This 1968 Ford F-600 grain hauler is about as far removed from a vintage mini bike or snowmobile as it can get, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like it as much or want it as much as I want some of the little oddball vehicles shown here on Barn Finds. The seller has it posted here on craigslist in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and they’re asking $3,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mike F. for the tip!
If I had a nickel (do they still make those?) for every time I’ve driven through Fort Morgan in the last two decades, I’d buy this truck and have it nut-and-bolt restored. Fort Morgan is in the heart of agricultural country in Colorado, so it makes sense that this cool truck would be located there.
Driving around the U.S. as much as I do every year, I sometimes fantasize about having a truck like this, a bigger-than-usual medium-duty truck. These rigs aren’t made for speed, but they just look cool to me. I love the up-sized look of them compared to all of the poseur jacked-up trucks that a lot of “tough guys” drive. Then I see them ahead of me at a Starbucks drive-thru as I’m about to order a brewed coffee, and I can hear their order. It’s invariably “Yeah, give me a venti, skinny, caramel oat milk latte with…” and I just roll my eyes and realize that even tough guys need to come back to earth sometimes.
I would never need a grain box on the back, and I’d want to shorten the chassis a bit to a regular pickup-sized wheelbase. Speaking of that, if you haven’t noticed, the fifth-gen Ford medium-duty trucks used the hood and cab of a regular pickup, but with wider fenders for the wider stance. The wider grille helps make it a cohesive appearance from the front, rather than if they had used a regular light-duty grille, and it really gives it a bold look compared to the fourth-gen medium-duty trucks.
The fifth-generation Ford medium-duty F-Series was made for the 1967 model year, way up until the end of 1979. If you’ve got actual work to do, this is the one you want. In case you’re wondering, here’s what it looks like inside that grainless bed. A couple of the cab clearance lights are broken, but that’s the least of your worries, as this truck needs a radiator and isn’t currently in running condition.
I believe this truck has power steering, and that would sure be a welcome feature for a big truck with what I’m guessing is the longest wheelbase of 194 inches, especially when it’s loaded with grain or other crops or just general stuff. How about that seat! It’s a thing of beauty, much nicer than I imagined the seat would look in this tough farm truck. I believe the little switch under the left side of the bench seat is for an auxiliary gas tank?
You can’t see it in the photo above, but in this one, I believe that extra switch on the 4-speed manual shift lever is for the 2-speed axle that was standard on the F-600, and also on the F-700, F-750, F-800, and F-8000 trucks. The underside looks good, with just some regular surface rust on the heavy frame components and other parts. A solid front axle was used in place of the Twin-I-Beam suspension on light-duty F-Series trucks.
I assumed this truck would have the 300-six, but this appears to be Ford’s 330-cu.in. OHV V8, with 190 (gross) horsepower and 304 gross lb-ft of torque when new. The seller says it currently isn’t in running condition due to needing a radiator, but it sure looks like this nice truck could be back in action again without a lot of work. Hopefully our Ford and/or truck experts (Bob, Howard, Geo, Dave, Stan, etc.) will chime in about anything I’ve missed on this $3,000 F-600.
I’m with you, Scotty. Up here in Michigan, we’re in sugar beet land, and I see old mediums getting awakened from their slumber every fall for harvest time. Invariably, they have exhaust leaks and wobbly rims, but I love seeing them out on the roads. I’ve often thought about buying one just to commute in every once in a while, just to take up 15 spots in the parking lot for fun.
Aaron, I never knew Michigan was sugar beet land! I went to college in Fargo (NDSU), and there were horizon-to-horizon acres of sugar beets. I don’t know if anyone would notice you taking up extra parking spots; most people don’t pay attention to driving anymore, let alone parking lot lines.
this in a parking spot would be no more offensive (actually cool to park near) than the trendy F350, Rams and some Chevy/GMC beefed up daily driver/shopping cart versions that the “tough guys” seem to think deserve the same space as a SmartCar. Typically persons driving a rig like this realize and respect there are others on the road and “share the space” with consideration. Yes, I would love to have it, every 81yo dude needs one that gives him a rolling protective shield of steel while competing in traffic or the parking lot. The old city dude with country aspirations.
Not only is Michigan sigur beet land but also NW Ohio. For most of my life, there was a huge beet processing plant in Fremont, Ohio. I can’t recall their brand. I remember many local farmers grew beets and had trucks similar to this one that came out of the barn once a year. The odor from the beet plant was not pleasant! I believe that operation was moved to Michigan. There would be mountains of sugar beets there waiting to be processed.
Ha! For several years we lived in northwest Wyoming, and we didn’t even know sugar beets were “a thing” until living there. Aaron your phrase “awakened from their slumber” is absolutely correct. Plus, their drivers… we had an 80+ year old friend who was annually pressed into duty. I learned to give them a wide berth.
I don’t live in a sugar beet area. But what isn’t onions is alfalfa, carrots and corn. Our valley smells like onions 6 months out of the year. AND I HATE THE TASTE AND SMELL OF ONIONS! For many months John Deeres populated the road ways more than cars. (notice I said cars not trucks) And then 10 wheel potatoe trucks (which in our area work as onion trucks) take over for several months. They have an angled wall/floor to the bottom that has a PTO driven conveyor belt out the rear shute/door. Onion skins pile up on the side of the road like show (,white, yellow and red) And almost always when opening the hood on one of my vehicles there are onion skins.
Aaron!!! We MUST carpool together if you did that!! That would be a blast. Nothing to add to your write up Scotty other than a huge thank you and I enjoyed it. It would be a blast to get this up and running again. ( wait…… Scotty …….. no crew cab?.? No drop top??? Lol just kidding . Thanks again Scotty!! I enjoyed it!!!
I’m ready! I’ve thought about it a thousand times. :)
Ha! They actually made a crew cab, Dave, I think?
https://classicbroncos.com/forums/attachments/img_1688-jpg.359788/
https://forddaily.net/attachments/1979-ford-f-600-factory-crew-cab-4×4-2-jpg.13721/
Good Grief Scotty!!! I didn’t realize. Here ya go Aaron, we can carpool with Scotty too now!!! We have to pick up Bob….. Stan…. Howard…… Geomechs……Nevadahalfrack…….. If I missed a name please forgive me. This is fun!!! Wonder if it’ll fit thru the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts???
Road trip! Where are we goin’?
I can’t say I know much about this generation of medium duty Ford trucks, other than to say that I think they are very cool. They were around, doing oil field and farm duty, but I just didn’t have much opportunity to get first-hand experience around them.
I always liked their clean, I-mean-business look. I do remember when this generation arrived, thinking “where are the integrated turn signals?” The answer was, of course: the fender-mounted units get the job done just fine.
Looks just like the truck 🚚 you’d see on a farm back in the day SG. Workhorse. V8, 3 pedals, 2 sticks, huge steering wheel👍.. as for coffee and donuts Dave… Medium black ☕️ , and an old fashioned 🍩.
Nice old truck! Mid-West cattle/grain combo body would make a small farmer like me a real nice truck!
Not much use for a grain body, but I’d bet there’s a PTO provision on the trans. Then you could put a roll back wrecker body on and haul projects home. The wife would be so pleased with all the money saved versus hiring it done.
Our small town of 800 ran 9 school busses from the local Ford dealer, 7 of them had this nose. I was a bus crazy kid dreaming of someday being the driver. Never did drive a bus but did eventually become a truck driver.
That ol’ girl just needs a few touches to be perfect:
A whole bunch a them chicken lights over the roof and down the bed sides, then twin 4″ chrome smoke stacks, with tip outs, about cab height, for sure some a them chrome girly mudflap weights, gotta have some chromium pointy lug nut covers, and tint them winders extra dark so as nobody gonna see ya in it…
Better get the shifter that rubs on the headliner while you’re at it. And a big cowboy hat.
Winders you can see out can’t nobody see in!
Its splitting hairs what was more popular, this or the Chevy C60. These trucks were on the low end of the HD models, as F500s were considered top of the lighter duty trucks. This thankfully does have PS, that corny looking unit with a cooling coil around it, and represents what 90% of smaller farms had. Typically, used only in Spring and Fall, they generally have low miles. These are the trucks, the kids took out on Sat. night when the folks went to town, to see how fast they could get it going. Loaded, it was a slow ride, but in farmer lingo, “what’s the rush”? Something missing, however, a hoist. Certainly not rare, every farm had one, and in many cases, still do. They had a bit of pride, as I think that shiny grill was extra, most I saw were painted.
Even though there is a V8, It is hard to imagine how sluggish these trucks are. And that empty! The size of the box is far bigger than what the truck could carry in dirt of other heavy material. Perhaps brush?
They are very utilitarian and handy to go to the dump. However I dont see any provision for a dump bed, no PTO lever. Perhaps electric/Hydraulic on the column? The unloading process is much worse than the loading part and greatly reduces the usefulness of this truck. It has a small gate in the back for grain, but I cant see how it would be dumped… Perhaps that is why it survived, not much it was good for?
Nice example, pretty clean. Old tires are going to cost a grand to replace if you can find that size still.
Don’t know about the price, cant figure out what it could be used for.
Hey Jay and Howard, if you look to the left of the steering column you’ll see an orange knob, that’s the cable for the hydraulics, all the way out for up, halfway to hold, in for down. On the right of the column is a heavy T handle for the PTO and what looks like a brake controller for trailer brakes. Depending on who installs the body a lot of trucks like this would have 2 cables side by side under the edge of the dash, one for the PTO, the other for the hoist. These Mid-West and Knephide combo bodies are common as dirt around here, barley in the spring, corn in the fall, put the slat sides in the pockets on the side boards and haul cattle the rest of the year.
I don’t know how many grain buyers still have them, but many had a hoist you drove the front wheels of the truck onto and it lifted the front of the truck to unload.
Boy, do I remember that hoist at the grain elevator! Tip the front end of the truck up and all too often the carburetor would flood and the engine was difficult to start. All to that, transmission oil leaking out the rear seal. I got in the habit of stopping just short of the hoist and using the truck hydraulics to unload the box…
Hi Jim, I see that now, it looked like the box was bolted rigidly to the frame, but I see it is split. That and all the oil. Usually, the small mom and pop elevators didn’t have a lift, so you got in the box and shoveled it out of the corners. I do remember unloading potatoes had those full length hoists. Everything on the dash ended up in the sleeper,,,
That’s how they were unloaded here in NW Oh.. there were many beet farmers at one time in my area. To unload, the grain elevators could raise the truck 45 degrees to empty the load. Sadly the beet processing operation moved to Michigan. Many of these trucks found new life hauling pickles and tomatoes.
And find a tire dealer that will still mount split/2 piece wheels. Worse come to worse, you can find one piece wheels in this bolt pattern. (I know, as I have done it for a friend who has an older Chevrolet. 1939?)
I could be mistaken, but I believe those are one-piece wheels with split rings, not two piece ‘split-rims’. They are tube-type wheels run with an inner liner. One-piece wheels are tubeless.
Split meaning the outer ring is a single ring that has a split or 2 ends. 2 piece meaning. The outer ring is not split, but a separate piece. As I believe this truck has. Both split and. 2 piece are tube type wheels. I piece are USUALLY tubeless. But not always. Most automotive/light truck tire dealers don’t have safety cages for inflating the older style truck wheels we have been talking about here. Nor have the properly trained people to handle those wheels. 40 + years ago. I stopped to get gas at a station that I knew people at, but didn’t frequent there because it was no longer on my normal flight path. I walked in, everyone was kind of walking around in a daze. I walked back into the service bay to see people standing around in a stupor. Where was a hole in the floor where the single post hoist had been and a hole in the ceiling about 6 foot square. They decided to air up a 10.00-20 semi split rim tire using the hoist to contain it in case something went wrong. Well, it did go wrong and it let go at about 100 psi. The lift, the lift arms, post, wheel and tire all went straight up out the ceiling. Most of the metal and rubber landed behind the station and some ended up on the roof. Needless to say it made a very loud bang. Luckily no one was injured. But it could have been very deadly. I have had a regular passenger tire let go on me twice and that is very loud. And I was very lucky both times. I can’t imagine the sound of a 10.00-20 letting go. Goodyear had a training video on split/2 piece wheel safety. At the beginning is a mannequin stirring on the grass inflating a split rim tire/wheel combination. The tire blows and everything disappears out of the picture. After quite a long time, stuff starts to fall back into the picture. Some of the last pieces are body parts. I have changed many of tires on split/2 piece rims and never had one let go. And ALWAYS used a cage.
Scottie, Thank you for a great write up.. This is an excellent truck, at a good price, for a beginner to get involved in the antique / historical truck hobby!! As an ATHS & ATCA member you will find that the truck people are a lot friendlier and NO where as snotty / picky as the car people. The saying in the truck hobby is that you “go to the first show for the trucks and then come back next year for the people”!! Big enough to fit in the group and small enough to handle easily and fit in a 30ft garage with 10 wide and 8-9 high doors or a similar car port. I believe that this body does have a hoist under it. The rear tailgate can probably be removed for normal dump use?? I think the short lever just to the right of the shift lever might be the PTO engagement or parking brake lever?? A little expensive, but yes this truck is a good size to replace the grain body with a roll back. Granted it will take a couple of parking spaces, but not much more than my Ram 3500 quad cab with 9 foot flatbed..
If my eyes are correct. The engine looks like a “Y” block engine. geomechs is that correct? Cool old truck. And since they have a brake controller. I suspect it was used for more than hauling grain. (DON’T NEED NO TRAILER BRAKES OUT IN THE FIELD!)
I plowed snow for five+ years with an f600 dump trucks. First a 66 then A 67. Both with a 330. If you buy this make sure you have a couple of sets of points with you. Anything wet seems to go straight to the distributor on the front of the motor. We would cut A gallon milk jug to fit over it.
Brake controller and no hitch?
What else would you use that brake controller for? This brake controller is the style that hooks up to the brake master cylinder and not seeing the connection in the under the hood installation. Any ideas out there?
Well, you can’t catch all the trucks when they’re fresh out of the chute. But I still like to chime in whenever there’s a truck of significance.
Lots of these out west. They were used, like others here said, to haul sugar beets, plus potatoes, plus grain, plus cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Some might even have been used to take a date to the school dance, when the farm pickup was out of commission. Ask me how I know. Not as popular as a Chevy or GMC but held its own.
The good ol’ FE family. Run forever, except that they had some chronic problems with the intake manifold loosening up to the point where the gaskets leaked. I remember guys getting complete tuneup kits; plugs, points, condenser, rotor, cap wires. Then carb kit.
And the thing still ran like a toilet.
I had a customer come in one day. He was sort of a self-appointed truck expert but he finally had to come in and seek some advice. I might add that he was bound and determined that the engine was shot and needed a rebuild. Further, the last person he really wanted to talk to was me. I used to date his daughter in high school and he always thought I was irresponsible scooter tramp, who would inevitably lead his daughter astray, which to some extent, he was probably right.
Well, I had him start the engine, then I pulled the PCV and the oil filler cap and put the palms of my hands over the holes. The engine tried to inhale my hands. “Intake gaskets are shot,” I told the guy. He looked completely incredulous; in fact I’m sure I heard his jaw hit the floor with a distinct clank. He had spent a week trying to tune it up and this snot-nosed upstart diagnosed his problem in less than a minute. I just told him that the intake gaskets were under the rails for the valve covers, consequently, any vacuum leaks would be detected the way I just did.
Two hours later and he was back on the road. I’m sure he still thought I was an irresponsible scooter tramp who tended to lead his daughter astray…
Oh man, these are such great comments! We seriously need a “Best Of” here at Barn Finds. There are so many here that would be strong contenders for Best Comment of 2025. Thanks, guys!
Just remember Scotty who’s idea it was to have a “Best of”. Just ask Elizabeth!
Can i put a 460 ci out of a 1995 f- 250 in my 1968 f-600 with store bought motor mounts.