Under the clutter of this Dallas, Texas barn, there’s a 1948 Ford F1 that has been sitting since 1975. As you’ll see, it has been pulled out and dusted off in preparation for a new owner. It can be found here on eBay with an asking price of $9,500. The seller states they have nearly 100 photographs of the truck documenting the condition. From what is pictured in the ad, this looks like a fairly decent start to a project. Take a look for yourself.
Here you can see the truck has been pulled from its resting place and cleaned up enough to be presentable. The patina is nice and it certainly has the farm-fresh look. I’m not sure what kept the center of the door so black, but that’s probably the only drawback to the patina look.
The seller states the truck was originally built in Dallas, so it has probably been in that area its whole life. The Flathead V8 is said to “move” but needs to be freed up further. The ad says the heads are Mercury, so they are unsure if the engine is original. Overall, it looks like it might fire up with some clean air, fuel, and spark.
The transmission is a 3-speed manual on the floor. Obviously, the interior has been freshened up a bit since it was pulled from the barn. Hopefully, with a little TLC from a new owner, it will see years of cruising ahead. What do you think of this one?
Just park it at my place and I’ll fix it and drive it. And, I’ll get rid of the carpet and put in a real floor mat. The downside is that with the rust I see the asking price makes it a ways out of my budget. But one of these is desirable. From what I’ve seen the Ford and Mercury heads are virtually identical. The ones intended for Ford will have 8BA, 8RT (truck) or (’52-’53) EAB. Mercury will have CM, 8CM, CM1 or EAC. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the rest of the Mercury engine under those heads as they always seemed to stay together. A Merc will have a 4 inch stroke but that’s difficult to measure on a Flathead…
Get that thing running & leave it just as it is . The story behind it is awesome .
I had one of these back in the 90’s, planned to fix it up one day. All it needed to be drivable was a clutch. Came home from work one day and the wife says: A man stopped by and offered me $75 for that junky old truck. Doesn’t the back yard look better now?
And your still married ?
Yes, how do you spell “D-I-V-O-R-C-E?”
Geomechs, Your information and facts are exactly right, but it is real easy to measure the difference without even looking. Simple, drive a stock one then drive one with a four inch crank or better yet a stroked crank. I have done that allot and trust me you can tell the difference.
You are right with the driving part. It’s hard to believe the difference that a quarter inch of stroke and 10 HP can make. Mercs were just good solid performers…
geomechs: To tell if it’s a Mercury can’t you measure the stroke by pulling the plug and measuring the movement of the piston with a straw or something ? Also if you go to this guys ebay site he has a 1942 Lincoln Zephyr coupe for sale for “only” $35000, out of my price range but cool to look at, I’ve never seen a 42.
Hi Bob. It would be difficult to get some device on top of the piston because the spark plug hole is directly above the exhaust valve. I really don’t know how you could reach a dog-leg over and accurately measure the piston travel. You might need to pull a head or drop the pan…
geomechs: The valves in the way, good point – might be easer to pull the pan or just replace the head gaskets and check the stroke then but then you know what happens, you end up rebuilding the whole thing, which might not be a bad thing.
I own thetruck.the interior is as i pulled it from the barn..only cleaner. Thanks
That interior is very impressive!
Could be a pretty nice truck with a bit of work. Hopefully it doesn’t get hot-rodded.