I posted about this at the Ford Barn too. I know that my 52' F-6 isn't a traditional rod but it's traditional technology and I'm pretty damn proud of my ugly, old truck...... Today I hauled just over 3 tons of old wood to our transfer station, in my '52 F-6. It's an old county truck and has a Hurculese dump bed on it. She's not real pretty but the flathead runs like a top and it has never let me down. On the way, I passed two guys on the side of the road that were obviously having trouble with 2 ton, Isuzu cab-over dump. I pulled off and asked what was up. They said that it just quit. They weren't happy campers and the one guy told me that the truck was less than a year old and it was loaded to the gills with old lumber. They said that they were fine, so I went on. On the way back, I noticed that they were still there. I pulled over again and this time they were more than happy for the help!! I backed my '52 up to their bed and a hour later, we had my bed loaded. They jumped in with me and we took their load to the dump. The younger of the two was in awe of my '52 and was confused when he saw me double-clutch and work the two speed rear end and the older one was just too pissed to speak. After that, we went back and I towed the Isuzu about 3 miles to this guys shop. I would have taken a picture as it would have been priceless but the older guy, although very grateful for all the help, was not in the mood for a Kodak moment. Anyway, it was a pretty cool deal and it's not everyday that 60 year old technology gets to save the day! I'm pretty proud of Ole' Yeller!
Cool story, but it surprises me not at all. After all, the '52 is honest technology, real WYSIWYG, vs the smoke and mirrors of the Isuzu. Drive by wire, for me, means that there is a wire from the accelerator pedal to the carburettor butterflies. Cosmo
Great story. Good of you to do a kind deed for others in need. As for that truck, I would proudly drive that.
I wonder just how far one-upsmanship could have been taken... "I've been really worried since the warrantee expired in '53, but so far it's kept running... knock on wood!" "Dang Fords cost more than then furrin trucks like yourn, but I've been doing OK since I made the last payment in '54. Paid more than $2,000 for the thing, just hopin' I'll get my money's worth out of it before it croaks..."
although very grateful for all the help, was not in the mood for a Kodak moment. Priceless absolutely priceless.
Tell me about it. I work parts at a Nissan dealer. Almost everything I ship out of here cannot be found on my Falcon. Meaning that that's what breaks; the new stuff. Cosmo
Heh, sounds perfect. Reminds me of when my brother broke down in his new mazda. I had to go and rescue him in my rusty 64 falcon.
I had a 54 ford dump and it always started and held up better than i did.Ithink it had a 260 ?v8 ,it also had a huge winch under the bed an the cable went out the back.Had a huge crank and took a realy fat guy to leaver it over till i got the idea to raise the bed,let it down, then crank up the slack.When id get gravel a kid on a loader told me my truck could haul 3 tons of 57 gravel but 3 tons of #3 was to much for it.I got 57 gravel and had a headache from laughing so hard at the 3 tons of one size was diff than 3 tons of another.Im proud of ya ,give her a wash or something,maybe new air filter?................................YG
Awesome truck!!! Feel good story of the day! I'd tell the old Izuzi guy to trade it in, but he won't get much for it any way....wait for favorable scrap prices?
Cool truck. Great story too...but it doesn't surprise me a bit. I just got back from Cuba and saw trucks of the same vintage as yours, that out of necessity and sheer will, are still in daily use there. Mart3406 ===============
Love to see triumphs of old technology--reminds me of one of the Southern Railway steam excursions back in the late '70s when the diesel helper died on Redwine Hill south of Dalton GA and steam power took the whole load.
Ain't no rest for the wicked! Good on you for helping others out. Bet you had one of those grins on your face while doing it!
great story and glad to hear it! I use my old 42 dodge alot too. Nothin beats a old truck This load was 14000 pounds on a 10k gross
Great Story! And that's one good looking old girl and I'll bet she can haul one heck of a lot more than 3 ton, My 49 Merc 1/2 ton is rated for 2 tons, it's got 36 springs out back (11 leaves per side plus 7 overloads). A good 2500 pounds of saw cut lumber doesn't even put it on the overloads. btw, I wish you would have got a pic of towing that shitsusie too. .
Thanks for the compliments on my old truck, I appreciate it! Bruce...It was hard to keep my mouth shut! I had a lot of comments that i would have loved to shoot out but like I said...the older fella looked like he was going to blow an O-ring anyway!! Marty...Love your Dodge!!!! And great to see that she gets used so much (I've always dug your Nash too!!) Moefuzz....I'd love to have your Merc!! There's just something so cool about seeing "Mercury" on a tail gate!!! My '52 has been nothing but reliable. In fact, there was a 4 day period last year that it was the only vehicle that I owned that was running. My kids and I took it to the barbershop, to the diner for lunch, Wal-Mart, the grocery store and even the movies one night. They love the truck anyway and really loved riding around in it all weekend!! It was afun way to run around and people seem to get a kick out of seeing it coming.
Man that story made me smile - everyone wants new so they don't have any problems - what is your warranty worth on the side of the road with a load on? Simple effective engineering won't let you down.
I know what your talking about in reliability, the only problem I have had with the current Merc is with too many former owners putting too many miracle cures into the radiator -It took some time to flush the rad and block out. And other that my biggest problem is in getting home too soon. .