When l was a kid my grandfather had a rent a truck business consisting of 57 through 1959 Ford's, those trucks were my playground and l loved their looks and that giant steering wheel with the lightning bolt, so cool. Much later on l found a 1960 f 250 sinking in a retired farmers field it was over 30 years old sitting their for years, but he sold it to me for 100 bucks, just one less thing for his grandkids to fight over he said, anyway with a jump start it started up pulled itself out of that hole and l drove it home. It had a 232 6cyl auto top speed was about 65 with a tailwind, served me well for years but don't get the brakes wet.
I've got a 1959 Chevy 1/2 ton short bed with a 292 straight 6 three on the tree shifter..i had the engine rebuilt last year the only update i did was install a offenhauser intake manifold with a two barrel carter carburetor & split exhaust with dynaflow mufflers
It sounds like the 313 or 314 was a truck-specific engine, correct? Some of the photos early in this presentation show a Dodge V-8 with valve covers that could pass for those of the passenger car 318.
@@autochronicles8667 when i was real little my Grandpa had a Dodge truck that style 1960? maybe A Bare Bones truck just like my 1997 Dodge Ram 1500.. a flat head 6 and a 3 on the tree. green and white. i called it the corn truck Maybe 1968 would have made me a whopping 7 yrs.old then
I can't believe that Ford didn't offer their modern 3 speed automatic and newer V8 engines of 330/331 and/or 352/361 in their trucks by 1959 Dodge Polysphere V8s were good engines but I don't think they matched the Ford FE engines in torque or load capacity I think Dodge had the best outward visibility from their trucks "pilothouse styling" most pickups had gearshifts and I think "grannygear" 4 speeds were available that you normally started out in second
No, you couldn't unlock/open the passenger side even with the keys... because there was no key lock... Then you had to get in the truck, and lean over and unlock/open the door.
Interesting they brought up automatic transmissions, and Dodge's pushbutton automatic. Who bought pickups with automatics in 1959? Also, concerning pushbutton controls, what if the engine stalls in Drive? Does it have to be running for the mechanism to work?
People did.... Nowdays they are all push button so this was WAY ahead of the times :) And it was mechanical... So it didn't have to be running. The ford edsel although used servos so you needed power... so their push buttons on the steering wheel had lots of issues. These were reliable shifters.
Very interesting.......Great post The engines were fascinating because while Dodge had a few dedicated truck engines.....don't forget Ford offered the truck-only "Super Duty" series: 401, 477, or 534 cid V-8s.
Were those only offered in larger trucks and chassis that also offered power by Cummins Diesel? I don't even think that the late 1960's school buses ran anything larger than a 390
@davidpowell3347 You may be right, I'm not certain exactly what applications they were used in. They were however strictly truck engines: extremely heavy; moderate horsepower but optimal torque low in the remaining range; and governed at 3500 rpm max. They had no business being in anything but commercial trucks.
Sold. i'll order a brand new 1959 D 100 318 v8 manual transmission and bright red, like a Farmall tractor. 8/8/23 10.53 Am cst USA..And John F. Kennedy for 1960. President.
funny how dodge skipped over the 6 cylinder engines...i wonder why ??..and looks?..the dodge looks like it has a ford box on it already ...looks like the dodge has a box from another year truck on it...
I think Ford could usually be had for less $ unless you got the less desirable L head Six Dodge (although it had a mystique about it because of its association with WW II Army Dodge trucks.
