In 1959 workers in need of a not-too-big-not-too-small Ford truck chose the Ford F350. With its nearly TEN TON Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, this F350 could handle TWICE the weight as a basic F100.
Steve just wanted to thank you for making these videos. As someone living deep in the rust belt, just seeing some of these still savable cars and trucks brightens my day.
@@rupe53 I was using the term more as a tongue in cheek comment. Rust belt actually refers to the loss of industries /manufacturing in the 80's leading people to coin the term "rust bowl" later changed to "belt", not cars rusting.
@@dayspasttv2 ... funny how a person can live to 70, be educated, and miss that as a common phrase for industrial decline. Here in the northeast "salt belt" and "rust belt" are apt descriptions of what happens to cars since they started treating the roads in winter. (post WWII) The terms are commonly interchanged in car culture. Guess I learned something today, although I don't know how useful it will be in daily conversation.
I remember those hoods. I always thought that era of the Ford trucks were very nice looking. I was still a Chevy fanatic but I had to give credit where credit is due, they were good looking trucks. If only they had Chevy drivetrain. Lol 😂
My Dad bought a white '60 Cab and Chassis and made it a welding truck back in 1965. In the summer of '66 he got called out to an oil drilling rig up on Sespe mountain outside Filmore, California. It was before dawn when he rolled off the edge avoiding a chemical truck. Thank God the only tree big enough to stop him from rolling all the way down was in his path and he hit it. The truck was still running upside down. His only injury was a scrapped up leg. He had it trailered back, sold it. A week later it was being used as a yard truck at FA Sherry's welding machine shop in Carson. Those trucks were tough.
That hood is actually a half year hood, part way through it went from a flat center section to an 8 inch wide by 1/4 inch tall raised center section. The truck in this video is an early 59 as it's flat. 1960 is the only 1 year hood technically.
Ford made good use of the instrument cluster/dash plate. I used to drive a 1966 cab over livestock truck and it had the same dash and control knobs. With a load of cattle on the 18’box, I could wind the big 300/6 cylinder up to 55mph, with my foot jammed hard in the floor, or once up to speed, I could pull out the hand throttle and hold it at whatever position the gas pedal was in. Not a cruise control, just a hand throttle.
What that thermostatic valve in the exhaust crossover did was close, force hot exhaust gasses through the intake when the engine was cold. This aided fuel atomization on cold starts. After a short period, it would open, and the exhaust system operated normally.
Correct, of course, 1959 model year. Once again, glad to see you back. As many have stated, you were missed. We got the VIN, we win: F35 for F350, C for 292 V8 with two barrel with 158 HP, 9 for 1959 model year, E for Mahwah, NJ and the rest is the production sequence. The Mahwah, NJ plant was located off Route 17 in Mahwah, NJ and operated from 1955 to 1980. It is referenced in the song "Johnny 99" by Bruce Springsteen in 1982. Later on, the plant's location was the headquarters for Sharp Corporation for a number of years and today has the headquarters of Jaguar-Land Rover and Amazing Savings. We got the tag, we can (somewhat) brag and go all the way, don't you say?: 130 for the wheelbase of the truck in inches, which is something Ford still puts on data labels today, R for Torch Red exterior paint, F350 for F Series 1 ton rated conventional cab, 27B for Friday February 27, 1959 production, F for four-speed synchronized manual transmission, possible 04 (tough to read) for 4.56:1 rear axle ratio, maximum GVWR (the most the vehicle can weigh with cargo, people and fluids onboard) is tough to read but is possibly 9800 # as you noted, 178 is the maximum HP rating at 4000 RPM and possible 11 for the Boston, MA sales district. Yes, likely a Clark rear end. The only thing I wish you'd add to your "junkyard toolkit" are some rags and cleaning material (water in a bottle, window cleaner, etc.) which might make these tags a little easier to read after being out in the "wild" all these years. My coworker was just talking about a rollover when he drove one of our trucks and it flipped over (it was an older 1970s Ford). This would have been around 1982 or so. A "local" smoking a cigarette (or something else...) came over and said, "You OK?" My coworker, filled with gas after being splashed said, "Yea, I am OK, thanks. Just step away with that thing..." LOL. Also, I had a guy drive up to me to buy some "dog dish" hubcaps last week that I had for sale that fit a Chevrolet Nova among other cars. They were in the parts stash I got from my friend. When I asked where he was from, he said with a New England pronounced accent, "Wooster, Mass." I said, "Then you watch the Junkyard Crawl with Steve Magnante". He thought at first and then said, "Oh ya, I've seen that". I then told him who I was, and he said, "Ya, I've seen ya on there. That's you? Wow. Nice to meet ya". LOL. He's an industrial sealant salesman who has my area as his territory and I just happened to be off the day he was passing through. We chatted for about a half hour after he bought the hubcaps. They were exactly what he wanted, and since I only had three (my friend could never find #4), and he only had one, they are now a married set. He gave me my asking price with no issue. Once again, welcome back. As others stated, you were missed.
@@michaelstrafello7346 He might have. You could detect a MA accent, but not on every word. I have a friend from Saugus, and he has a much more pronounced accent on every word.
I used to see Springsteen at the Stone pony down at the "Jersey shore". My brother in law had a couple of house bands that used to play there, Holme and Cats on a smooth surface. Bruce used to pop in occasionally and play and sing with the band. My brother in law wound up teaching guitar to Jon Bon Jovi and played lead at some of his live concerts for a while.
The scrap iron PTO lever is neat, but I'm surprised you didn't mention the drain tile windshield defroster. That's some real out of the box thinking right there.
In 1965 I had a much used 1956 F100, it needed a better seat. My next door neighbor had a totaled 1958 F100 with a very good seat. It bolted right in. The cab was wider but the seat width is the same.
My grandmother"Granny Reed" as she was known,and loved by many had a '59 FORD truck i remember well, red with a white/powder blue interior it was a work horse and served her well,
Weird to see that year of truck so original under the hood. I remember working on that old setup.. Common mod was external oil lines for the valve train since the internal passages would clog in engines that were not maintained well
We lived near the Mahwah assembly plant for a bit. Some of the locals, aka Jackson Whites, would steal vehicles out of the parking lots there and drive them up into the hills surrounding the plant and tear them up. Revenuers would report that when they went looking for the perps, they would find dozens of wrecked cars and trucks, never registered all over the trails. Nuts. You can look that up with no problem at all.
What? No mention of the wooden battery tray? LOL! I am a survivor of MANY horse shows, so upon seeing the ribbons I wondered what classes and western or English. Re: master cyls You can tell the larger one is the 2140 because of the 13480, meaning the smaller one is the 7A543.
My first project vehicle was a 1959 F100 ! I had the 292 rebuilt and used an old ping pong table to fix the step side bed floor. That drivetrain ended up in a ‘60 panel truck with a 4 bbl intake off of a bigger truck . Ultimately I got an automatic transmission out of a place in Mass called Mormon Hollow auto parts.(have you ever heard of it, Steve?) . That was my favorite vehicle . I still regret selling it .
The jump in body from 57 to 58 looks more like 10 model years instead of just 1. And the headliner was huge for interior noise. I’ve driven both, give me the headliner please. Thank you as always ~ Chuck
That's a cool find - we have it's bigger brother, a '59 F500 with the Marmon Herrington 4x4 conversion belonging to our club. Army vehicle for more than 20 years with extremely low milage
Where I live in California we don’t have wrecking yards like this.. would love to wonder around a place like this. Thanks for all the work you put into these videos.
@@wmason1961 They are likely processing yards---all fluids drained, all the potentially hazardous items removed and either placed into inventory where you "pick them out" at the counter or they have been recycled already. I know there are some pick and pull yards, but I'll bet less than other states.
@@mattrodgers4878 unfortunately I don't know. My wife found the story on the net about 3 months ago. And because I dont live in Massachusetts. It really didn't concern me all that much.
I was thinking the same thing. I had a ‘70 F100 that had a linkage clutch system and it was terrible! Why would the engineers go back to linkage? I’d gladly pay the extra $10 (if it was even that much!) difference to get a hydraulic clutch.
way to go Steve- love the homemade defrost tube as well.the parts that fit under the dash for defrost were made from pressed cardboard.the replacement parts are plastic and there is only one company that makes them and they are very pricey.i hate to admit but i have used the tie up the heater duct method a few times haha
Ford would use that same basic dash thru the 1966 model year. now on the fuel tank in the cabs on the plus side you never had to deal with the tank rusting out since it was protected from the road salt and moisture. I had a Ford 1979 short bed stepside 4X4 that I would occasional smell raw gas. Just crawling under the truck you could see ant leaks but you could smell it. I pulled the bed off and the tank between the rear frame rails had rusted thru on the top where the mounting bands were from the trapped dirt.
I'm surprised you didn't take a chance to go over an ambulance or two while you were at the hospital? I can just see super Shane in the hospital bed next to you with his camera 😂
Those frames back then were heavy steel. They would get surface rust , but that was about it. I had several F-350s over the years and the bodies would rust out but the frame would be fine. I agree , I think it’s repairable.
Since it has a PTO, but no sign of hinges or mounts for a dump body, it probably had a wrecker body on it. The homemade mods probably came later, after the towing company bought a new cab and chassis and sold this one to a farmer.
Steve - you said "farmer make-it-happen engineering" and then competely failed to point out the yankee-engineered windshield defroster duct that you moved out of the way to look at the dash! I am guessing that the in-dash blend door control cable broke and the air was only coming out on the floor, so the farmer fixed that in a very obvious, but effective way. And when you folded the seat forward, I was expecting you to say the obligatory mouse nest in the seat. Also not mentioned, the yellow jacket nest built inside the driver's side sun visor! Good thing they were long gone, especially with you banging on that headliner.
Being a mostly Blue Oval guy, at least up to more modern times I appreciate when you feature something like that 59 F350. I wasn’t really a fan of that body style of that body style, but you brought up some interesting features. I never had any experience or remember talking with anyone who had any bad experiences with the front exhaust cross-over pipe, but it makes sense that Ford would have made that at front hood decor a functioning air inlet. I don’t know how long ford did that cross-over thing, but seems like 59 wasn’t the only year. One thing it would help with was faster warm-ups on cold mornings. Would help accelerate development of more durable rubber materials for radiator hoses also, I think. I didn’t realize Ford offered hydraulic clutches that far back, but I would imagine they would have been appreciated for working in heavy traffic and otherwise low speed maneuvering around the farm or worksite. I recall my granddad’s 60 Chevy C20 also had a hydraulic clutch and it was a breeze to drive compared to my dad’s F100.
I owned a '67 GMC 1 ton PU, with the tank behind the seat. The most annoying thing with the in the cab tank was I never had enough money to fill the tank. I had to hear to the gas sloshing in the tank.
Steve, the day you get to 100,000 subscribers I’m gonna treat myself my wife and elderly parents to the most expensive steak they have at Costco ,we will have a beautiful barbecue. Please get there soon I’m hungry ha ha ha.
My uncles had bought an F350 around 1959 and kept it until around 1985. Through most the 70s it just sat parked in my grandparent’s yard for us kids to climb on. I think the original cab had rusted out by the mid 60s and had been replaced with an early 60s one.
The difference in the truck you identified as a 56 (was actually a 53.) Would be a good time to show the evolving wrap around windshield like you said "Frankenstein"
Yes, glad you said it. 1953-1955 had the slant cab and the last year of that generation, 1956 with the wrap around windshield and an optional big window rear! 👍🏻
Had a Chev 69 heavy 1/2ton with in cab fuel tank. Cab mount rusted and the bolt put a hole in the tank. I proped the cab up on a 2 by twice and soldered the tank up. Would be dangerous with gasoline fumes inside and turn the heater fan or lights on, or use the cancer stick lighter.
Almost as bad as the 60 corvair gasoline heater. I remember grandpa telling of a guy bringing one in with no heat. Something happened to him in ww2 and he lost his sense of smell. The nozzle was half plugged with carbon and spraying raw fuel mist into the car. Poor guy decided to light up a Marlboro and boom! Singed the interior. He got away with only no hair or eyebrows 🤣.
@@paulday6875VW used those gas heaters for years. When properly maintained they work pretty well. Then the diesel trucks can have a diesel fuel version installed to heat the engine block. The warm coolant also heats the sleeper so the engine can be shut down preventing undue wear and fuel consumption.
I did the same for my neighbors 1969 F100 in the Detroit area. I used quick dry two part epoxy instead and had him back on the road in a couple of hours. It also fixed his binding steering issue on left turns issue because the cab shifted and sunk to the right rear and it bound up the steering shaft!
I find it kind of strange that Ford truck sales were up over Chevy/GMC and Dodge in 1959. They were much nicer and seemingly heavier duty looking trucks from those other 2 manufacturers. All I can think of is that the Ford dealers must have been making some sweetheart deals to get those sales.
Steve!!! You the MAN!!!! I NEED THAT HOOD!!! I have a 1958 F-100 that somebody swapped out the hood for an F-600 hood. The body lines are identical however the 600 hood is about 6 inches longer. 10 points of you know why. I'm going to look into acquiring this hood, thank you.
Hi Steve, good truck, good video! Your information is very correct in regards to keeping up with expanding hip and shoulder room in in Ford trucks. As cars became wider, truck cabs became wider. Ford, Chevrolet/GMC and Dodge kept up with the roomer cab. But in the mean time, International Harvester and the Jeep Gladiator did NOT keep with this, and I think that hurt sales with them. Also you could NOT lay a 4x8 sheet of between the wheel wells on a long bed International Harvester, and/or Jeep Gladiator pickup. The International Harvester pickup was Scout based, and the Jeep Gladiator was Wagoneer based. I think hurt there sales considerably. Please reply. Dave...
Anyone notice on/ off/ start switch was clear on the left side of instrument panel Easy to reach in to start. My 63 Galaxy a d even up to my 72 F250 were that way.
