I can only take so many vintage cars before I need to revert to something that can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. Besides, I’ve seen the light: a forklift is so mighty handy. I recently managed to wrangle a 948 A-series engine off the shop chain hoist into my Expedition (still wearing my dress after work mind you), so I could take it to a buddy’s house for a teardown and eventual build. It hunkered sullenly in the very corner of the Ford’s cargo area, mostly on its side. Driving to Peter’s house, I thought crap! how’re we going to pull this thing out! Ok, a 948 is not huge, but I was worried … until I saw Peter’s Hyster forklift right there behind the shop. Wow. I need one. For fans of vintage equipment, here’s a perfect option: this 1951 Clark Yardlift 150 (15,000 lbs weight rating), listed at Auctiontime, bid to $400. It’s located in St Regis, Montana, and aside from needing a new battery, it runs and lifts well.
Clark traces its roots back to the late 1800s, but the company we know today was founded in 1917 in Buchanan, Michigan. Its fame grew after it invented the Tructractor, made for moving loads around its own industrial buildings. Visitors saw the contraption and asked Clark to build a few to sell. In 1922, Clark made the Truclift, a platform that used hydraulics to lift loads rather than gears and cables. The Truclift wasn’t very mobile, but it led to rigging a tiering attachment to Clark’s industrial truck: voilà, the forklift was born! The first Yardlift was made in 1946, specifically for rough terrain.
Most early Clark machines were powered by Continental engines. This example has a six-cylinder, fueled by gasoline. Videos show the engine running, sounding healthy, and the machine’s lift mechanism working. The 150 was nick-named the “Big Bruiser” for its beefy capacity; here, it’s shown lifting a Clark semi-trailer.
The mast is about 10′ high, and the forks are roughly 4′. Forum participants remind new owners that these old machines need plenty of grease, and often. Proving that folks will cherish almost anything, here’s a smaller 1951 Yardlift 20 featured on Clark’s Facebook site; it’s been completely restored. We were able to find plenty of comparables; while this old girl isn’t revealing her age, it’s a similar model with an asking price of $12,500. Sales prices for matching-year examples hover right around the current bid, however. Maybe it’s time for a trip to Montana.
Ms. Rand, you are a breath of fresh air, and I agree, the diversity is a welcome site. Ah, the “Towmotor”. I saw this on the “Fast Finds” when posting a B model Mack I hope someone grabs.
The forklift, or “towmotor” as old timers called them, changed everything. They always seemed to be engineered backwards. They are the unsung heroes of any business. In fact, the wood pallet in particular changed shipping, but not this unit. This was an outside machine that unloaded those huge bundles of 2x4s off rail cars or long steel beams. The duals were needed for stability. I’ve been around forklifts all my working career. I’ve driven them, hauled them, worked on them, yes sir,( or ma’am) I can’t think of a more important machine in our working society. As the author mentioned, I’m not sure what a 948 A motor is, but everyone should have a forklift. I’ve used forks adapted to a bucket too. I can’t even begin to tell the uses for a farm setting. The clump of iron above the back( front?) wheels, is a ballast and weighs a ton alone. It is needed to balance the machine when heavy loads are being lifted. In fact, I drove some big forklifts that had individual brakes, like a tractor, for when the back( front?) steering wheels were off the ground. Parts like hydraulics and running gear are pretty universal, and probably still warehouses full of Continental motors left over from the war.
I never cared for a forklift job. Wise bosses I had put me on the dock when my temper in a truck ran over, but it’s a good job. I knew a trucker from a company called “Lov-It Creamery” in Green Bay. They had all large car Petes, and he got too many tickets, so they put him on a forklift until the heat cooled off. The other dock guys dressed the forklift up with chrome lug nuts, CB antennas, and west coast mirrors. Bunch of characters, they were.
Thanks staff, now, about that Mack,,,,,
That’s some funny stuff, Howard-good times with good people.
Always appreciate the info we get from you too on stuff like this. Thank you too.
Kinda curios to hear about this Mack you’ve been talking about..
Thanks Howard! Appreciate your knowledge always, and the stories add a dimension I can’t.
This is awesome Michelle, thanks.
This is absolutely awesome Michelle
Yep add it to my list lol. But seriously. I’m sure others will chime in here, but I’ve been told these don’t have power steering. They have manual transmissions, and there is no side shift like modern day forklifts. You needed to get your load dead on, or you’d have to back up and maneuver and try again, and without power steering, that was a chore. This thing is awesome Michelle. Thank you very much for putting it on here. And for your research as well. Great write up!!! Keep em coming!!!
I’ll chime in. This is an interesting and informative write-up Michelle, on a piece of machinery I know nothing about.
Another example why Barn Finds is so enjoyable. If it was just muscle cars or or even just old cars, it would get boring quickly (at least for me). But we get all kinds of things– trucks, throw-away cars, bicycles, tractors, old, not so old, restored, unrestored, you name it…. even forklifts.
St Regis – I want to go back there again! Beautiful scenery,
and great country to drive through.
I once bought a bunch of Rover 2000 brochures at a second-
hand shop there.
Another gem from Michelle, who knew it could be so much fun learning about and thinking about forklifts?! Now I want one.
From locomotives to Lancias, forklifts to Ferraris, you have an amazing automotive repertoire Michelle. Willing to bet high dollar that you and Jean Lindamood would’ve been best of friends.
Another offbeat and useful find with the subsequent write up. Thank you and keep them coming.
Very well said Nevadahalfrack. I totally agree. That’s one of the reasons I’m on here every day.
After doing more hours than I can count on forklifts years ago, you find out just how versatile these machines can be. It’s a tool your garage cannot be without.
Mine is a nifty 1950 Clark Yardlift equipped with the never die Continental gasoline flathead four-cylinder. 4000 pound capacity it will precariously move around 1950s American vehicles with ease. For the last 26 years she never fails to start with a quick shot of ether(Unless it’s below 20°F, then it’s hopeless…) and just keeps going and going……..
Put a fork mounted lift jib on this baby and you’ve got a portable go anywhere crane! And yes it has power steering!
I’ve operated all sizes and types of counterbalance machinery over the last 35 years. Both propane and now more common inside warehouses propane. Personally I would look for something smaller than this for the home shop. You would never need the capacity of this one.
What if I have to lift my house? … just joking. Yeah, it’s overkill, but you know, it’s nice to have the power if you ever need it. In our area, every few years, storms will blow down 110′ firs all over the roads, fences, and occasionally onto homes and barns. Last time that happened, a neighbor brought out his house-sized tractor and went ’round pulling trees off the where they didn’t belong. If I could be part of the “rescue crew”, I’d do it.
Where were you when I was looking for a job? “Nice to have the power when you need it”, by golly, I’d say 90% of the trucking jobs I had, the bosses were more concerned with fuel economy. They’d rather equip the new trucks with L-10 Cummins motors( don’t get me started on those), that some slick salesperson blew them baloney saying they’d get 10 mpg,,,yeah, bobtail. We burned out those L-10 motors in 18 months, hauling 80K with the foot to the floor getting no better mileage than any other truck, 4-6 mpg tops. They just didn’t get it. I say, give the driver 500+hp, tickets are their problem. It wasn’t until I got my own truck that I finally had a 400 HP motor in a semi. For most anything a private owner might need, a standard forklift will do, but then again,,,,
Sorry, meant to say that most warehouses have switched over to electric forklifts.
You just never know what you may find here on BF’s.
This is selling for WAAAY under market price. Even factoring several K in shipping, a running big forklift like this should easily bring a lot more. I have three forklifts of different sizes, but for this price I may just have four!
Interesting write up, nice to see something different.
Racking what’s left of my brain I assume a “948 A motor” is the BMC lug found in Sprites & Midgets. Amirite?
Also early Morris Minors & some Austins.
‘Zactly. Probably weighs 300 lbs all dressed.
Brings back memories of my partime college job in Gunnison, Colorado at Foster Lumber. With – 30 plus nights, sometimes days, we left our fork run all night in the shed for those early AM deliveries. Kept the hydraulics workable and no start problems. Only shutdown in winter was to fuel, add oil, and grease it once a day!! Great write up, Thanks for the memory.
The Continental engines used in forklifts ran way into the early ’80s. (at least into the late ’70s) The NAPA parts store I worked at in high school had a very extensive machine shop.And since we were located close to a couple industrial areas. (one of which had a Ford stamping plant in it) We were always rebuilding Continental engines and various brake parts for them. I seem to always get stuck with relining the brake bands with woven asbestos material that I counter sunk fir the rivets I then had to install.(asbestos and no personal protection devices) Not to mention the generators and starters to rebuild for the fork lifts. (1968 -1971) I’m blessed to have neighbors that have forklifts. I don’t need to own one.
Oh Michelle, you are a wonder.
Where were you 30 years ago when I was looking for a new wife? (Probably not even born yet).
Any woman who can wrangle an engine into a pickup truck while still wearing a dress from work is worth her weight in motor oil if not gold.
Way to go girl! Thank you for bringing something new and exciting and with so much research. That’s why I read BF every day.
Ha! Thanks so much, DLO…. I was alive and well 30 years ago, painting an MGB with a borrowed Wagner electric spray gun or tearing up Bugeye Sprites to sell the parts. But not in a dress. The engine situation was a rush job….
We used a similar one in the marina in the 70’s
Had negative lift to launch boats off the dock into the water
Good Times!
I have a real soft spot for Clark Lifts; that’s the brand I started selling in 1979 in my forklift career that ended in 2020.
If you have never driven a pneumatic tire forklift, you owe it to yourself to experience it. Bring an extra pair of underwear. Especially if you are used to driving solid tire forklifts on smooth floors. Maybe it depends on what you got used to first.
When I was a teenager, I worked at the family sawmill. We had a Hyster forklift, first name was Betsy. I don’t remember Betsy ever complaining that something was too heavy to lift and she always started, had a perkins engine. If Betsy ever had brakes it was before my time, who needs brakes on a forklift? Then Betsy’s tranny started jumping out of gear when ever it felt like it. No big deal, one of my brothers rigged up a piece of metal to hold her in gear, put her it forward, slide the piece of metal over and it held the tranny in gear. One day me and Betsy were headed across the mill yard, guess maybe I forgot to slide the piece of metal over to hold her in gear. We came to a little downhill grade and the tranny jumped into neutral, we started going faster and faster. Couldn’t get the tranny back in gear, no brakes, for some reason I thought if I shut the engine off it would slow down but all that did was make me loose the power steering. I lowered the forks down as far as they would go, across the mill yard we went, oh no we were heading for my fathers pickup truck. Betsy must have liked me because she managed to stop about three inches from the truck, forks were underneath the truck and the upward part three inches from the truck. Well I never saw my brothers gather so fast and laugh so hard in all my life. Can’t tell you what my father had to say. Talk about needing spare underwear.
Hi JoAnn, thanks for visiting, and if I had MY way, be more of this and less Lambos. ( crowd roaring) My work history has been riddled with close calls, kind of went with the territory. We had an old Michigan loader at the asphalt company, we’d load sand ourselves, and it had little, if any brakes. Best way to stop in a hurry was to drop the bucket.
BTW, a “spare pair” should be with you at all times in the construction biz,, :)