Nothing is friendlier looking than an old truck! Photos by author.
This was my first pick up truck. All my previous truck experience had been with my dad’s ’75 Chevy StepSide.
Which I never really liked.
The Chevy had a very wide cab, but the driver’s position was awful. Horribly cramped with the steering wheel in my chest and I also never liked the short bed. A truck is supposed to be useful. The easier it is to use, the better. I prefer an 8 ft. bed.
Those trucks had been very popular with young guys who would put custom wheels and wide tires, lower them, and even have them custom painted.
I was looking for a truck that I could use, I didn’t have an idea of exactly what I was looking for. Maybe something that was ugly and would do the job, or maybe one with a cooler vintage vibe that I could fix up and enjoy.
One thing that I discovered is that there is a lot of running, beat up, somewhat wrecked looking trucks for sale. A lot of guys who are planning a big home improvement project will buy a cheap truck to use while they are involved in the project. They can always sell it, or donate it after they are done to dispose of it. Having a truck on hand can be pretty convenient.
I really liked the “big rig” style mirrors.
An elegant old workhorse. Note the tool compartment in the side panel.
I realized that I didn’t want that ugly of an old truck. I’d discovered the Ford truck forum, and I started looking through there: All Ford Trucks. My attention focused on the ’61-’66 generation of Ford trucks. They had an interesting style, the front fenders carried the raised suggestion of a separate fender and the rear bed sides had the raised suggestion of a long fender skirt. The roof had a nice ducktail feature over the rear window. They were interesting but were already thirty years old.
I found an F250 Camper Special on CL. It was a long bed, 3/4 ton truck. V8, automatic, power brakes but “Armstrong steering.” The ad stated that it needed a new engine. I asked the seller what that meant. “The engine is worn out, needs a rebuild.” Does it currently run? They assured me that it did.
The truck’s exterior was in decent shape, it had a faded red and white color scheme. I thought that it looked like a U-Haul truck. There was a good reason for that since that was what it had been. The seller was an older guy in his 70’s, and used to work as a mechanic for U-Haul back in the ’70s. This had been one of their service trucks and he had bought it when they retired it. Since it was 3/4 ton, he put a cab over camper on it and used it for over 25 years in that capacity. However he couldn’t handle the manual steering anymore, so it had to go.
I am glad that he disposed of the old camper first.
I thought that it was a rather elegant looking old workhorse that deserved to be saved, so I bought it. When I showed my wife pictures of the truck on CL, she hated it right away. For some reason, an old two tone truck immediately raised her hackles. I assured her that it would only spend a week in our driveway in that original condition.
One thing that I immediately noticed was that the Ford had a much better driver’s position than my dad’s old StepSide. The steering wheel was positioned in a comfortable position, and I didn’t have to drive with my arms folded up. The legroom was also fine. Though I never cared for the gas tank located in the cab, or the lack of storage space inside. This is typical of old fashioned standard cab trucks.
The door pockets, white door panels, and stainless trim around the windows make it a Custom Cab. Surprisingly, I sourced the missing parts from wrecking yards.
I liked the F250 so much that I became a Ford truck fan, actually, I became a total Ford fan!
The year before I had used a local Earl Scheib paint shop to paint a replacement front clip, on my son’s Acura CL. Then I had them respray a Datsun Z that I was fixing up to flip. They had done a pretty good job for the money. So I prepped my truck for its trip to Earl.
I removed the front bumper, headlamp trim, hood lettering and door badges. I used compressed air to blow off the underhood area. Boy did that raise clouds of dust! Then I blew off the front suspension and undercarriage. Then I carefully washed off the body.
I read a very informative story in Car Craft magazine that provided instructions on how to achieve a good result from a low cost production paint shop. It was important to clean the underhood and undercarriage because if dust is kicked up, it will likely settle in the new paint. The painters are pros, and they will avoid causing runs, but it’s really once over and done. If it gets dirt in it, well that’s it! However, they do give it a quick wash and paint it in a paint booth. Anything that you can do, from extra cleaning to removing the trim will help. They will only mask around it.
There were a couple of spots of surface rust on the cab and bed that I filled in with POR epoxy and treated the area with POR15 paint. The long aluminum trim spear that ran the length of the body, I wisely left alone. I washed very carefully around the edges, masked it, then carefully sanded around the edges. Then I re-masked the spear before I took it to the shop.
The service writer went over what was covered in the contract and the results that I could expect. I didn’t have them fill in any dents, there were only a couple of small ones or do any extra sanding. They only sand for adhesion, not smoothness on a basic job. My color choice was Viper Red, which I figured was a close enough match to the door jams. I was curious to see just how good/bad their basic job would be. I found that the workers were enthusiastic about painting the truck. It seems that almost everyone likes old trucks.
The shop was having a special on their in-house, brand of spray-on bed liner. So I had them apply it to the bed, as well as the sides and over the edges. The total came out to a bit over 600.00. They charge more for trucks than they do for cars.
Three days later I picked it up and it looked pretty darn good!
I repainted the wheels white and painted the Barden bumper matte black. After polishing and installing trim and badges, it looked pretty good. Even my wife didn’t hate it anymore!
But what about that tired motor?
Initially, I had been driving it around and was surprised when the oil warning light began blinking. I stopped and checked the level and there was barely any showing on the dipstick! I added two quarts and brought it up to the minimum level. I’d better keep an eye on this!
I also noticed that the oil light would come on when the engine was fully warmed up at idle. I knew what that meant. I’d ruined the engine in my old Franken-Honda that way.
Well, the sellers had told me that the engine was “worn out.”
Somehow the engine would burn, but it certainly wasn’t leaking that much; a quart of oil every fifty miles. It’s hard to believe that it wasn’t producing jet trails of smoke, but it never did. It would only produce a small puff on sudden acceleration. I switched to the heaviest oil that I could find, which was straight 40 weight, though I would also use 60 weight racing oil when it was available.
The low oil pressure was still a concern. So I pulled the oil pan and installed a new oil pump. While I had the pan off I tried to wiggle the rod bearings and they seemed pretty tight. There wasn’t any knocking from the engine, though that was probably going to happen sooner, rather than later. One good thing was that the engine was very clean inside.
The new oil pump and the heavier oil kept the light off at idle, but it still read pretty low.
I did a lot of online research and my best diagnosis was that the engine had been “overhauled” a couple of times previously. Valves, rings, and lower-end bearings, but had never received machining with new cam bearings. This was where it was losing pressure. I still couldn’t come up with an explanation for the oil consumption. Maybe it was going out the breather.
Interestingly enough, this was the first and only “Hot-rodded” vehicle that I’d ever owned. The engine, a 352 cid V8, sported an Edelbrock manifold, a big Holley carb, tubular headers, and electronic ignition. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had an aftermarket RV cam installed.
A “Farm Truck” is an old truck that is kept around to handle duties on the property. It usually runs well enough for that. If it gets dirty or banged up it’s no big deal. The farmer gets to keep his new truck nice and clean. These old trucks are seldom driven on the highway and are often off of registration for years before they are parked behind the barn for the final time.
My Ford was an Urban version of the type of vehicle.
The truck served me well for local use. I decided to drive it until the engine started knocking. Instead of a rebuild, I started shopping for a good used replacement motor. I located a stock 355 engine on CL. The seller had pulled it out of his ’61 Unibody pick up and replaced it with a full race 390 V8. It was located in Windsor, just north of Santa Rosa, a distance of 108 miles from San Jose. I made arrangements to check out the engine and buy it if it was good. The seller had an engine hoist, so I didn’t need to bring mine. It would be an over 200 mile round trip, the longest I’d taken so far.
I never exceeded 60 mph. on the freeway, and usually stayed in the right lane. I let traffic go around me, a bright red truck is hard to miss. Most drivers would just go around me, and I never held up traffic. I’d just stay out of the way. People seem to like old trucks and I never encountered any hostility from faster drivers.
I knew that I’d have to add oil on this trip, so I brought an extra five quarts! I stopped every fifty miles and checked the level and topped it up. The truck ran fine, it never had a problem with overheating, but it went through all five quarts of oil!
As I ramped up my swap meet business I knew that the old truck wouldn’t be acceptable for trips to Southern California. Even if it was completely rebuilt. So I went shopping for a brand new vehicle. I ended up with my forest green ’07 F150.
I ended up selling my truck to a co-worker, and I gave him a great deal. I didn’t want him to have any regrets later on, or give him a valid complaint. The truck and the spare engine for 1,000 bucks. This was only a third of what it was worth.
I know that old trucks are popular with enthusiasts. They look good, are easy to fix up, and have some utility. But the idea of driving an old standard cab truck is unappealing to me, since they lack the creature comforts that I’ve become accustomed to. Adding a/c is expensive, and the fuel economy and passenger safety aspects are poor. Modern trucks combine utility, flexibility, comfort, and safety. There’s a reason why the crew cab truck has become so popular.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1966 Ford F250 Custom Cab – Half A Century And Still Counting
Truck Of A Lifetime: 1966 Ford F-100 – Thirty (Six) Years Of Hauling Shit, Cheaply
Great story about a nice looking truck. I appreciate how you’re realistic about an old single-cab truck’s limitations.
Nice truck and good job getting it to do what it needed to do for you. The chrome trim dresses it up very nicely.
This generation still pops up quite commonly (or at least not un-commonly) in junkyards here in Colorado, but some are still in front line duty such as the one below I caught a few days ago. It was heading into Colorado from Wyoming on I-25 S and travelling at a steady 73 mph which seems quite sprightly for what it is, perhaps it’s no longer original-engined? According to the rear window it’s a horseshoeing business, something for which I suppose there is still some demand for in the area.
Nice truck. I sometimes (well, often) think that if I had more off-street parking, I’d replace my Tacoma with an older 2wd pickup and get a smaller 4wd SUV for the occasional off-pavement trips that are not in our van, plus as a daily driver. But that would mean four vehicles for two drivers, both now retired so no commuter needed.
When I was shopping for my Ford Ranger in 1986, the traditional pickup truck two tone was still quite common, usually red or blue with white sides. I found a perfectly equipped example at one dealership but I just couldn’t handle the red and white paint. The one I eventually bought was a more discreet blue and silver, with the silver just along the rocker panels and over the wheel wells.
I feel ya’. I really liked the 63 F-100 I had, but it was a miserable thing to drive. It was slow, loud, hard riding and hard steering. Then there was the lack of seat belts.
My BIL has continued his family farm for another generation, and there were always a couple of motley old trucks that could be used in a pinch. His opinion was that Chevy trucks were for driving and Ford trucks were for working.
Ah, so that explains your previous comment about mine and you liking old Ford trucks. I, too, wouldn’t use my restored truck to drive to say Los Angeles. Not very comfortable. However, the 1964 C10 story I did, the owner does drive that down to Temecula to visit his sister once or twice a year.
Very nice/perfect size.
That’s a good-looking truck. The tank inside the cab was such a bad feature. Hot days when I was a kid often involved fumes and opened windows with our old F-250. And a sloshing sound around corners.
I can relate to trucks and home improvement, our 85 Ranger had been used for a project and had several pain spills in the bed. My current F150 just gas traces of life at the auto glass shop in the form of bits of black mastic all over the place.
My truck is something of a farm truck since it mostly site unless I’m towing, hauling or my wife is using the car.
I’m glad I’ve never dealt with gas tank in the cab, the space behind the seat and no fumes is nice. I’ve driven an 84 Chevy which is the same basic truck as a 75 and don’t recall the driving position to be that bad but the 87 Ford I had been driving was much more comfortable. That’s probably why all my pickups have been Fords.
A nice old truck that really does have pleasing lines .
Me, I’da hunted wherever that much oil was going and tried to address it .
You’re quite right that a work truck is a wonderful thing, now I’m old and slowing down my shop truck has AC, being fat & disabled I really like this part along with the power steering .
I remember Ford trucks having quite a few turns of the steering wheel lock to lock, I wonder if this one perhaps had slightly wider tires than stock .
-Nate
The current hot set up in vintage trucks according to the hot rodding magazines is the square body Chevy/GMC from the ’90’s to ’00s. Pick ups have really evolved, though I’d hate to drive something that is as fancy as a Lincoln to the dump to drop off a load. I get to mix it up with the giant earth movers and big commercial dumps in the landfill that I use. I think my F150 enjoys being used as a working truck. It still is quiet and rides really smooth.
I bought a low mileage replacement engine for my F250, but decided that a new truck would better fill my needs, as I was making almost weekly trips to SoCal and was driving home through the night. But, I really liked the way that old ’66 looked!
Old trucks are great conversation starters.