My grandparents lived in rural Montana and one of the features they had on their property was an above-ground (gravity fed) gas tank. My grandpa would fill up all his vehicles and machinery from the big tank and would call the local feed store when it needed to be refilled. When I was a teenager I knew if I hinted that I needed some gas, my grandpa would say “fill ‘er up before you leave.” This 1957 Ford Texaco truck was the kind of truck that delivered gasoline to those rural tanks. In fact, you’ll see a photo of one at the end of the article. This one is being offered for sale here on eBay with a current bid of just over $2,000, the reserve hasn’t been met yet. Located in Mackay, Idaho, the lettering on the door indicates it was in service Arco which is just south of Mackay in Central Idaho. Have a look at this unique project.
You can see the awesome vintage lettering on the doors that reads “Adamson Texaco Wholesale.” If the truck doesn’t get salvaged, I sure hope someone does something with the doors at least!
The engine is a straight-six that probably had enough torque to pull a house. You can see the radiator is very deep to accommodate a large amount of coolant for the Idaho summers. Everything except a battery seems to be in place under the hood. The seller says it last ran in the late 1990s. Hopefully, with clean fuel and good spark, it will fire up.
The interior has seen better days, but it doesn’t look too bad. Obviously, the seat will need to be reupholstered or replaced. The dash and door panels look like they will clean right up.
The ad doesn’t say if this truck is related to the sale (same truck?), but they do mention the truck has a 1200 gallon capacity. While it probably won’t be delivering gas to farms and ranches in the future, hopefully, it will get a second chance at being driven and enjoyed. Perhaps it could be converted into a fuel truck for a race track, or?
That lead photo reminds me of the pictures that you see in the car magazines or at the shows – you know the ones – they have every year Impala in the weeds, or even all the hot Mopars at the gas station.
Only this photo has a great subject without the overload of simular types, and this one is real…
P.S. seller added today, the 29th, that his reserve is $2100.00
Great find, this would be the F600 that had the 223 in line 6, about 120 hp, but speed was not what it was about. This truck made umpty-nine deliveries everyday, and was adequate. There was no hurry. Petroliana is huge today, and gas haulers, are top of the heap, even if they never work again, it’s cool to see one all painted up. The gas tanker is and always has been, THE most important part of the driving experience, and we owe a lot to these trucks and the fearless drivers that drive them. In my entire 35 year trucking career, I only hauled one (1) load of gas. It clearly wasn’t for me.
Bulk fuel trucks were a common sight out west. From spring through fall you would see these on the country roads. A three-ton like this was the mainstay although some tandem units showed up by the 70s. And they came from all of the truck builders. Co-Op ran a Binder AC-160; Uncle Woody ran a ‘Job-Rated Dodge, while the Texaco agent ran a Ford very similar to this one with the exception of being a ’58 model. The other Co-Op was connected to the Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealer so it was obvious what he ran. Now they’re all diesel-powered tandems and tri-axles. And you’re not likely to see any of them carrying any large quantities of gasoline either; diesel is where it’s at nowadays. On the ranch we had three 500 gallon tanks; one for farm gas, one for diesel and one with ‘Ethyl.’ Dad always drove Oldsmobiles, Dodges and Chryslers (with the odd Plymouth, Ford and Chevy thrown in for conversation purposes) for his family cars so he had the agent deliver a load of that good high-test stuff that was only a few cents a gallon more.
I sure hope that this truck gets a proper home and is allowed to be restored to its original glory. If I had a place to put it, I might be tempted to get in line…
Do it geomechs.its pocket change for you! And you could probably use it :)
Im thinking a lot of demand for this one. Not too big and still more than adequate for most any reasonable chore. I see it going to an airport or race track. Either way, I hope she gets some serious love.
For me, this reminds me of my first Lego set, a gas station which included a very similar looking (but Chevy) tanker.
That would have been early 60s, no indication of what Lego would become further down the line.
That is reallllly cool
I think the time capsule leaked. And I LOL’d at the Idaho summers comment. But this is indeed a cool truck. I would think some small rural airstrip would love to have it, if it were possible and cost effective to bring it up to code.
When I was doing field service my travels took me to Mason City, Iowa. Parked there was the same aircraft Amelia Earhart flew into history. You see the coolest things at the smaller airports. I recall flying into SFO in 1992 and spotting a mint early 60s Ford Falcon dressed in TWA livery.
Convert it into a poptop camper and drag your favorite racer to the track!
My God! Just think of all the moonshine
you could put in that thing! My uncle in
Kentucky could’ve used this to carry his
corn squeezin’s. Perfect cover for something like that. Or, just run it behind
my ’01 Ram 1500, which is quite a thirsty
beast. Either way it’s a great find that needs to be saved.
I don’t know about all you guys. But, being a Ford man, especially all the older classic Fords, I would enjoy doing a complete frame-off ground up restoration to this vehicle. And yes, everything would be updated. Even the lettering on the doors and tanker sides.
1200 gallon tank is the size the US Air Force uses in their C300 for diesel and gasoline, but not for aircraft where they use a bigger 5000 gallon tank in their Oshkosh and or Kovatch fuelers.
Cool old fueler truck though. Tesla would probably convert this to electric and say “gasoline not needed”. lol
Arco, ID is such a small town, I decided to look up Adamson Texaco Wholesale. The chances of it still in operation is small, but I did find out that the local electric company owes them $8.17 as an unclaimed refund.
The little box on the shift lever is a control for a 2 speed rear axle. In low range and 1st gear that 6 cylinder could pull trees out of the ground !!
Are you kidding me??? This truck has at LEAST ten more lives left in it. It can be used to haul water, grain, feed, poop, liquid fertilizer, OR, the top half of the tank can be carefully cut away (after it is properly rinsed) and made into a parade platform, tour bus, or a musical stage bandstand.
The list is long if you think OUTSIDE of the box!!!
Today I rode my Harley and I passed an operational Amoco gas station. So on the way back I had to stop and get me some white gas ( High Test ). LOL. I haven’t seen an Amoco station in over 10 years.
I used to drive a 1960 Ford Flatbed Dump truck. That was in the early 80’s it was already worn out then. But it would start up everyday I had to get in it. I also had a 1968 C-60 I drove around often. I liked the chevy better. If this was on a chevy drive train I would be tempted. I’d wait till gas got down to around 1.50 per gallon and go fill that thing up and leave it in the driveway with a few grounding cables attached and a lock on the gas nozzle. LOL
Yeah. Whatever. I already told you what I would do. Sincerely.
Growing up on the farm, originally the farm had one of the underground tanks with a hand pumped gas pump on it. The kind you pumped up to 20 gal into this reservoir and from there into the tractor. The underground tank eventually started leaking so he got a 300 gal above ground tank. In both cases, I remember all too well the tank truck from DX coming out to fill the tank.
This is the type of vehicle that needs to be save and shown to the kids to see what life was once like.
Take this baby to your local drag strip and show ’em what a *real* gasser looks like! :-) :-)
My first dump truck was a 66 GMC with a 327 and a 2 speed axle!! Not the original motor but this truck from the same era reminds me of it!! My first oil delivery truck was a 68 Ford with a Detroit diesel and no turbo!! That truck couldn’t get out of its own way!! Boy they have come a long way since then!! I have a Freightliner with a Cummings and a six speed now that is a very dependable truck and a kenworth with an 8 speed!! I couldn’t amagine going back to a truck like this but it would make a good parade truck!!!
Piece of Automotive history! Love to bring this gem back to all original! Great find!
I am glad to see that I’m not the only one that appreciates classic vehicles. Whatever they may be. Thank you.
“You can trust your car to the man who wears the star”
I had a fuel truck similar to this. Under powered to the extreme, definitely not made for highway use when full. A modest hill would require the lowest gear, sometimes crawling up at 3-5 mph. A 1 minute climb in a normal car might take 30 minutes of flooring it.. Repurposed as a water truck wouldn’t change the fact that it would be terrible to drive when fully loaded. Tough to even get to 30.
I love old service vehicles. I would love to see it restored. Another wild card use I can think of: Mobile Barbecue pit.
Ended:Aug 30, 2020 , 6:00PM
Winning bid:
US $9,600.00
[ 30 bids ]