Hot Rods Follow up on every lead fellas!

They're still out there guys!

I saw this on Craigslist about 24 hours ago. Figured I was too late, but called the guy anyway. Yep, I bought it. And drove it home!

 

Thats a good find!

 

You lucky son of a ...
Congrats!

 

The pics really don't do it justice, which must be why nobody else ******ed it up first. The truck is really solid with one rust hole about the size of a quarter in the back of the cab, and a few rust spots on the p***enger door.

The front fenders have some bondo on the leading edges, as does the hood. Everything works (including the heater). Has power steering too!

Bought this one to clean up and flip, but the wife wants to keep it for herself. It's a LOT nicer than the '48 Chevy 5-window I'm building for her, so the '48 may be up for sale soon!

 

F.E. cool...I like the cal custom val. covers

 

..thought this was gonna be about finding a 32 ,but congrats!

 

Yeah, don't I wish! I'll keep chasing every lead because SOMEDAY I'll find a B400! For now I'll be happy with this!

 

Nice truck! Your wife is right; she should drive it.....

 

Great buy! I find alot of good stuff on CL.

 

Looks good and glad you are loving it so far, but I would have skipped over it myself when I read there is no ***le. What are you going to do to get that worked out?

 

Does it have a volare clip with disc under it?,because that sure doesnt look like the original big bolt pattern ford on the front.

 

Had the local PD come do a VIN check before money changed hands. It's all do***ented and the officer signed everything off, so its all legit. Utah DMV isn't too difficult to deal with either. For the price it was worth getting a new ***le!

Yeah, I think that's where this is heading! Funny thing is, while I was on the phone with the guy she was texting me saying "Its date night! Where we going?" When she got home I told her we were going to look at a truck. She's been all smiles all night, and she was starving when she got home at 5. we did get dinner after the truck was safely home.

 

No, its the stock axle with power steering added. I'm confused about the bolt pattern too as I thought it would be 5 on 5 1/2, but it's a 4 on 4 1/2. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind swapping car drums onto a pickup but I don't know who's had this truck, LOL.

 

F.E. ina' effie. good score.

 

Some people get all of the luck!!!

 

Ha ha... never thought if that!

Oh believe me, it was my turn for a good deal!

 

Im not sure what car hubs would interchange on that axle, Are they drums or disc?
It might be easier to find a used set of wheels for that bolt pattern being one advantage???
The small ford rangers,older ford and some dodge cars and older full size dodge trucks had the 5on4.5 pattern

Good deal whatever it is

 

Cool deal...lots of good old hotrod parts on it still...

 

great score....

 

Thanks guys, I thought it was too good to p*** up too!

The wheels that are on the front are either Ranger or maybe Jeep, and they're definitely 5 on 4 1/2. I've ALWAYS thought these trucks were 5 on 5 1/2. Can anyone clear this up for me?

I have a set of nice '49-51 Mercury wheels I was going to run on it, but they won't fit these drums.

 

It should be 5 on 5.5". Someone's done some drum/hub swapping. Or worse, I bought an F1 parts truck that had the small bolt pattern, I removed the front axle to find it was an entire early econoline unit! Anyhow... Nice score!

 

congrats man. That's cool your wife wants it. Mine would be pissed I bought another project haha

 

Yeah they are suppose to be 5 on 5 1/2 originally. Is the rear also 5 on 4 1/2 or is it still the original 5 on 5 1/2?

 

Congrats on the find!

However, I must point out that your theory works everywhere except the Northeast. It would have been 3/4 rust and 5x the price. Reality is something that so many up here are detached from.

 

Absolutly correct.


Nice score on the truck.

 

Good score Eric! Congrats.... I had a '54 F100 with a 390 in high school. That's PLENTY of motor for that little truck.

 

NIce score for sure. Keep posting pic's of the progress.

 

You should be very pleased with that score. Even being a Chevy man I could find room for that in a heart beat. It would be interesting to find out the reason for the smaller bolt pattern but it sure wouldn't be a deal breaker as everything to complete the swap or go back to stock is readily available.

Frank

 

wow great deal. good luck with it.

 

I was pretty sure about that, thanks for confirming guys! The rear also appears to be 5 on 4 1/2, but it's definitely a Ford rear. I'll know more once I tear into it. I could very well be an Econoline front end, can't imagine anything else that would fit it. Depending on what I find (with your guys help identifying stuff) will determine what we end up doing with it.

Yeah, my wife is the COOLEST! Even better than being cool about the truck, she announced to me this morning that SHE is taking ME to the GNRS! We're leaving in the morning! I will say this: I paid for a FANTASTIC wife by giving 13 years to a HORRIBLE wife! Glad that's over with, LOL!

I lived in Boston for a few years, so I know JUST what you're talking about! Man I love the desert!

Thanks Brady! I'm still pretty stoked about this! The numbers on the block, heads and intake say it came from a '63 Galaxie. The four barrel intake shows it to be a 290 horse motor... that should make this old truck scoot! Going to run diagnostics on the engine (compression test, leak down test, check valve lash, etc.) and hopefully a little tune up will keep it on the road for a long time. If not we'll just tear it down and rebuild it, then stuff it back in there.

I'll probably do a build thread on this. Should I just keep adding on to this thread or start another?

Thanks Frank. We'll be tearing into this one in the next few weeks so I'll keep ya posted. The rear end should be easy enough to identify but the front is really a mystery. I'm wondering if the axle was swapped to accommodate the power steering. Maybe a complete front end was available and it was cheaper than a power steering kit for the original axle??? I'm only speculating, but it seems logical enough.

I'll post more pictures today when I get a few minutes. Busy as hell working right now, but I'm sneaking away for a little while later to "play hot rod".

Thanks all for the input!