Text by Patrick Bell.
Our feature today is another chapter in our series of trucks. There is a good variety of both pleasure and working units in a nice variety of locales, so let the tour begin.
We will begin with a bruised, one eyed, V8 powered ’55 Ford F-250 with a stake type cage on the bed. It likely was a farmer or rancher’s hard working friend. Other than the cosmetic issues it looks in good shape, sits level, no obvious rust, so it may have lived in a warm climate. The missus was riding along that day.
Here is another hard worker, a ’51 GMC New Design Custom Cab 100 likely in at least the mid-sixties with chrome wheels, baby moon caps, and thin whitewall tires. It has a full load of hay which will accentuate any play in the steering.
This one looks like the backside of a trailer or RV park that is across the road from a fairly large cemetery. In the center is a bright red ’52 Ford F-1 with a V8 which would be the old flathead. It also has a radio, grille and tail light guards, possibly a Texas license plate, and a 55 gallon drum or barrel in the bed.
The car in the background right has me somewhat stumped. At first glance the tail lights look like a ’53 or ’54 Dodge, but nothing else matches. The back glass, body line on the quarter panel, side molding, and bumper all look like a ’49 or ’50 Ford. So, we may have a mild custom. The tail light in the lower right has me completely stumped.
Another GMC New Design, this one a ’47-’50 model that appears to be a half ton long bed. It is a service truck of some kind from New York. All I can make out of the signage is something about ‘health’ on the roof and a bell with a ‘D’ on it on the door. It has a chrome grille and bumper, aftermarket turn signals and a neat, likely custom made grille guard.
Per a photo search these rigs are part of ‘The Sensational Ortons’, an acrobat team that traveled to circuses in the US, England, and Europe. A ’54 Chevrolet Advanced Design that appears to be a 3600 3/4 ton is behind a trailer on another rig. It has an interesting, commercial type of canopy with at least one exterior tool box, and is towing a good sized travel trailer. It also has a radio, fog lights, and a Texas license plate with a state shaped decal on the windshield for extra confirmation.
My parents bought a half ton model new and a small used mobile home six months after they were married. That was in Idaho and they used it to move to Alaska. They lived in the mobile home for a year or so until they were able to buy a small house. Later, when I came along I rode home in that truck. And over twenty years later I bought a ’54 3600 very much like this one in Washington state and drove it back to Alaska.
A recent rain has made the ground soft under this ’57 Dodge 100 from New York. It is equipped with a six cylinder, looks very close to new, and is a basic, inexpensive truck. To the right is a ’56 Ford Fairlane Victoria.
Now we are in Clemson, South Carolina, probably best known for Clemson University. It is a nice street scene from August of ’62 with lots to look at. In the foreground is a nice, basic ’56 Chevrolet Task Force 3100 with a six cylinder and a crunched rear fender. In front of it is a ’55 or ’56 Pontiac wagon, and behind it a ’61 Dodge Dart Seneca 2 door sedan police car.
Further down is a ’54 GMC New Design Panel, with perhaps a Chevrolet or GMC Step Van behind it. Across the street is a sweet looking red ’61 Chevrolet Impala convertible, not sure of the white over black one, a white ’60 Pontiac, tan over white ’56 Ford Country Sedan, and a white ’59 Plymouth Sport Fury convertible with fender skirts for JPC.
And another ’56 Chevrolet Task Force 3100, this one also a six cylinder and from New York in about the same time period. There is a snow tread on the front with a later model hub cap, a bald snow tread on the side spare tire mount, and it looks like all three of the whitewalls are of the add on variety. There is also an in-process body repair on the right fender with both headlamp trim rings missing.
This ’55 or ’56 Dodge Job-Rated half ton is a very nice looking rig. It has been refurbished and upgraded with amber park lamp lens, wide tires and wheels with baby moon style caps, a jerry can on the runningboard, and a nice cabover camper that may be a well done home crafted model. It almost looks too nice to take out on the road.
A couple posing with the T and C Service Station attendant most likely in Southern California. My guess is the V8 powered ’52 Ford Customline Country Sedan is their ride. It only has one whitewall and the paint has some mis-match, but overall it is in good shape for at least a six year old. On the right a sharp red ’58 Ford F-100 Custom Cab Styleside short bed. A good wash job and it would look very nice.
It was a clear, cold day when this V8 powered ’61 or ’62 International Travelall from Ohio towed this camp trailer. It has a piece of cardboard to block the radiator air flow, regular street tires with no chains and no four wheel drive. How did we all survive?
Here we have a survey crew at work along the side of a road. It may be a governmental agency but I can’t read the signs. The truck is a ’65 Ford F-100 Flareside short bed with a side mounted spare. It is very clean so it may have been close to new.
This V6 powered GMC Custom Suburban could be a ’64-’66 model but the address bar on the photo says ’64 so we will go with that. It is in very nice condition and was likely close to new. The family aboard was at least 25 years ahead of their time, driving a full size SUV before they became popular.
A camper of this size was quite a load for this ’66 Ford F-100 Custom Cab Styleside long bed. But it looks like it held up well. They are in a nice area with a great view.
A ’67 International Travelall 3/4 ton such as this one made the ideal towing rig, especially if you wanted a wagon body. They were ahead of their time as they had a four door version well before the Suburban did. This one looks good in that unusual copper color.
Thanks for taking the truck tour today and to all have a great day!
Such great shots and beyond the truck documentation, this 74 yr old experiences a strong dose of nostalgia when contemplating these trips to the past. Still having vivid memories of living through these times, enhanced by these wonderful color shots, brings some intense feelings of loss for how we all were back then, so innocent, and in some ways at least, better, more civil. And in a sense, even the vehicles have lost something perhaps just a degree of simple of integrity, too.
An International Travelall towing a camp trailer is my idea of heaven. Back in the early ’80s, I drove a ’67 Travelall crew-van for a logging company. It was great on those sketchy mountain roads.
All very nice, particularly the GMC Suburban and the red Dodge.
It’s a 54 DeSoto, not a Dodge.
Also, beautiful welding work on the GMC grille guard. He should have turned the G upside down so the hood would match his craftsmanship.
Back in 68 when I was 13 I learned to drive on my grandpa’s ranch in Wyoming in an old Ford pickup like those. Stick on the column and no power steering of course. My scrawny little arms were sore but I was happy as could be.
The GMC with the fancy grille guard seems to have two stake pockets midway of the bed (four per side, total) and the rims appear to be the heavier duty style not found commonly on half-tonners, leading me to believe this is a three-quarter or one ton truck (3600 or 3800, if it was a Chevy) with the 9 foot bed. I think I also see the protruding full- floating rear axle hub, adding to the evidence. No one now can imagine the amount of work the old timers did with these and the other similar trucks of this era. The years of my youth — happy days, but a lot of hard labor!