This 1955 Ford F-100 is said to have been sitting for over three decades and is 99% rust-free, and it looks it. If you don’t count surface rust, that is. The flattened left front fender is an interesting look, I wonder how that happened? The seller has it posted here on craigslist in Estancia, New Mexico, just southeast of Albuquerque, and they’re asking $3,500. $3,500 for a basically rust-free ’55 Ford pickup with a V8?!. Here is the original listing, and thanks to T.J. for the tip!
Is that left front fender (in the opening photo) an attempt to modernize this otherwise rounded pickup? Just kidding, of course. I have to say, I don’t hate the way that looks, at least if it were like that from the factory. The right-front fender seen above is another squished, formerly bulbous fender. I wonder what happened there, maybe just decades of driving tractors or other vehicles past this one as it was in storage? We’ll never know, and just about every body panel is available in the aftermarket for this truck, so if you aren’t a panel-beater, you can get new fenders, and maybe running boards, etc.
The second-generation F-series was made from 1952 for the 1953 model year until the end of 1956. They came in this one body style, but I’ve always wondered what a Crew Cab version may have looked like… Ok, maybe that’s why they never made them in this body style, back to this truck. We don’t get to see inside the bed, but I’m guessing the wood floor is gone, or in very rough shape.
This truck is said to be 99% rust-free, but it needs help on the cab corners at least, and there’s heavy surface rust in a lot of other areas that should be at least treated ASAP so they don’t create a bigger issue. The floors have a lot of surface rust, and the seat, well, you can see for yourself.
The crosspipe is missing, but there’s a new radiator hose, weird. This is, I believe, Ford’s 239-cu.in. OHV V8, the only V8 available this year, and it would have had 132 horsepower and 215 lb-ft of torque when new, according to this brochure. It sends power through a floor-shifted manual transmission to the rear wheels, and since it hasn’t run in 30+ years, well, it doesn’t run. The asking price seems reasonable given how desirable and valuable this truck is for restomodders, but I’d want to either get it working and drive it as is, or restore it back to original spec. How about you?
Interesting Scotty that you would mention that left front fender. That was my first thought, it almost looks factory such that it matches the spare tire carve-out for the rear fender. And a ’55 Ford Crew Cab chop, interesting.
It’s a desirable truck, open to one’s imagination (and financial position) as to what its future may be.
My first warped thought in viewing this truck and its pinched fenders was the movie Christine when she motors after the portly member of the punk group, squeezing down a very narrow passage to pay back.
These are neat trucks. I’m going to have to say that the front seat doesn’t look very comfortable as it is right now lol. Personally, these trucks look great restored amd stock, or modified. But I’d go the stock route if it were mine. I’d absolutely keep the stock color too. ( I assume its stock I like it). The V8 and 4 speeds a great combination too. And about that crew cab, it looks like it actually could have been a reality back in ’55, nice job Scotty. I really want to know what happened to that drivers side front fender. How on earth was it perfectly flattened like that?
Well, it’s a nice find, as old as me, and quite frankly, sometimes I feel like the way this truck looks. I can say with a bit of disagreement, 99% rust free isn’t like this. And yes, surface rust does count. We can’t see it, but this truck is cashed. Rusted front cab mounts ( and probably the back) are a big job, but can be done. Hardly 99%. To solve the dent mystery, you’ll notice a schmekle in the right fender, that “rub” put the truck against a wall or another machine, flattening the left fender.
This was a bare bones truck, I read a ’55 F100 was about $1460 new, but the V8 pushed it to almost $1700. Another oddity, it has a heater, a $42 option, but no hoses under the hood leading to it. I bet it sounds nice with that “arm burner” exhaust pipe gone, and not sure why they did that. One thing for sure, I’d paint the dang thing. I don’t care if all the body shops have left the planet and it takes 10 Walmart rattle cans. People don’t appreciate the “old rusted “patina look, to them it’s just a faded clunky old truck. Now if painted, why, that’s a horse of a different color.
Has great potential, although someone or more than one driver had no idea where the front corners were. Me, go with a newer drivetrain, upgrade the suspension, brakes and some creature comforts and drive the wheels off. Remember it’s all about smiles per mile!
i was in first grade then and all I could think about was these
Ford pickups… always wanted one…. but not badly enough to restore this one….
I do believe there is a bullet hole through the windshield, drivers side left of steering wheel.
So we can add a new windshield to the list, and all the nightmares replacing that might expose.
No corresponding hole in the back of the cab and all the seat material has been removed, makes you wonder!
Just not worth throwing money at this old her
It’ll fit right in Grandpa’s old garage! (maybe not!) No crossover pipe, that’s where we run the stacks through the hood! I’ve seen mice eat the seats before, but that’s ridiculous! All jokes aside I’ve seen a lot worse for a lot more. I think it would be a good stock project, not much you can’t do yourself.
What a cool rig to get back on the road I would find a rear bumper I like keeping the steel wheels just make them match maybe a small hub cap I already have a set of tail lights that came off a 80s step side I would use then just drive it and enjoy it.
Well, I sure wouldn’t kick this off my driveway, especially with that Y-block in the engine bay. Yes, I might like flatheads as well but I like the early Y-block too. I kind of miss my ’54 Customline.
That’s sure to be a Warner T-98 transmission which would be a straight-cut granny in low but synchro from 2nd to 4th. Not a bad transmission, that was used with some mild upgrades right into the 70s. Ford, Studebaker and International used them extensively. I heard rumors that Dodge too but I’m sure that Chrysler was pretty much married to New Process by then.
I’d fix it almost bone stock. Of course the first thing I’d try to get rid of would be the already missing forearm burner of a crossover pipe. Regular dual exhaust manifolds don’t work because the left one exits right onto the steering gear (I know this from experience). Might be able to score a pair of ‘Ram’s Horns.’ Trying to dualize the left manifold will wind up with a twisted up pretzel of a left exhaust pipe that really compromises the engine bay (ask me how I know).
This reminds me of my 56 when I first got it. My great grandfather had been driving it and there was no way the front fenders could have been saved.
Not surprisingly, this truck is long gone.