COE So... I accidentally bought a cabover yesterday.

I used my 2 post lift.

 

In the past I’ve had the doors off and hooked up straps to floor mounts and lifted through the door with engine hoist . Also have used up all my friends doing it the hard way . That’s why I have 800-rent a friend on speed dial .

 

I've done similar with mine. Seat base bolts, floor mounts, as many ways as i could keep that nose-heavy beast steadied.... picked mine a little prone to the firewall end - find that center of gravity! go a little slow and thoughtful.

 

Saw this pic today and thought of you Vintage—



Rick, you were mentioning the lack of rust in the pics earlier (on the other trucks at the place I got mine). Funny on my truck, the rust is just in spots where***** collected. Otherwise it’s pretty dry. One of my kids had run off with my phone so I didn’t take a pic, but when I open the door, at the top the paint has flaked off- and there is bare metal there. Not surface rusted metal but shiny steel. I unscrewed the grill bars from the frame- dry, dusty screws. I’m quite certain that the bottoms of the doors and cab corners will be packed with pine needles or something like that. My Dad was a car guy- he may well have moved us here to the desert solely for the lack of rust mite infestations.
Trying to stay positive and my mind off the destroyed front of this truck..

 

I have to pull the cab/sleeper off the Autocar in spring and finish the underside of it. I'm in luck though, I can remove the top skin and will mount eyebolts in the floor to lift by. I'll have to do it in my storage shed where I have a 12' ceiling.
Living up here in Wisconsin, working on a true rust free western vehicle is special. I'm presently hot rodding an off topic 1980 British sports car that was born in Las Vegas, then at some point ziebarted. No rust anywhere.

 

Somewhere in my web surfing I saw this trick and I have used it on all 3 of my project vehicles and have yet to drop a car on my toes! 4x4 timber with a hole drilled dead center to mount a bracket. Center on top of your engine hoist and connect same bracket there. Center post inside door , find center of gravity front to back and lift! Added benifitvisvyou can roll the cab around (carefully) Friends are never there when you really want to move things. Best to not involve the doors so if their mounted I usually have them open. Best to wait til your wife is not around so as not to get snide comments.

 

Yeah Lowcoe, I've used that same method on Jeeps with roll bars quite successfully. The rollbar is pretty close to the C-O-G.

re: No rust... I stand under our Florida Mustang when its on the lift just dumbfounded....

 

Was admiring this custom battle-shield/grill that you posted several years ago. Thinking maybe I can track down it’s builder and have him do some “custom” work for me.

 

Uh oh. What's this bad rumor I hear???

 

You know how as soon as you find something, then you soon find a better one? Went to talk to a local guy that has several (asking if he knew where any parts were) and he said he is planning on focusing on the Chevys and get rid of his Fords. There’s at least 2 out behind his place, one is an oval (think his kid said 38). I’m not quitting but either of his would be better starting points. But- I’m not bringing another home, it’s one or another not both.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Choosing between a truck owned, and a better truck for sale? Sounds like a great problem to me. I'd love to find a more solid start than my hokey-Houston truck... I smell a flip-flop!
JML

 

Sold!
Pretty sure at least. I took a non refundable deposit today and will finish the sale on Saturday but I’m confident, plus there’s several in line behind them that contacted before I took the ad down. Monday then when I have the cash from this, I’ll go and try to close the deal on the next. I’ll keep you updated and thank you all for your thoughts on this so far.

 

Outstanding.. I thought your price was pretty fair for both sides with what I've noticed in the market over the last few years.

I find better ones after I've worked on the first one for a few years.

 

I wish this guy would’ve thrown out a price 6 years ago when we first talked about this truck. Very nicely priced, clean****le— I’m going to look in person on Sunday so we’ll see. Even if it’s not ideal I’ll probably buy it so it can come out of its slow fade in a back pasture. Owners son says ‘54, my Uncle says ‘55. Uncle ran/owner a wrecking yard for 20 years or so and is especially into 56 Ford pickups so I tend to trust him. I guess I’ll know in a couple days but anyone know the differences? Google searching is fairly worthless- I searched both years and get pictures of trucks with the buck tooth grille all the way to obviously 56s.

Otherwise- Happy Thanksgiving friends! I got to work about 5 this morning and had the ovens filled with enough turkey for 400 and now I’m boiling turkey bones and vegetables for stock to make into 30 gallons of gravy- 144 pies baked last night.. Gonna be a nice crowd here today.

 

54 grill has the two “legs” that go down into the gravel pan. 55 doesn’t. That’s the only difference I know of.

Happy Turkey Day from San Diego where it’s gonna be in the 90’s!

 

Like this. Which makes your uncle right.

 

Got it. Thanks- when it comes to automobiles I’ve never caught him being wrong

 

I like the Elvis snarl that 54 has too btw.


"If it ain't broke - fix it till it is"

 

Is that '55 a C700? It has those oddball 8 lug wheels.
It should have an ID tag on the glove box door with the Vin. That can easily be decoded.

 

Those wheels are pretty special- I can’t make anything of the emblem, so I’ll have to find out in person on Sunday. Hopefully the tag is in place.

 

It's a very nice looking COE (even if it is the wrong year)

 

Being a '53-'56 guy, the fanged '54 grille, especially in chrome, is my favorite even over the more preferred '56 grille.

Please do save that truck. If the price is right surely you can come out on top. Then again, it sure looks like a solid start from this side of the screen...

 

Loaded up for its second +/- 5 hour ride inside of one month. Guy bought 2 of them as a package last year he said. Paid $9k for those. Neither had a useable grill and this one was probably the best part of the truck. Hopefully we’ll see that on the road- keep an eye out if you’re south of Tillamook OR.

 

It’s a 750 according to the hood emblem on the drivers side. She’s a bit rougher than the pics let on. If you look close at the leading edge of the door there’s a mark from the bottom to about half way up? On both sides the gap is too tight and the edge of the doors are folded in. Door bottoms are rusty and the cab corners are gone. Passenger fender has a couple dents up top at the eyebrow. All repairable I’m sure though. The roof is pretty good and the hood is perfect. There’s a painted note on the firewall that the engine was overhauled at 50k in 1959. I wonder if 5 years was about all the expected from a heavy duty unit back then?
It’s not a cabover, but I have set up to look at a Diamond T. Hopefully I can be forgiven if I veer that way. Those DTs are a classy machine.

 

Being a fuel tanker, it probably did a lot of idling while loading/unloading. A carburated engine took a beating under those conditions. (washed cylinder walls, oil dilution, etc.)

 

Hope that '55 COE gets saved by someone......if it was closer I'd be interested. Nice thing about them is many of the PU parts are the same and are re-popped, like cab corners, etc.

 

I did make an offer so we’ll see what happens. It’s been sitting for at least 15 years in the same spot and they said nobody wants these ugly trucks. But then said that someone made them an offer on just the back fenders and they didn’t want to part it out.
Saw the DT today too. It’s bare and I’m not sure about it either but they were cool trucks.





"If it ain't broke - fix it till it is"

 

As on almost anything old and nonFord or chev, no grille is a deal breaker! Where are you going to find a good one, unless you are going to make something custom.

 

Just to screw with you a bit.... Diamond T did make a COE!

http://www.desertclassics.com/DiaT48coE.html

 

This 'll get your heart pumpin'