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Parked 46 Years: 1934 Ford Truck Hot Rod

This old truck looks cool, but the tale behind it is what really caught my attention. Supposedly, the previous owner won it during a game of craps at the Missouri State Fair. He passed away shortly after that and the truck went into storage. The crazy part though is that this all happened 46 years ago! If the story checks out, then this is an awesome period-built machine! It’s located in Centralia, Missouri and is listed here on eBay where the bidding ends later today.

Power is provided by this 100 horsepower Mercury flathead V8! The seller has not attempted to start it, but as long as it’s not seized, I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t run after some precautions. New rubber, fluids, and a battery might be all you’ll needed to be back in business. Of course you will want to rebuild the carburetor, go through the brakes, and replace the tires before getting too crazy.

There’s a 3-speed shifter on the floor inside and a couple of extra gauges. Those threw me off a little at first, but this is claimed to have built sometime before ’71. Underdash Stewart Warner gauges like those would have been right at home in any custom during the era. There’s a nice upholstered bench inside and not much else. The windshield flip up windshield is about the only luxury feature in here and it would be greatly appreciated during those hot summer cruises.

The body hasn’t been modified and there doesn’t appear to be much rust. Even if the story were all made up, I’d still love to have this old Ford. I’d ask for some documentation to backup those claims before bidding, but otherwise I don’t see anyway you could go wrong here. Clean it up a little and you’ll have an awesome pickup in which to attend rod runs and make hardware store runs this summer!

Comments

  1. Avatar Eric Hare

    “Owner died shortly after and has been setting in a dry barn ever since”
    Isn’t that against the law? They should probably bury him.

    Like 0
  2. Avatar David Montanbeau

    Love these old trucks. Here is our 34 Dodge rock climber. 340 6 pak 4×4 727.

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  3. Avatar Ron

    “He” won it in a crap game. Then “they” passed away?

    Who’s the editor up there?

    Lol.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jesse Staff

      All fixed. Thanks.

      Like 0
  4. Avatar JW

    I would truly love to buy this truck, it has old school hot rod written all over it.

    Like 0
  5. HoA Howard A Member

    With all the great iron that comes through here, it’s really tough to pick a favorite, but for me, this is as good as it gets. Unlike the other Ford pickup like this a while back with the Chevy motor, this is far more representative of what some young man ( sorry ladies, maybe, if so I’d like to meet her) cobbled together, more than likely after the war from parts from his uncle’s garage. Can’t you just hear it? “Hey Johnny, I just got a Mercury motor ( one of the hottest sticks at the time) for the old Ford truck”. What a gas that must have been tearing around in this, passing all the 6 cylinder cars. I bet many folks, including the cop, who probably was his other uncle, knew about Johnny’s “Mercury” powered pickup. I hope the next owner remembers that by keeping it like this. 2 speed rear would sweeten the deal.

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    • Avatar chuck mckiernan

      twin pots and a Columbia butt would be icing on the cake, with open lake headers

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  6. Avatar tirefriar

    This little truck is sets a pretty high watermark for coolness on BF. I’d love to get something like this and wrench on it afterwork to relive the stress and forget about the BS. Then take it out on a leisurely cruise down the thoroughfare to give those triple skinny with quadruple pump frapuccino sipping Leaf drivers something to choke on.

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    • HoA Howard A Member

      Hi tf, leisurely cruise? I’d lay rubber for a block with the cutouts open,,,, that’s the therapy I’d be looking for. :)

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      • Avatar Jeffro

        I love the sound of open cutouts late in the afternoon!

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      • Avatar Tirefriar

        Howard, laying rubber along the Ventura Blvd would be cool but unfortunately none of the local cops are my uncles, aunts or related to me in any way other than through their ticket books.

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  7. Avatar geomechs Member

    This looks like a real budget hot rod. I think it’s still running mechanical brakes. The only mod on this is to install a set of chrome-reverse wheels, install a later flathead and paint it. It’s still got the slot for the sidemount spare tire. A purist could restore it without a lot of difficulty, while someone else could simply freshen it up and drive it as a neat resto-mod. If I went the latter route I’d get rid of those wheels and get a set of Vintiques. Breath a bit of fire into the flathead and have some fun.

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    • Avatar Bellingham Fred

      Looking at the pic of the front I see what looks like brake hoses running to the backing plates. So maybe it has juice brakes already. Still should have a brake redo if not an upgrade.

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      • Avatar geomechs Member

        You could be right. The mechanicals on this one would still have the rods which wouldn’t be all that easy to see, and those could be hoses. There were a lot of these converted over although the mechanical systems were quite effective despite the negative publicity. If you break an axle or blow a line on juice brakes, you’ve got no brakes; you break an axle on a mechanical system you’ve usually got a couple of wheels to rely on…

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  8. Avatar Fred W.

    Our town still has someone who hand paints signs (like his dad did and so forth). If I had this truck, I would have him hand letter a shop name on the door, wax it down, get it running, install juice brakes and just drive.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar Rob'sGT

    Anyone else see hydraulic brake hoses going to the front brakes?

    Like 0
  10. Avatar ACZ

    He’s also got a 28 Pickup ending about the same time. That one looks to be in better shape.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar MikeK

    All it needs is an LS swap! (well somebody was going to say it)

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Mark L

    This looks like a 1932 pickup?

    Like 0

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