One of the sadder parts of this gig is seeing the low prices and lack of interest in heavy duty and/or commercial vehicles that enter the collectible vehicle market. While a few get restored, and an ever-increasing number get rat rodded, these vehicles often end up at the scrap yard. Their size makes shipping difficult, and specialized parts are often hard to find. Fortunately, a few good ones get saved. This 1954 Ford C600, hailing from Lake Park, Minnesota and for sale here on eBay, might be one of the good ones that have a chance. This solid (for the area) heavy-duty hauler is currently sitting at a $1,225 bid. You can also buy it now for a very inexpensive $3,450. With a little work, this beast could be back earning money and looking cool in your neighborhood.
Back in the day, many long haul and most medium-duty trucks were powered by gasoline engines. Amazingly, these engines were often much smaller than you would expect. Gearing was what got the job done. Inner city trucks were very low geared. This allowed them to be rated at loads far out of proportion to the horsepower the engine put out. Often, a two speed rear end or an overdrive unit was added to make these trucks a little faster and a lot more bearable for the driver. You wouldn’t want to go too ridiculously fast anyway. While the braking systems were good for the day, trucks like this were equipped with drum brakes all around and usually lacked any power assist. The same goes for the steering. Driving a large truck is never easy, but in the days before power assisted everything, I would imagine truckers didn’t have to send off for that Charles Atlas course.
The good news is that vintage haulers like this one were built unbelievably tough. The frames were constructed of heavy gauge steel and the rest of the parts were equally beefy. Items added to these trucks, like the power winch we see on this Ford, were simple designs capable of years of use with minimal maintenance. This truck reminds me of a Bulldog Mack that is a frequent participant in the annual Ormond Beach Gaslight Parade on Thanksgiving weekends. This 1920’s flatbed truck, complete with solid rubber tires and chain drive, is owned by Florida Power and was restored by an employee who became its caretaker. It has even been pressed into service after a few hurricanes, carrying wooden poles and winching them into place. Not bad for an old truck!
All signs point to the Ford we see here having a few more jobs ahead of it as well. We are told by the seller that this was a former farm truck, and it hasn’t been running for several years. For all the work it has done, and all the time that has passed since it was built, this is a very complete truck with a lot of potential. While there are a few spots of rust through in the lower doors, the rest of the truck is certainly solid enough for a resumption of service. The back glass will need to be replaced, but it is just simple flat glass that could be cut and tempered by your local window place. A set of tires would be in order, and a thorough rebuilding of the brake system would make the driver a little more optimistic when they stood on that center pedal.
We are also told that the floors are solid. The pictures show that fact, and that this truck may have a two speed rear end or an overdrive by the looks of the lever on the left. It is already equipped with a four-speed manual transmission. A quick look elsewhere in the floor shows a missing brake pedal pad, a dangling flasher, and what looks to be the mummy-like remnants of a heater hose. All fairly quick and inexpensive fixes.
Under the uniquely high hood rests the new for 1954 Y-block V-8 that found its way into nearly all medium and heavy duty Ford trucks that year. Called the “Cargo King V-8,” these engines could be ordered with 238, 256, 279, or even 317 cubic inches of displacement. Trucks of this series were usually ordered with the 239 cubic inch engine, which put out just 130 horsepower. Considering that you can order a 1/2 ton pickup now with over 400 horsepower, truck engines have come a long way in the last 64 years. Still, these trucks managed to keep America rolling for decades.
It would only make sense to buy this truck if you lived nearby. Shipping it from Minnesota to the east or west coast would probably cost more than the purchase price. Still, a fellow could have a lot of fun with one of these. It would be a neat hauler for a small race car, or just the coolest thing in the hardware store parking lot on Saturday morning. Or, like the Mack Bulldog mentioned above, you could restore the winch and press it into service every now and then if you had a business that could use such a truck. It just seems a shame to let this one fade away.
Would you consider a heavy duty truck for your collection?
Unfortunately the most sensible thing to do is put this cab on a more modern chassie. You get the whole package brakes, powerful engine, power steering, and highway capable gearing. Other you just end up with a beast that needs a lot of storage space. I personally like the pickup idea and a 5th wheel hook up.
That would make it one happy truck!
Unfortunately, I already have a F 600 with a Hyabb on it, and this is more useful to me than the flatdeck with the winch.
I love these old trucks, and although I never drove one of these old gems, I drove that size and larger flatdeck and semi Dodge, GMC, and International trucks in the late 50s and early 60s. There definitely was more physical work involved in driving those older trucks, and you had to plan your gearchanges on the hills, but I found the job interesting and the day went quickly.
The biggest problem on the highway in the mountains with these low horsepower rigs in the summer, was the slowpokes on the hills. When you had a heavy load, they would cause you to lose all your momentum, and this ended up in most hills requiring the lowest gears. In the winter, it was getting soaked by having to chain up on the side of the highway in the middle of a storm.
I loved driving back in those days.
If the truck was nearby, I would probably clean it up and drive it in its present form. My second option, would be to set it on a modern 1 ton big block Ford chassis.
Bob
I could use it in the woods the way it is.
Great write-up, limited market, indeed. Not so much shipping, but where to keep it? To be clear, there was a vacuum assist on these older trucks, not sure if this has one, the “Hydra-Vac” was troublesome. This is just a straight 5 speed, there would be a button on the shifter, that other stick is the PTO for the winch, so top speed on this unit is about 50 with the hammer down. These cab-forwards ( not cab over’s) are best on a newer chassis. Believe me, you don’t want to go over 50 in this, the way it is, and was never intended to do so in the 1st place.
Charles Atlas Jeff? Really? Holy smokes. What a way to get bonus points! What a time the 50s were. Not only could truck drivers back then drive these beasts year in, year out, but they could torque the lug nuts –after changing a tire by themselves- with their fingers.
…and they peed on the blisters on said fingers to change them to callouses faster. (an old timer told me that way back)
AwwwwRiiiight, Dave! Rember “thumbs up”?
That 90 mph speedometer is more than optimistic.
There was a skin mill ( leather processing ) in my home town that had a Ford COE similar to this one , come winter time they put a huge cement block on the flat bed and hooked up a big snow plow to keep the lots and roads around they plant which took up several city blocks clear of snow !
239 ci?
No problem for me. I drove plenty of Stick-shift Motor coaches and School buses back in the late 1980’s and the early 1990’s. That truck is all manual.
Any COE from this era is a good COE and worth saving in my book!!
Love the truck. Nice and original. My grandfather has one of these on a pickup chassis with a shortened oem stakebed. He gets a lot of looks.
I am restoring one of these and I can not find some missing parts for the hood latch.
Is there any chance you might photograph the inside of the hood latch from several angles so that I could fabricate the parts I need?
I just inherited a 1956 C-600 LCF (low cab forward) with a 20′ cargo box. It’s body, both cab and Box are very straight and rust free. It’s originally from Detroit, MI but has spent the last 60 years here in New Mexico.
The newer C Series Fords were COE (cab over engine) but I just love the “Helmet” hood. It’s been parked for several years. There’s a 1968 Triumph Bonneville MC in the box, also very cherry, but unused for years.