I have a very ambitious CC (Peugeot 505) and related History of all the classic RWD Pug wagons that I was going to write. But summer has finally come, after the longest coolest spring in decades; highs in the low 70’s, crisp air; perfection. So it just hasn’t happened, yet. Instead I offer this very mentally-unchallenging blog of how I spent yesterday afternoon from 5:30 to 7:00 PM: giving my poor old truck a lick of attention. It really needed it.
For those very few of you not familiar with my ’66 F-100, I promise a very detailed CC next year, when I will have owned it 25 years. In a nutshell: I bought it for $500 to be a dump-run vehicle, and that’s what it has been doing ever since, as well as gravel, lumber, appliances, compost, and everything else imaginable. In fact, it went to the dump just a few hours earlier; my nineteen year-old son and his friends were moving out of their first rental house: you can imagine…
Anyway, it’s a 25 year experiment in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. And hardly anything ever does break. But every year about now, I do try to give it a wash, a once over, and I throw it a little bone: on minor improvement. Actually, that tradition is new as of last year, when I finally replaced the plastic turn signal self-return doo-hickky in the steering column. After 23 years of remembering to return the the indicator stalk, I still have to tell myself it does it by itself now.
So to the job at hand. Was it dirty? You be the judge. And I just remembered; I don’t think I did was it last year. So this is two very wet winters’ worth. Embarrassing. Let’s just say it normally sits out back, not in the driveway.
The only way to get this grunge off is with the scrubby side of one of those kitchen sponges. If I’d waited another year, it would have to be a Brillo pad. But there it is, looking worthy to sit among Stephanie’s bounteous flower garden.
A dose of concentrated Simple Green got rid of the sticky puddle of syrup or whatever it was that leaked out of one of my son’s garbage bag all over the bed. Here’s the biggest single reason I picked a Ford over a Chevy pickup of this vintage: its indestructible steel bed. Chevy was still using wood planks in their beds until 1967, and in a place like Oregon…I prefer to use my carpentry skills on houses, not truck beds. It’s still totally solid; no holes or soft spots. The steel on the floor isn’t what they use nowadays. And with a strategic squirt or two of oil, the tailgate still opens and closes perfectly.
So having taken care of the external hygiene, lets pop the hood and make sure everything is still there and properly topped up.
The so-called 240 CID (3.9 L) “Big Six” looks totally lost in there. Which is a true virtue, in as much as I can chose to either sit or stand (with feet on the pavement) when I’m doing some (rare) work in the engine room. Knock on wood, but it’s needed nothing the last five or six years. Now I’ve jinxed it, of course.
The 240 six, which is virtually identical to the 300 CID version except for shorter stroke, was rated 155 hp (gross) and 129 hp (net); old trucks had manufacturers plates with both gross and net hp figures. That may seem like nothing, but it’s quite a bit more than the smogged motors of the seventies and early eighties, when the 300 had less power than the 240, and Detroit’s small block V8s were putting out 110-130 hp.
One more thing: my truck, being as spartan as it is, weighs maybe 3400-3600 lbs. A new F-Series is closer 6500 lbs or so. Anyway, for my use, a lack of power has never been an issue especially since I have six gears to chose from (three speed and manually-selected OD on all gears). That also allows for totally clutch-free shifting; which I will explain and show in a video some other time.The only thing I miss having is a low granny first gear. No wonder my clutch is already sounding and acting a bit funky.
Now that I’ve hosed out the floor and wiped the dash, my little collection of mementos are more prominent.
Back to the tasks at hand: check oil (ok), coolant (needs a splash in the overflow tank I added), brake fluid (ok), and battery (one cell needed a tiny sip). Good to go! I do an annual oil-change and chassis lube sometime later each summer.
Now to that annual improvement. The cardboard headliner rotted away long ago, and the visors have been patched up via the ubiquitous solution: duct tape. But they were really falling apart, so:
Time for a fix. The cardboard sleeves had also rotted away, and the hard-board core was broken because of excessive pressure due to a rusty “axle”.
Cut a replacement out of some nice vintage quarter-inch plywood salvaged from the torn-down house.
Bolt it on, and re-install.
I was going to do the passenger side too, but its hard-board core was still fine under all that rotted cardboard and duct tape, so true to the motto of “if it ain’t broke…” I reinstalled it. Good call, as supper was ready, and then a long walk off into the purple and magenta sunset…
We kind of needed a break from all those French cars anyway, no?
You need to check out the latest issue of car craft. Someone put a cheap diesel turbocharger on a stock 300 and it gets over 300 horsepower – they then mounted that monster in a Maverick. Search for ‘turbo maverick’ on youtube.
Hey, even us frog-lovers can’t resist a gem like this …
Do I see a full restoration in this vehicle’s future?
By the way, a warning from a public service ad from the 1960’s: When it is necessary to use the sun visor, be sure it is angled away from your forehead, not at your forehead!
Especially critical in this vehicle!
No; but then I have been known to change my mind. it would have to be at a time I no longer do dump runs.
Safety-wise, I’m more worried about the “spear of death” steering column than the plywood visors.
At least yours has seat belts. My 63 F-100 lacked even those.
I wouldn’t begrudge your F-100 a bit of TLC, but surely you’re going to upholster that new sun-visor ?
Gosh I miss those days when it was easy to work on the engine.
Changing spark plugs was like cutting the grass…one of those rare alone times when you could get something accomplished while rebooting your brain.
So i found a 64′ F250 on my route for $50.00. I am strongly considering it. But it has set for the last 5 years in a field.
$50 is well under scrap value so you can’t loose if it doesn’t go. Did it “run when parked”? If so and as long as the carb has been on it all that time it shouldn’t take too much to bring it back to life.
Doesnt need restoring its a perfectly usable ute as it is and by the sound of it has been for a long time.Dont hit anything and the spear of death will leave you alone Great old F Paul
A lot of my rigs get an annual bath at the most, some it’s every 2-3 years. My preferred method of getting the stuff that grows over the winter in the great northWEsT is to spray it with a simple green mix using a pump type sprayer, let it soak for awhile, and then pressure wash it. In fact I just got done doing my Crown Vic the only car in the bunch of annual bathers.
I had to reluctantly park my ’69 earlier this year. It’s a longbed Styleside Custom Cab with the ubiquitous 240 in front of an automatic. Dad bought it in ’70 as the second owner, and I became the third when we moved to a small farm in the Middle West about ten years ago. I learned to drive in it, and it subsequently taught both my sons. It regularly weighs out with over a ton at the landfill, and has hauled numerous loads of hay up to the sale barn.
Our maintenance philosophies are very similar, but when the rear end started making bad sounds, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The intrepid Big Six has north of 300K on it, and the last intake/exhaust gasket I put on it blew out within weeks… She’s either done, or if time and budget open up, I’d love to rebuild her… Already have a 300 donor engine and ’68 F-250 chassis in the barn… Just no time to mess with it right now.
I recently picked up a ’95 F-150 4WD as a replacement. It’s a completely different experience, with a/c, power steering and brakes, and I can actually hear the radio over the exhaust! Still…
Ha! It was a 505 so I win!
Now that I look at the pictures a little closer how do you change the oil in that truck? Someone along the way swapped out the engine or at least the oil pan with one for a van or 4×4. The sump shouldn’t be right above the crossmember like that.
I don’t know if you’ll get this late response, but you bring up an interesting point. Yes, the oil hits the crossmember before running into the pan. Hmmm.
I was pretty sure it wasn’t the original engine, but that explains it.
The 1966 F100 is my second most favorite Ford truck, right behind my sainted 1993 F250. I bought a ’66 in ’76. It had the 352 V8 and a radio. Everything else was manual. I drove it for 11 years, buying just tires, gas, oil and one battery. Had to let it go because of rust damage beyond my ability to fix. Owning another one is high on my to do list after I am fully retired. I am loving that wooden sun visor. I am a construction contractor and a lot of the guys I have worked with over the years are mothers of invention. One of my favorite fixes was on a Dodge Van with a bad fuel pump. My guy just got a junkyard fuel tank and mounted it to the roof for a gravity feed solution. And no, I don’t know what he was thinking.
I don’t know what to tell you, Paul – I understand about “work truck” but you oughtta take better care of it than that. If it goes feet up, what could you possibly replace it with?
I’m hard on my vehicles and I’ve had beaters, many times…but once every couple of months isn’t too often to wash the grunge off. Use one of those fully automatic wash-bays…if the dirt isn’t baked on, the high-pressure spray is pretty good about kicking most of it off.
And, oil? The most- expensive thing you can do, is save money by not changing oil. That’s the lifeblood of an engine; all the more critical in an elderly one. If you spin a bearing, are today’s mechanics even going to know how to pull that engine?
As someone who had a flat-front Chevy van, aged 25 at the time, I know the answer. They won’t; they’ll shine you on. If you have the time AND money AND books to get the parts, torque values, exploded diagrams…then you’re in luck; only two weeks of hard work for you. If not…a Curbside Classic becomes a Crusher Queen.
I can’t wait for the official CC write up on that truck! Long, low, lean and mean! I love having one “old” vehicle in the fleet for the same reasons you mention above, if something goes wrong you can fix it by hopping the fender, taking a seat and getting to it. Usually all you need is a ratchet, 3 socket sizes, and 2 screw drivers to get back on the road.
A little tip, when the paint gets that oxidized and gets all grunged up the “engine degreaser” at the coin wash or a heavy concentration of laundry detergent when washing by hand cuts the labor in half.
Eager to learn how your overdrive works I can drive a roadranger without the clutch but I thought those Fs had syncros no doubt the CC will enlighten me.
An afternoon well-spent, Paul.