Howdy, New project acquired recently, one owner 1949 Ford F1 truck with flat head 8BA V8 and 3 speed manual trans. Been sitting for a long while since the early 1960s and was used in a breeding quarter horse business back in the day. Originally red exterior and has rusted to a nice rustic patina. I'll be leaving the exterior like it is, windshield gets replaced and ordered the original side pin type mirrors. Interior gets a thorough cleaning and new carpet, many years of desert ️ dust driving them dirt roads. Got all four 15" wheels off and going to go through brakes and master cylinder. New shoes getting mounted soon and interior refresh. Parts ordered for a full tune-up and oil change. Any suggestions on oil type and weight, let me know. I know 30-40w non detergent was used back in the day. More photos to follow as I go through each step. Thanks again to y'all for the warm welcome. Kindly, Jack Updated photo 11/8/23 Got the original Horse Trailer too. It will get new wood and rustic red stain. All hookup connections are there and equipped with electric brakes.
Very very cool and one owner to boot. . Only thing I would change is put the horse shoes up the right way.
Use detergent oil and change it after a few hundred miles. Use 20w-50 valvoline racing oil. Be absolutely sure you advance is working properly by removing the distributor cap and removing the vac line to the carb and give it a good ****. You can now view the spring plate moving when applying vacuum. Being in that desert setting I’d totally remove the fuel tank and lines and have it cleaned. Don’t start the engine until you do this. Solid truck needs paint. Rust is not patina. Rust is so 2010. That looks like a well used wore out flathead. I’d suggest getting a compression test before throw money and labor trying to get it to run.
All good points and do have a compression tester, all plugs looked golden med brown, except one was darker, will compare all cylinders at check.
New shoes all the way around, replaced old top radiator hoses with original style pipes, clamps and hoses, bottom hoses next after both water pumps get rebuilt and both generator and fan belts get replaced. I'll do the tune up parts after that, OEM style wire set, cap, rotor, points and condenser. Slow process, but no deadline to worry about. More to come with photos. Kindly, Jack
The horseshoe deal is about luck Edit: if as done, the luck runs out. Flip them over to hold the luck in.
Nice Budget36, the old grandpa must have liked the look down, welded on better? He must of not cared about luck. No supers***ions here. Our Ranch has them up like your man cave.
Old grandpa 1st owner must of not cared about luck and maybe figured they welded on better upside down. Who knows both the husband and wife have been gone from this earth for decades. I kinda like the look, but traditions and supers***ions live on in people's lives, I guess.
Bench seat back from upholstery and custom floor mats arrived, gonna look perfect with the red loop carpet kit.
my truck looked very similar except it looked like someone tried running down a fence line instead of picking it. just a few things... How do you know it's a 49? the motor is an 8RT. and don't let the Karens dissuade you. the 8RT was the next year's 8BA. So whatever the factory was experimenting with went on the 8RT (the truck motor), would go on next year's sedan (Deluxe/Standard). So yeah, you have an 8BA...but it's an 1950 8BA but a 1949 8RT. the trucks had bigger water pumps, bigger radiators and next year's carburetors. Anyone argues, send them my way. My truck is a NKC truck (Liberty Missouri Plant). I used to play ball on the bluffs above the plant and I could see the plant when we were playing. It is a 1950 but the engine id, is an early number so it is either a March or April truck. FYI...in most years, by December 20th the entire ***embly line was on furlough so the line stopped in early December and started back up in late January the next year. I found a date of Sept 28 1949 on my frame, while I was cleaning it so I know the truck was likely sitting on the line when the furlough occurred in 1949. My truck had the rounded pockets, large radiator, bigger water pumps and has a 1950 engine id on the engine tag. Also, our trucks do NOT have a VIN. There are two tags with numbers on the trucks when they came off the line. one on the firewall and one in the cab, typically on the glovebox door. Some plants stamped the body id on the frame beside/near to the starter. The firewall id is the Engine ID. the cab ID is the Body ID. I used the Engine ID as the VIN for registration. The trucks did not have turn signals those are marker lamps/parking lamps. i did turn mine into turn signals. The only requirement in 1949 - 1950 for a turn signal was your left arm. but you had to have a brake lamp mounted on the driver side rear bumper. So many things have changed. you have good bones on yours. Welcome. BTW...the paint techs used fine iron shavings to tint the paint to red. it's why your truck is covered in 'rust'. it's not rust, technically, it's the paint. lol. it's very hard so if at some point you decide to grind down the paint...it's like hardened epoxy.
Very nice, did yours originally have a canvas cover? Was thinking mine might have when first built, but it's completely evenly surface rusted sitting in the Nevada desert since the 1960s.
I remember seeing remnants of canvas when I bought it 20 years ago... It has 30s "rocky mountain" brakes and "Clev-Weld" wheels...it was painted red but was super oxidized. I painted it OD to match my jeep.
That's pretty neat, no remnants on mine, but when we begin the trailer restore after the pickup truck, all wood gets replaced and possibly a custom made canvas cover. Mine has the electric brakes, hookup to control system on the steering column.
The Jalopy Journal
