After that deep immersion in vintage Chevys, how about something for the Ford lovers, straight off the truck? Eight Falcons, on one of Convoy’s in-house designed and built lightweight trailers.
Prefer something a bit more substantial?
How about a choice of ’61s? That 2-door Ranch wagon would be the one for me. It was the last year for that body style.
All of them too spartan?
How about a load of ’72 Thunderbirds? That poor truck is positively groaning under their combined weight. It’s all about color here.
The Thunderbirds look great with their bodies all cinched down on their suspensions. Long, even low(er), and wide.
Speaking of cinching down: you place a hook on end of chain into receiver hole in frame rail, usually behind front wheels and ahead of rear wheels. Then use long crowbar to turn ratchet pawl. Easy on small cars, less so the larger the vehicle/stiffer the suspension. Builds muscles! If unfamiliar with vehicle, it was sometimes tempting to attach chain to a more easily accessible outboard position … with potentially damaging results. Heard of load of Fiat X1/9s that were bent in half … 🙁
I have an irrational love for 2-door wagons.
Looking at the spidery structure of those trailers reminds me of a fact that real engineers know best: It doesn’t take a lot of steel to support a lot of weight.
That’s around 40,000 pounds worth of Thunderbird in the last shot. They are being pulled by the only truck with a tandem axle, also.
Second picture, bottom row, middle car – is that another two-door wagon?
So in real weight about 17 tons not a lot really, and 3 of them are on the truck that a light load, this is why even now transporters are not big horsepower rigs theres no need for it,
Looks like it to me, but all those cars are in (off-) white colours. Rental car delivery?
I briefly owned a ’61 Country Squire wagon like the one on the back of the trailer in the 2nd photo. It was a loaded car when new, with everything but air.
But at 11 years old it was a rusty hulk. For $35.00 it became a donor car for my ’57 Fairlane.
The 390ci, 4bbl, cruise-o-matic, and tires were swapped to the ’57.
I didn’t realize how lucky I was at the time, as the whole drive train bolted right up. (The FE blocks were not released until ’58) But as a 16yr. old kid, noboby told me it couldn’t be done, so I done it!
The ’60-’64 round body Fords are some of my favorite designs.
The Falcons appear to be 1960’s, with the concave grille.
Color me surprised: I forgot, or never knew, those Falcons came with body-color-painted steel wheels. I’ll take the green one with the white sidewall tires.
That is some kind of red on that Falcon. The wheels make it look more so.
Agreed. That red is totally unexpected for the car, year, and presumed market.
I love it!
The T-birds are ’72s; ’71s were the previous generation with the beak and a suicide-door sedan still available. I’ll have one of the russet-colored ‘Birds.
Check out the chromed-up ’57 Big Job, even the windshield is trimmed.
Interesting that it had a hood scoop.
I believe the scoop started in ’58, with the Super Duty. Could’ve this been a repower or a test mule?
The top rated Lincoln Y-block based 332HD V-8 was equipped with a functional hood scoop in the 1957 F-800 and 900, similar to the later Super Duty equipped trucks. However, the Super Duty V-8’s were being fleet tested in 1957 and it’s possible the Convoy truck was one of them. The Hadley C series is definitely Super Duty equipped, as evidenced by the script on the front of the cab, functional air intakes behind the cab door handles, and very large fuel tank!
I’d like to see the C-Model’s cab-raising procedure.
Speaking of trucks, the top two have about a half-dozen license plates on their front bumpers. Common back then for interstate travel. Did deregulation in the ’70’s play a part in ending this practice?
I really don’t remember when this multiple plate requirement ended.
Into the 80’s, instead of multiple licence plates, commercial trucks started wearing state fuel stickers for any state that they operate in. It was up to the driver, upon entering any state to record the mileage into their logs, when they entered the state and when they left it so that appropriate road taxes could be charged.
I think my pick of the three trucks would be that 61 Country Squire. I hope it has red interior!
As for the Lumber(ing)Birds, boy but weren’t the “earth tones” popular in 1972. Those 3 light brown cars look a lot like the colors of my father’s 72 Mark IV.
I’d offer to drive the T-bird load, if only because I’ve become intimately familiar with the L-Series cab over the years.
I had a Buddy L car transporter as a kid in yellow with three plastic XK 60 model Falcons on it,
Sad that a Buddy L makes me feel that old. That was what you took when you couldn’t find a skinny tire Tonka. Yep, I guess I’m old……
I wonder what the (perceived) best selling color combination might have been?
I wonder what the (perceived) best selling color combination might have been? on Thunderbirds.