If you’re perusing a website devoted to old cars for sale, chances are good that in your mind’s filing cabinet, you have a folder for “ones that got away”; in fact, many of ours would require multiple drawers. One of my tales of minor-key woe involves an orange 1946 Ford half-ton pickup, very similar to this one you’ll find for sale here on eBay in Monaca, Pennsylvania. The big difference is that the one I didn’t buy needed all the work and cost $3,000 (this was more than 15 years ago, by the way). This rehabilitated example has had all the work done, and the seller is asking $19,000 or best offer. For fans of Ford “Jailbar” trucks, so named for their distinctive (and slightly polarizing) grilles, that doesn’t seem like too bad a deal.
The seller has owned the truck for about five years, and it’s been the subject of a YouTube video on the “Wheels of the Past” series. It was found in South Dakota and brought back to Pennsylvania, where the 100-horsepower, 239-cubic-inch flathead was treated to a complete rebuild. Aside from that and a conversion to a 12-volt electrical system, the truck is much as Henry made it back in the mid 1930s, and the seller says that he truck has only 36,744 miles on it, so all the major systems should theoretically be just getting broken in. There was no comment on why the engine needed rebuilding, but I imagine the years it spent sitting couldn’t have been too kind to the cylinder walls.
Included with the sale will be a binder filled with documents that verify the truck’s history since new.
Underneath the cab floor is the optional four-speed transmission (a three-speed was standard), in addition to a heater/defroster that looks an awful lot like a refrigerator from an Art Deco-themed kitchen. The interior looks as you’d expect for an original 80-year-old vehicle that’s been sparingly used.
The sales material says that the bed floor is actually made of steel, which is supported by a “hardwood sub-floor,” so without closer pictures of the bed, we’ll have to assume that the bed of this truck has either been converted to wood or painted to resemble it. Either way, it appears to be in good shape.
Sure, I can kick myself for not picking up the ’46 I found for sale years ago for three grand, but the reality of that hypothetical situation is always the same; I would have spent over ten grand in 2007-ish dollars getting it to a level where it’s not quite as nice as this one. So for $19,000, or maybe a little less if you make a fair offer, you can have a rust-free Dakota example where the work’s already been done. Plus, you’ll be buying a truck that isn’t a mere garage decoration, because the little flathead should keep up with traffic on anything short of a busy expressway (especially if it has the standard 3.54:1 gearset).
Yep, the regret is setting in. Maybe you should make an offer before you regret not doing it!
What a wonderful vehicle to get started in the hobby, or to increase the size of your fleet. Possible turnkey ready??? A real survivor, DO NOT change anything!! This truck still has the wartime painted trim. These “Jailbar” trucks are fairly rare due to the lack wartime production and the new “Bonus Built” F models coming out in 1948.
It looks like they got to the tailgate a quit. If you look at the pictures on ebay of the rear you can see there are some problems with the tailgate and at least the lower left hinge.
Now, you’re talking! This brings back a lot of memories; even the color is the same. Of course very few trucks back then were painted anything other than green. My wife is trying to talk me into painting my truck some other color (like blue) but since I’m the second owner, it’s going to be the same ugly shade of green that it had when it left the factory with back in ’47.
That’s a T-9 crashbox in there. You won’t need to put a tracking device on it because you’ll be able to hear that truck two counties away–providing the guy driving it knows how to shift that animal. A T-9 is a good anti-theft device.
Mine was equipped with the (rare in its day) Deluxe Package, which included a heater, dual wipers, dual sun visors, a cigarette lighter, ashtray, sliding rear window, chrome front bumper, and deluxe door handles. All those items were available as options but you could save some money if you bundled it all together.
Here’s a shot of a Canadian-built version. Can any of you tell the difference between a Canadian and American Jailbar? Note: this truck is in Australia so ignore the RHD.
My Uncle had one of these he got new. The story attached to it was in New Zealand if the Army saw you had a pickup they would confiscate it for the war effort and give you a chit as they were called for a new truck after the war and take your vehicle. He had a 39 or 40 Ford pickup. So after WW II he was able to take the chit to a dealer and get a new replacement truck for the farm. As kids in the early to mid 50’s we thought it was the coolest thing to ride on the back of Uncle Alan’s truck, yes it was right hand drive and that Army green as we called it. He had been keeping his original truck under cover so to speak but Grand Dad wanted to go to the races in Tauranga so that was where the Army spotted it and just took it from him. He hadn’t wanted to take it off the farm but did so so his Dad could go to those bloody races as he called them.
Geo, You have me on the difference.. That is a neat Ford car behind it. The Aussies used to 55-56 body thru 1958.
It’s funny, when you look at a pic from Australia your first thought is the negative was reversed; then it hits you that the steering wheel is ACTUALLY on the ‘wrong’ side (well, the Aussies might disagree). I never noticed that before, but that actually looks like a ’55 Meteor grill. Well, the Meteor was made in Canada, and Canada and Australia were hooked up through the British Commonwealth, or so I’m told…
One of my Aussie friends explained to me once how Ford of AU continued to use that body style thru at least 1958. If I remember right(???) it had something to do with the tooling. Yes, it is the Canadian Meteor grille.