800,000 ford truck

[glemon]

This is a pretty cool story and a pretty cool old Truck

https://picklyman.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/1947-ford-truck-sells-for-800000/

 

[Brosky]

Pretty good looking too. I'll bet that flat head winds it up pretty well with the supercharger on it.

 

[CZ_Dave]

WOW! I wonder if it will
be a the Grand National Roadster Show
tomorrow

 

[3798j]

Guys - This story was talked about on the H.A.M.B. and the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums going back a couple of years with the threads coming to the conclusion - it's one of those tales that was made up. Really like that supercharger though.

 

[aeronca65t]

My Dad had a '47 Ford pickup. Bought it for $75 and gave it away when he bought a better '54 flatbed Ford.
He also had a '37 Ford pickup (wish we still had that!).

The '47 had a 60 Series flatty with 3-speed on the floor.

I remember it had an igniton/steering wheel lock: I remember because Dad lost the key and we had to drill it out. We always "turned it on" with a 10-penny nail (and button-push floor starter button).

Our's was battleship grey. The paint was free and we painted it with a mop one day.

 

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Our's was battleship grey. The paint was free and we painted it with a mop one day.[/QUOTE]

That brings back memories......I had an uncle who had a 49 Buick (remember the song Shlock Rod??) and it was painted the same color and the same way. Or at least it looked it. He must have used a brush that was made from rope, there were so many lines in the paint that you could roll marbles in them and never have one roll off of the hood.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Not wanting to argue, but the last year for the V8-60 was 1940, That 47 F-1 was probably an 100HP, as the 85HP units were gone by 47.
Unless someone swapped in a 60HP, but not likely in a truck, as trucks back then were working vehicles and needed all the power they could get (read Ardun).

 

[AngliaGT]

Reality check here - Who,in their right mind,would pay
$800,000 for an old pickup truck?

- Doug

 

[aeronca65t]

That brings back memories......I had an uncle who had a 49 Buick (remember the song Shlock Rod??) and it was painted the same color and the same way. .......

We also painted a neighbor's welding truck with zinc chromate using the mop method. And another neighbor's 5-window Chevy pickup the same way using left-over paint from the Fort Dix motor pool. The welding truck was a really quick job. We just spread grease on all the glass and lights and went to town. Then we probably wiped the grease off with MEK afterwards.

Not wanting to argue, but the last year for the V8-60 was 1940, That 47 F-1 was probably an 100HP.....

I'm sure you're correct. We always called <span style="text-decoration: underline">all</span> the Ford flathead V8s, "Sixty Series", even if they had the water pumps in the block. It's probably a South Jersey thing.
There was a number of French Fords built with the 60 horse engine later on, but not in the US. Our's was probably a 100 horse engine.

By the way, one of our flathead Fords (I think this '47) wouldn't start well when it was hot, so Dad figured it needed a valve job. We pulled the heads and pulled the valves. He bought a valve spring compressor for flatheads that I still have. Once we got the valves out, we wire brushed them and didn't actually grind them.....just lapped them like crazy. Then carefully ground the ends of the valves (handheld against a grinding wheel) so they'd be more loose. It probably tapped like an MG after that, but I think it started better.

Although I believe this truck had the correct engine, swapping in a "wrong" engine was almost a specialty for my Dad.
We had a '56 Ford pickup truck with a busted six cylinder engine. And Dad came into possesion of a ratty 144 cu in six cylinder Falcon with a good engine. So that tiny 144 engine went into the truck. It had the torque of three hamsters. I towed a Sprite to Bridghampton for my first race with that thing. Good job Long Island doesn't have any big hills.

Dad also put a 36 horse VW sedan engine in a VW bus when the normal 60 horse engine died. I'm not sure it could go more than 40 mph after that.

I'm sure we didn't have any Ardun parts back then, but about 10 years ago, I was at a race in New Hampshire when I saw one of Zora's original race cars (that's me with it below). Very primitive design and the welding on it was terrible. But apparently it ran good and did well at the '49 Watkins Glen Grand Prix. Another good friend of mine owns the actual car that won that '49 race (another flathead Ford "special" called the Ardent Alligator).
I met Zora one time (at Watkins Glen in '69). He was driving a Corvette show car (Mako Shark, I think) .

 

[glemon]

I did some more research, looks like I was bamboozled by another internet spoof, but ended up with some interesting stories and information shared.