Info/Pics 1948 to 1952 Ford F1 Trucks

Dude if you HAVE that magazine I would love to buy a copy, and if you won't sell I'll try and find one somewhere else.

I have contemplated doing mine in more of a 50's style custom than the modern seude thing I am heading for.
I've seen a couple of these with sid pipes up and over he rear fenders too, which I might play with in mock up.

 

Damnit I hate being at work where pictures are blocked.
Anyone feel like emailing me that ?
stragedy at gmail

 

I can post a link:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/hotrodder_66/IMG_12331.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/hotrodder_66/IMG_12301.jpg

Perhaps you could click on 'em individually?

~Jason

 

No I already tried that, all of photobucket, and most other pictures hosting sites are blocked to preserve bandwidth.
Thanks for trying anyway !

 

I finally get to see these !
That is a great looking original truck, I wouldn't touch it at all, if anything drop it a bit via an axle and bit of leaf spring work then leave it alone, especially if it's a flat head V8...

 

the thing about these 48'-52' ford trucks is 48'-50',51'-52' F-1'S interchange sheetmetal parts as grouped. here is where things change: F2'S (3/4) ton and larger the sheetmetal( fenders) are different. just something to watch out for when buying fenders off that cherry F-4/F-5 farm truck as they won't fit your F-1. one of fords better ideas!

 

As far as F-1's go '48-'50 are almost identical, the small F-1 emblem on the cowl of a '48 is pot metal and '49-'50 is stainless steel. The bed,fenders, and tailgate are slightly different than '51&'52, with raised panel bedsides and indented fender against the bed side. the '51&'52 bed is pretty plain with just square stake post at each corner. The '48-'49 have a little more style.
The bumpers are pretty plain on '48-'50 are pretty flat and straight, and the '51&'52 have a roll on the top & bottom. Hope this helps!

 

Sanford, Thought you might have done some suspension mods. Then I saw the ditch you put the front tires in!!!!!!! LOVE IT!!!

 

Took a while for my friend to find it. Rod & custom, July 1954. It is purple but there are some minor differences. There is no rear bumper pan and it has 50 Pontiac tail lights in the fenders. Also no external exhausts. It could be the same truck, just an earlier version. Good luck in your search for the issue. (Possibly eBay ordo a google search).
Baron

 

Cool ! Thanks for the info. I'll try and track a copy - shame it won't have the girl in it !

 

I pick up my 52 tomarrow and really stoked! 2g's complete...I love these trucks. Pics to come by weekend to kick off the start of the new project. I think I will sell my 34 chev to the left and get the 52 all set up.

 

My 51

 

I have a 51 F-1 with a 350/350. It is the truck in my avatar

 

My 51 F1

 

I think the 49-52 would have enough leg room for a 6' person, I find the cab is smaller width wise, so as long as you don't care about needing 3 grown people sitting comfortably, you'll be fine.

 

I'm 6'4" and it in mine great!!

 

Looks FREAKISHLY like mine in Melbourne!

Way Cool!

 

You should post a pickie,so we can compare 'em side-by-side!

~Jason

 

What all did you do to your suspension? I just picked up my 52 yesterday.

 

This was mine. I built it as a project for Custom & Classic Trucks a couple of years ago. From building this I can tell you there is an amazing amount of parts available for these. We even helped TCI prototype an all new frame for them. Personally i thought the cab room was OK but man I still thing they are kinda ugly

 

I love my 51 F1. A little known fact is the F1 has a longer wheelbase than the F100, and it makes a difference in stability on the road. I'm 6'-1" and find the truck roomy compared to other old trucks I've driven. After trying several replacement seats I finally rebuilt my stock seat including rebagging all the coils, and nothing I've sat on compares with it. They got a lot of stuff right on the F1. Mine has Pacer IFS in front and a triangulated 4-link with coil-overs out back.

 

Hey!

That always comes up in searches. You're famous, man!

~Jason

 

First post on here but been reading for a long time. This is my dad's '51. Sits on a Aspen/Volare torsion bar front and Ford 9" rear. Has the 48-50 bed. This was taken at the Somernites cruise in Somerset, KY. this past July. He moved the gas tank out of the cab and between the bed rails. Then recessed an RX-7 gas door in the left rear fender. Frees up some leg room in the cab.

 

The cab on these seem ok as far as room goes. Me and my dad have sat in the 51 with ease. He's about 5'9 205 and I'm about 5'8 175. If you were a tall buyt couldn't you take the gas tank out and mount the seat farther back?

 

At one time I had two 48 F1's, a 48 F3, a 49 F6, a 51 F3 and a 52 F2. Now I only have one of the 48 F1's, the 48 F3, the 51 and the 52, the rest were parted out or sold.

A couple details that only an eccentric like myself would pay attention to are things like the inner fenders, the hood latches and the bead rolls in the back of the cab. The early inner fenders have an extra mounting point but can still be interchanged. The hood latches will interchange also BUT you must change the complete latch and striker plate. I've only seen early cabs with smooth backs.

My 48 F1 I'm building for myself is using the Chassis Engineering bolt in Mustang 2 cross member and their bolt in rear parallel leaf kit. The whole conversion on the chassis took about a day. I'm also using the CE motor mounts (avail in bolt in), the TCI brake pedal assembly and a modified TCI trans mount.

A lot of people will tell you to steer away from the F2 and F3 trucks but I say go for it. Chassis wise, the F2/3 is different in the front brakes (bigger 8 lug), the rear suspension/bracketry and the chassis is 8" longer behind the cab. I believe the F4 goes to the big chassis.

I converted my 48 F3 to an F1 by shortening the 122" wheel base to the 114" F1 wheelbase and redrilled the rear spring hanger holes to fit the F1 hangers and springs. The whole job took about a day. I'll be buying a new bed for it and already picked up a usable set of front and rear F1 fenders cheap.

I'm going to do the same conversion to my 51 F3 but on that one I will be shorting the 9' (yes nine foot) bed to fit the purportions and using the big wheel well fenders. The big bed on the F2/3s was the same all five years. It looked just like a bigger 48-50 F1 bed, it was longer, wider, deeper and taller than the F1 bed.

I didn't see anyone post the link for bonusbuilt.com. The site is dedicated to the 48-52 F series trucks. Thats where I got a lot of my info when I was trying to figure what was right and wrong with my 51 F2 (nothing actually).

I'll post some pics when I get back from Kalamazoo on monday

 

Heres an updated pic of mine

 

is it just me or is every 51-52 hood you find rusted out on the bottom of the passenger side

 

Famous? ME? Nah, just a legend in my own mind

I think it comes up in searches alot cuz of all the press it got in C&CT mag.

 

The more places that link to it, the higher a ranking in the search lists it'll be.

~Jason