On Old Friends and Older Trucks
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I like old trucks. Safe to assume you do, too. My particular love is Fords, but I understand the appeal of them all. Few things are as cool as a worn old workhorse still in service, proudly showing the scars of its years. I've only had one "old" truck, a purple & white '95 F150 4x4, but have long wanted something properly old. Here in California, that means pre-1975. I notice them everywhere. In fields, across parking lots, and Craigslist. I found this one when picking up dinner the other night.
I found my friend Shawn his 1967 F250 crew cab, 360/manual, for what amounts to pennies these days. Friends and acquaintances unintentionally scratch my itch with Ford, GM, Dodge, even International trucks of their own. My cousin buys and flips them regularly. I need one for myself, and that ball is now rolling:
I found this 1971 F250 Camper Special on Craigslist only minutes after it was listed, and immediately sent it to Shawn. Because that's what you do. As I'm sure it is with many of you, most of our text string is Craigslist ads, beer time scheduling, and dumb ideas. But this one looked a little less dumb than others, at least for us. It seemed very fairly priced (anything under $5000 for one of these, since my brain still prices things a decade ago), appeared to be in decent condition as a rolling project, and was in appealing two-tone instead of the common monotone light colors. The only hurdle was that it was 90 minutes away on a Friday evening and would need to be towed. As I recently purchased a car for my wife and...uh, accidentally gained a two-car project package deal in a matter of weeks (more on that in another post later), and by the way also have disassembled other stupid things in the garage, I was not in a position to grab it myself. A plan was hatched: Shawn would buy it, we would work on it together and I would provide as many parts as possible, then I would purchase it from him for the cost of his investment later. We've been friends since we were 5, and though we lost track of each other for a few years, we've picked up right where we left off and are furiously making up lost time. That makes this a perfect and seemingly inevitable, or at least overdue, buddy project. That evening, we hitched up "Ike," his now-trusty '67 F250, to a UHaul and hit 101 through the rolling hills to Los Alamos after work.
It was a fairly typical ranch truck, various dents and gouges, rust here and there, and had been sitting for awhile. But it would fire and run with a healthy sound and no scary smoke, and the old C6 engaged gear well. The roof was not about to peel itself off around the drip rails, and the cab corners were not holes where once was metal. The torn red seats were covered in the usual blanket, but the truck was complete minus one trim spear and a couple of hubcaps, and these days, it seems half the battle is having a full interior and trim to work with.
The dusty rural twilight time of day and sound of kids playing baseball in the street behind us could not have been more American as we cranked that long dormant V8, and while I am not often proud of this country, in that moment it felt right. Just a couple of American boys who grew up together in a small town, looking at a truck that's 9 years older than we are, feeling its soul in our bones. We decided this was the one, a deal was struck at $3800, and we towed it home that night.
Late night VIN decoding and parts catalog dives ensued, in which it was established that it was the 543rd vehicle to leave the San Jose plant in November of 1970. It was painted in Wimbledon White over Candy Apply Red, optioned with the 360FE, C6 transmission, and Dana 60 axle with 4.10 gears. It was sold new in San Jose, and has apparently been a California truck its whole life, ending up only 3 hours south of its birthplace. We were told that the engine had been balanced and the heads built for unleaded fuel, and that it now ran with 9.5:1 compression with a Holley 750 and Flowmaster headers. While we haven't confirmed anything but the carburetor, intake manifold and headers, it certainly has a slightly hotter than standard FE bark.
Shawn is a professional pilot, so when he's not on call in some exotic American city, he's a mad tinkerer on all things Ford. He used his first block of time to dig into the fuel system, finding rust, rust, and more rust. Predictably, it ran all the way to the tank itself. Thankfully, this is readily available, and he removed the seat to replace it right off the bat. No sense rebuilding that Holley to run rusty shellac through it. When he removed the seat, among other detritus such as nails, matchbooks, and shells, he found one Ace of Diamonds. I've never named a car, but he names most of his, and this one named itself. With that, I am very happy to introduce to you Ace.
April and May have been wildly busy months for a hundred reasons, but Shawn has been making amazing progress while waiting for me to have some free time to share. I'll try to share updates from time to time, but now, I have to go looking for more parts to catch up with him! Thanks for reading. -
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@pyroholtz Yeah, well, it's not even my truck yet
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@RallyWrench Awesome! That’s a good looking truck, and very well equipped for what you’d want in an old pickup truck.
And that F250 crew cab- chef’s kiss. Enjoy!
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@RallyWrench I'm a Miata is always the answer kinda guy, but I get what you're saying on old trucks. Just something about em
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@Cash-Rewards Something's gotta run to Home Depot or tow the Mater to the track.
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@RallyWrench There is absolutely something special about old trucks. My brothers and I did various odd-jobs for a family we knew, and they had an old "jeep truck" (J10) that we would drive around with. It was glorious, and we all loved it.
This looks like one of those. Enjoy! -
@RallyWrench Everything about bringing a classic back into service feels so right. Nothing beats that smell of sunbaked interior and a light(heavy) film of oil.
Some time ago I bought the world's rustiest manual k20, drove around for several months to get some life into it and sold it to my father who regularly hauls firewood/gravel/soil through muddy trails. Every time I see it there's a new dent or gash, It's living its best life probably stuck with the hubs locked
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@RallyWrench That is a magnificent beast! I am jealous!
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@RallyWrench MILPITAS TRUCK BUDDIES
(my Ranchero was a Milpitas plant product too, thing it was december of '62 or something like) -
God I love that. I keep seeing them pop up and want one, but I've got an 02 Tundra with 570k on it that is well on its way to being an old truck like this. Wouldn't go for a 360 but if I found a 390 or 460 C6 Highboy or Super Camper Special I'd be ALL over it.
Pre-76 for CA, btw
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@RallyWrench said in On Old Friends and Older Trucks:
The dusty rural twilight time of day and sound of kids playing baseball in the street behind us could not have been more American as we cranked that long dormant V8, and while I am not often proud of this country, in that moment it felt right. Just a couple of American boys who grew up together in a small town, looking at a truck that's 9 years older than we are, feeling its soul in our bones. We decided this was the one, a deal was struck at $3800, and we towed it home that night.
This is begging to be turned into a top 10 Country / Folk song
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@atfsgeoff
Gas eaters anonymous. -
@RallyWrench I'm a Chevy truck guy, but that is one damned handsome machine. Nice find.
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@atfsgeoff Only if Sturgill Simpson does it.
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@sony1492 Love a good squarebody! Well done, happy to see one properly used and loved.
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@Shop-Teacher It's going to need everything but paint
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@RamblinRover waves Maybe Gran Torino put the steering column in them!
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@Shiarlis Tundras are fantastic trucks, future classic old truck that won't die. And yeah, I meant 75 and earlier but phrased it wrong!
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@Mark-Tucker Thanks! I can appreciate Chevys equally, but I grew up around Fords. Old allegiances die hard. It helps that Fords of this era remain cheaper than equivalent C10s, for now.
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@RallyWrench Ha! I think you win!
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@RallyWrench That's a good looking truck! And I l love the crew cab, shame that they're so expensive now because I'd love to have one (or a dentside super cab). I need to crap or get off the pot when it comes to getting an old truck. I've wanted one for as long as I can remember but other things just kept getting in the way, time, money, justification, space, etc. I've got my 1950 F3 which has been making glacial progress but more and more I'm considering selling it off, and the parts truck, and using it to buy something closer to road worthy. This doesn't make that decision any easier.
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@pickup_man Thanks! We/he got super lucky on that crew cab, I think it was $7k or something and generally solid. I've long wanted something this old as well, and prices have been accelerating out of reach so this felt like our best chance. The F3 is a cool truck, but I can see how that's perhaps a bit too old for use on modern roads. Sorry to complicate the decision!
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@RallyWrench That's a hell of deal on a crew cab, I've been watching prices lately and they're getting astronomical.
The plan for the F3, and of the parts I've gathered so far will help make it more usuable, although I only intend it to be a backroads truck with maybe the occasional 65mph jaunt. So far I've got a fuel injected 300 six, four speed (eventually want an overdrive) and a dana 60 with 3.54 gears which should make it a decent cruiser. Front disc conversion is on the short list as well. The biggest problem with the F3 is the amount of work it's going to take to get it on the road again, work I'm willing to do pending time/money which are in short supply with two young kids. The problem with selling it, and the parts truck, for something else is that for what I can get out of both of them barely gets me into rusty beater territory for other 60's-70's trucks. I've waffled on this decision for quite a while and usually come to two conclusions. 1. The '50 is the truck I've always wanted and I feel like I'll regret it if I get rid of it. 2. The few trucks that I wouldn't regret selling it for (dentside super cab short bed, dentside Bronco, slickside ('65-'66) crew cab, 2nd gen Lightning) are so far out of reach at the moment that it doesn't make sense to pursue them.
Anyway, enough of my thinking out loud, enjoy the truck, can't wait to see updates!
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@pickup_man I like that plan for the F3, can't argue with a 300/manual combo. I empathize on the time/money/kids equation, that's me too. Hope to see some updates on yours along the way!
