came upon a guy with a 55 ford F-100 for sale . i haven't seen the truck, but supposedly its nicely patinaed with faded original paint, faded machine shop logos on each door. its got an original V-8 Y block, three on the tree, runs and stops well, got some extra parts to go along with it ...asking 15k here are my questions... where are these trucks prone to rot, how can i identify the engine thats in it, and is the asking price kinda high? any help would be appreciated! thanks
Yes they were very prone to rot. Door bottoms, cab corners, cowl bottoms (inside and out), tops of fenders where the hood meets, front edge of fenders, front edge of the hood, fender bottoms, front bed panel, where the bed sides bolt to the bed floor, where the fenders mount to the bed, drip rails, floors, running board ends... Just about everywhere really. Some bodies are worse than others. I have seen some with all that I've listed and some with little or none. A good solid body is well worth the price, and that price is really whatever someone is willing to pay. It would be nice to see pictures of it if you can get some good ones.
was told it was a Y block,,,, how do i identify the size?...how many V-8's could of possibly been available back in the day...thanks for the reply
as far as engine if its original for 55 it would have been a 272 i believe , 292s came around in 56 and 312s werent around till 57 and came mostly in cars , i'm still learning though so not 100 percent sure ! i bought a nice 55 2 years ago as a project that changed hands several times and was sitting since the 70s when someone started restoring it , frame sandblasted and painted , was a v8 truck but had been changed to a 6 , no rust ever , a few dents and dings ! got it for 2 grand , brought it home adjusted the carb and fired it up ! sold off the 6 and bought a complete overhauled 272 w tri power on here for another 2 gs ! its at the body shop right now ready for paint ! said and done it should be a nice truck and i'm hoping to be in it for around 8 !
As for the rot make sure you checkthe drivers side frame rail behind the gas tank I have seen a bunch of these with that section rotted out of them. Great trucks though I love them doing a 55 myself over this winter
In 1955 I believe displacements were: 223(6), 239(8), 256(8), 279(8), 317(8). The bigger were offered in big trucks. If the motor is original you should be able to tell by the VIN located in the glove box - if that too is original. I believe to decode the VIN it is - letter, two digits, letter (engine code), digit (year of manufacture - in your case a 5), letter (assembly plant), final digits of VIN. D=223 V=239 Z=256 J=279 K=317 I think 1954 - 55 offered the 239 Y block. I think the 272 was introduced in 1956 in the F100. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
The 239 was introed in '54, came in cars and pickups; 272 in '55-'57, also 292 in '55, cars and pickups. 312 came in 1956, T-Birds and (passenger cars spec. order 272, 292, 312 all available in '57, but no 272 for T Bird.
Also, if I'm not mistaken, which I have been on many occasions, The Y-blocks had an external oil pump. It was mounted on the drivers side and had a curved pipe running from the oil pan to the pump.
My comment was what was offered, to the best of my knowledge, in the F100s for the respective years. Does you reply mean that the 272 was offered in the 1955 F100, the 292 was offered in the 1955 F100, and the 312 was offered in the 1956 F100?
First, no pictures and the guy wants 15,000.00 , really ? Damn , I have a 53 Panel and I wont send pictures and I would entertain offers of 35,000.00 easily ! Now , these pick -ups generally rust out where ALL Pick -ups rust , in da corners . Depending upon where in theU S the truck resided , look at the fender tops , around the bed sides , lower rear fenders , behind the cab , and where the front fenders meet the cab . I dunno, if this guy is serious and some some Person who watches too many Barrett Jackson Auctions , I might be willing to look at REALISTIC figures .Generally, between 3,500 and maybe 12,000.00 for a completely re- done and complete low mileage example . scrubba
Mine came with a 259 V-8. Price sounds too high . I bought a nice one with dents but no rust off of eBay.
I've seen very nice trucks for $15K lately, finished completely with about anything you want. Sounds like he's fishing to me. There are a lot of them around, so it's not like they're rare.
'54 F100s had a version of the 239 Y block. Early '55s had the 239; production was changed to the 272 Y fairly early during the '55 model year and the 239 was dropped. (Thankfully.) My guess is that FoMoCo wanted to use the remaining inventory of 239s up before they made the switch...but it may instead be the case that early '55 MY passenger car production demanded all the available 272 engine blocks. I have not ever seen a '55 MY truck with a 292 originally installed from the factory, and I have not seen any official documentation of this either. I have owned one example each of a 239 Y and a 272 Y powered '55 F-100. So far as I know, no '55 passenger cars were built with the 239 (either EBV or EBU) whatsoever. The 312 was never factory installed in any truck intended for USA use....but there are a few examples that appear to have been converted to 312s by dealers as special packages. FWIW, a former member of this board told me some years back that when he worked at a Ford dealership in New Hampshire, they routinely converted a fair number of F-350 chassis to Lincoln Y power at the request of local contractors & truckers. In addition, there are some anecdotes that tell of New England warranty replacements in the early '60s where truck 292s were replaced by 312s (without telling the customer) because there were excessive 312s in warranty regional inventory. My $.02....
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