours haveing an optional engine might have been maybe $25.00 extra.
Looks like you have a piece of history here, take your time with it and do it right. You have the history of the truck, and the truck so for what its worth be patient. A good piece of advice another member gave you keep your wife informed and she will come around, may take awhile.
I've got my wife now that she enjoys the old trucks, and drives them as well, we even take the pickup and trailer on holidays and go treasure hunting.
Anyway enough said good luck with your endeavour, and again be patient, it will all come together.

 

5 star youre the man. thats really cool info youve provided me with. we are going home on friday so i will ask my dad what else he remembers.
my wife really likes the truck. we are both suckers for 40s-50s style. she bought me a great condition owners manual for it and an old ad.

so i guess the first order of usiness is to move the truck to my house and see whats rotted beyond use and whats still good. she also recognizes that we could actually use a truck for landscaping and hauling so shes more behind this than my other projects. plus i told her i would sell my TT and daily drive the truck.

great forum guys, as i look through the pages there is a ton of great info, things i would have never figured out on my own

 

r3dstar, welcome aboard, nice to see some pix of another '42-'47 Ford pickup. Like mentioned, your truck is a '45 as evidenced by the VIN number. That alone makes it some what rare, as '45 was a short run, and new trucks were still rationed a bit by the government. However, by the looks of it, and the fact that it is a '45, your truck is a factory V8. The front panel where the hood latch is for a V8, and looking at the front shot of the truck, the panel behind the grille bars, right under the bottom of the radiator is also for a V8. The 6 cylinders used modified panels due to the longer lengths of the engines. Also, in '45 the trucks were made with V8's at first, 6 cylinders would return back to the line up later on. The model number for your truck is actually 59C, 83 is the body type, 1/2 ton pickup truck.
You talk about wanting to keep it simple, stick with the stock frame. Upgrade it if you want with power disc brakes, which are a simple bolt on. All the parts are available for these trucks...believe me, I've owned 6 of these already.

 

46fordtruck,
thanks for the insight. where is a good place to get parts from. i hope to move the truck up here early next year and get started. my garage only has one door but its big enough for 3 cars if i only need to get one out with any regularity. i figured i would put the truck in a corner and start figuring out what is good and what is not. luckily one of my good friends is a wyotech grad and has a better clue about these older trucks than me.

 

Nothing wrong with snakes. (I'm a herpetologist. I study snakes, turtles and lizards. You know the creepy crawly things).

You're truck sounds like a great project. Just don't be too surprised if it takes longer than you thought to finish it.

There are a lot of places for parts, most are not cheap.
I like Bob Drake, and Obsolete Ford Parts. Do a search on the internet, there's lots of parts available.

 

to try and get it running pull the plugs and put either deisel or kerosene in the cylinder and let it set for a couple day to loosen up the rings and get it to turn over by hand so you dont break the rings once you get it to turn over change the oil before trying to start it once freed by hand crank it over with the plugs out to remove exess deisel or kerosene also oil the generator bearings and distributor i have a 46 1 and half tone that sat in a feild for years that ran to when parked i done that and the engine freed up it smoked for a while till the rings move freely

 

Did you know that we are now offering our D.U.I-Davis Unified Ignition for the Falthead Ford. It's an H.E.I. style distributor. See it at:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=514467

 

Did you know that we are now offering our D.U.I-Davis Unified Ignition for the Falthead Ford. It's an H.E.I. style distributor. See it at:

http://www.performancedistributors.c...ead%20ford.htm

 

thanks for the advice.
i have another project car that i have to finish up and get running and then get out of the garage so i have room for the truck. i may go ahead and put kerosene in the cylinders now while its in the barn at my parents.

 

your welcome while it at your parents place sitting would be perfect id fill up the cylinder and let it work it way through the rings