Hot Rods Can a working truck be a Hot Rod ?

I just bought a truck, a '40 Ford to be exact, and plan on using it the same way that the original builder did. That being to haul a race car to the races. Turns out the fellow worked for a Ford garage in Baker City, Oregon, and raced a roundy round car in Hermiston, Oregon. He built this critter to tote his racer back and forth, on a fifth wheel trailer, homemade of course.. It is powered by a 289 Ford with a C6 tranny, and must have worked well, as the trek between those two cities is no walk in the park. The road goes over the "Blues", a mountain range that is trying for any car or truck....
I plan on using this puppy to pull my racer to the drags, either on a trailer or by flat tow, as in the old days. Luckily, my trip is much easier, being about 30 minutes of flat road, going to Firebird Raceway.. It is set up with a fifth wheel plate, a gooseneck ball, and a bumper pull ball... It has twin saddle tanks, and a rear tank for racer fuel...
So, back to the question at hand, is it a Hot Rod, a Truck, or both ??

 

It’s both. But with that front bumper it’s also ugly. Can you fix that?

 

Bruce, with your creativity, you can pull it off.

 

might as well take advantage of towing set up on truck and use a trailer. hope that you will make sure that everything is in top notch condition before adding another vehicle to the mix, especially brakes

 

Looks like a hot rod truck to me!

 

I may be wrong...but I suspect that is from the chassis this thing is body swapped onto.

 

Can a truck be a hotrod? I remember the magazines discussing this in the 70s.
Do you remember the 48/49 discussions? Cant be a hotrod if it was made after 48.
49 and newer were called street machines

 

I happen to have a perfect 40 ford truck bumper for that rig. Well, when I say perfect I mean it is straight and sort of 50/50 peeling chrome and 80 year old rust. No brackets though.
Yourn ifn you get down this way (Vancouver, WA area)

 

Big push bar on the front, different wheels, maybe a little paint, done.

 

I have my eyes open for an "appropriate" truck to do the same thing...pull the FED I'm building to the drags strip. In my case a '40 Ford with a small block (Ford or Chevy) and an automatic transmission would be #1 on a very short list for me. I would say one truck and all three boxes could be checked; daily driver, tow vehicle, hot rod.

Lynn

 

It is sitting on some other chassis, you should see some of the frame with the missing running boards

 

Beyond the general maintenance things to make it drivable like replacing the rusted out exhaust I'd scuff it down, lay a coat of farm equipment flat black on it Paint the framwork of the bed and the tool boxes
and get rid of that ugly front bumper and those trailer wheels.
Either take Billy up on the bumper offer or toss that bumper in the scrap bin and fab an appropriate push truck bumper. Some clean and simple wheels and tires that will handle the task.

It's a cool little truck but it needs to look like someone actually cares about it rather than being left out behind the shed except when it gets put to work.

 

Define Hot Rod. My 66 C10 was whatever I wanted it to be. I had a couple high winding small blocks in it over the years. Took it to car shows, lumber yards, junkyards, wherever, towed trailers, cars whatever, back in the 90s before everyone wanted one, it was one of the nicest ones around I was a dumb kid, and raced everything. I smoked a 308 Ferrari during car week. I raced an Impala down Highway one while loaded with firewood. I raced a lady light to light for 7 miles in Fresno late one night towing my 56 Morris Minor Woody Gasser because she had to get in front of me. So, it may not have met the definition of Hot Rod to Some purists, but it was to me. Did I mention I was a dumb Kid.

 

This truck had a 345 ci Cadillac and 37 LaSalle transmission. Drove it to work every day, towed the roadster all over and won most of the C modified class sports car races.

 

Hey Cabong, If you have some underneath shots let's see them so we can see what chassis this is on. (if it's not off topic)

 

I'm fairly certain it's a 74-75ish LTD, or similar chassis. ..judging by the bumper

 

I’m thinking mid 70’s gm

I unknowingly bought a f1 on a early 70’s Pontiac chassis once. I got a 400 out of that (and the truck)

 

Wouldn't the front tires be hanging outside of the fenders with that?

 

Yeah. Probably, now that you mention it.

 

So I did a little napkin math, a 1940 ford has about 55 inches track width and a 75 ford full-size passenger car is about 61 inches. That's pretty close....looking at the pictures of the truck, the wheels are a fair bit further out than a stock truck. Nothing that couldn't be adjusted with a custom offset rim to keep them in the fenders.

I still think it's a mid 70s Ford.

 

I'm sure you don't need another project (race cars are enough to keep you busy), but I'd say with some "cleaning up", it would make a great tow rig. Doesn't matter what chassis it's on (late model is frowned on here, but might prove reliable), it can still do double duty and be an eye catcher in the pits. Good luck!
And take Bandit Billy up on his offer....

 

A working truck would probably stand a better chance of being a hot rod, as opposed to a broken one.

 

A truck can easily be a hot rod, its pretty much about the truck's attitude.
A modern chassis under a truck actually intended to do actual work has a lot of advantages, as long as you don't brag about it here.
If its something you like, need or want, what difference does it make what anyone else says or thinks about it?
You own it, you can call it whatever you want to call it.
I've had work trucks that had more power and better brakes then the vehicle they pulled around on the trailer. When it has to haul 2x its weight, and you want to be able to stop all that weight, more power and better brakes are a great plan. Besides that, the pull truck doesn't have many class rules and restrictions on it.

 

I'm picking up the critter in the morning. The more I look at it the better I like it, and I'm not real fond of the fat fendered bunch (except the Cunningham sedan). As to the chassis, I'm not sure yet, but I bet 28RPU is going to let me know. It actually appears to be a later, possibly '46 - '48, due to having parallel front springs and an early axle.. I'll post pics in the next couple days....

 

If an Old Truck can't be a Hot Rod and a work truck I don't know how I ever got to where I'm at now at 75 years old. That's all I've had all along. To add to that I'm still rebuilding my Old F-100 to get back at it, Work truck that is. It only runs a Hemi and 4 speed but I think it's still up to the challenge if I can get it finished. Something I learned many years back it good Trailer Brakes really help and today you have to pay a lot more attention to the surrounding traffic. This is my to be new again Old work horse.

 

Gotta love an old Ford truck, even if it only has a hemi/4-spd..... For a young fellow like yourself, that should work just fine.
Also, great advice for pulling with an old truck. It's the only think I worry about with this '40, even though my route to the track is all in the country.
My old friend Ak Miller used a '53 F100 for his shop truck, but after one trip to the flats, he yanked the flatty and dropped in a Caddy.....

 

Interesting...sounds like maybe a jail bar or f1 chassis. Whatever is under it, it's cool. Hope it works out well for ya!

 

I seem to be missing something here. I don't see anything posted relating to any type of chassis swap. Can you tell me where that info is?

 

Oh just conjecture on the front bumper. Complete speculation.

 

Got it, although this photo tells me there's a lot going on under the Sheetmetal.

That rear axle end and bolt pattern tells me it has a late 9" Ford Truck rear housing under it. The front wheel bolt pattern looks like 5 on 4-1/2" pattern. I'm betting it's a min-n-match bunch of parts that worked better than the old 1940 stuff. At the very least a good distance from stock 40.