(This is not the CC for Clue #2. That will have to wait a day or so)
Here we have the Y chromosome-rich brother to the rather fem 1964 Styleside: a plain no-nonsense work/utility truck like the tens of millions that before and after it. In fact, if this pulled up in front of your house three months after you called the cable company, you probably wouldn’t be surprised. But it did have a bit of a surprise for me when I popped the hood.
Speaking of utilities, our phone company, which used to be Qwest, and before that was US West, had a 1971 Ford F-250 that was still in the fleet just a couple of years ago. It never failed to surprise me when I still saw it in our neighborhood, the oldest fleet truck in the country? I guess the convicted former CEO of Qwest had better things to with the corporate kitty. Oops, I’m skirting dangerously into politics. Better to talk about the burlap seat cover, just to prove how butch this truck is. Or is it hair cloth?
Ok, I didn’t even shoot the back of this truck, so I must not have been that interested at the time. We all know what a utility bed looks like. But I did make a point to open the hood, because I wanted to get some shots of Ford’s older six, the 223 CID unit that first appeared as the 215 in 1952, and was replaced by the 240/300 Big Six in 1965. Since the emblem on the hood indicated a six, up it went.
But either someone put the wrong emblem on the hood, or it’s been changed out, because here’s the source of this truck’s butchness, the Y-block V8. Why is this poor motor so unloved?
The Y-Block was Ford’s first OHV V8, appearing in 1954 in a peculiarly small 239 CID version. Well, it must have seemed like a great leap forward to Ford itself and the lovers of the brand, and it did beat Chevy with a new V8 by one year. But what a difference one year can make. The Y-block was pretty typical of the first generation of OHV V8s that appeared starting in 1949 with the superb Caddy and Olds units. The Y-Block might have looked pretty nifty in 1949 or so, but by 1954 it had nothing really new going for it. A massively heavy block that extended well below the crank center line (hence the Y moniker, when looking at a cross section of the block), it was certainly anything but delicate, which probably explains why it soldiered along in Ford’s trucks for so long.
The most distinctive feature of the Y-block was the unusual exhaust cross-over pipe that burned so many hands over the decades. Not a very good idea, and it just looks so…crude and ugly. Is that the source of the Y-Hate? It’s apparently a hold-over from the flat head’s cross-over (above), which at least ran down under. Why Ford didn’t like their down pipes to meet somewhere behind the engine is unknown to me. Maybe one of Henry’s last eccentric influences?
Our first car upon arrival in the US in 1960 was a 1954 Ford with the 239 V8 and two-speed Ford-O-Matic. I was pretty proud of that V8 emblem on the front fender, but the damn thing wouldn’t start half the time in Iowa’s winters. And it would get vapor lock in the summer, especially up in the Rockies on vacation. I wouldn’t be surprised that the cross-over pipe helped contribute to that in slow mountain driving, super-heating up the air just before it hit the carb. Ford Power indeed! At least the views were good as we sat by the side of Trail Ridge Road waiting for the gas to stop boiling in the float bowl.
Well, my bias against the Y-Block was formed very early on, but like many biases, I’ve come to appreciate these roarty old motors. The dump truck clearing out my demolition site is a similar vintage Ford (CC coming here soon too), with a Y-block, and you should hear its un-muffled blasts when it starts up and takes off.
The Y-chromosome has its shortcomings, and I wouldn’t be surprised that someday the world will be populated only by women who have learned to reproduce asexually (or from a few men kept in a cage and tapped for their sperm), but they’ll never know what they’re missing when an un-muffled Y-block goes roaring down the street.
Judging by the stacked-up fan spacers + the unused holes for the rear (V8 position for the radiator), it looks like the 6 has been replaced by the Y-block.
I hate seeing a dirty air filter like that.
Vapor lock eh? My uncle has a 92 Ford half-ton that does that too.
Local car dealer once loaned my dad a 1981 Crown Vic that did the same thing…
No such concerns yet in my ’92, although that’s a different body.
From what little I know about these (never owned one) they had lubrication issues. The rocker arms were the last things to get oil, and there were a couple of design issues that would conspire to reduce oil flow to the upper parts of the engine leading to failure. However, good maintanence practices and some aftermarket fixes could resolve those issues.
The other problem is that once you get the oiling problems fixed, it was very heavy and not all that performance oriented. I don’t believe that they breathed as well as the SBC. The block also was size-limited, so as displacements creeped up, its days were numbered.
All that said, I sure would like to hear one. I’m sure I heard a lot of them as a kid, but didn’t know enough to pay attention.
“I don’t think they breathed as well as the SBC” Understatement of the Day Award!
If you ever watch “Highway Patrol” reruns from the 50′s you may be able to heat some 50′s classics. I think they use the actual car sound, rather than adding it later.
I watch old episodes on “This TV” which is carried as on the digital expansion channel for my area. You can check their website to see where is carried in your area either over the air or on cable. I watch it just to see and hear the old cars.
Crude ugly poor breathing exhaust manifolde are a Ford speciality of the era between this ,mess and the English hockey stick on the Zephyr Consul they clearly didnt believe in good engine breathing Henry was long dead by the time werent they allowed to learn any new tricksGotta admit a hard working Y block wiyh no mufflers is cool Video?
It also occurs to me that I have never seen one of those 4 spoke steering wheels on one of these Ford trucks. I thought that was a Cornbinder thing. Maybe not.
Probably a carry-over in the first year or two.
I have a 1961 F-350 Dump bed with a 292 like this on and I also have a 1963 F-350 Ford factory stake bed with the 223 in it. They both have the 4 spoke steering wheels in them. I found out today that the 4 spoke came in a few limited model in this year range.
Y block was sort of like a “baby step” for Ford. The V8 that followed and eventually became the K-code 289 was so much better in many ways. (Oops my bias is showing…) Even though my Dad’s Mustang just has the “mid level” 289 (4 barrel carb but not the high compression and agressive cam of the K code) I’m obviously a little partial to the Winsor V8.
Bias towards a 289 is understandable one of the partners in a garage near the street I grew up in bought a 289 Mustang when I was still a kid It was pretty much THE car in town He yanked out the 289 and dropped a 351 in. The 289 went into his business partners MK4 Zodiac to replace the useless Essex V6 one very fast MK4. The 289 and its bretheren are great motors.
As long as that rig has been around, I wouldn’t be suprised to see a GMC V6 under the hood. It was pretty common for fleets to “re-power” their trucks after X mileage.
I have no hate for the Y block, I welcome it. I was afraid there was going to be a pic of yet another Small Chevy under the hood there. That’s a power plant I’m sick of seeing!
Nice to see that someone chucked the “split” rims at some point, it looks like it could go to work tomorrow.
Single-circuit non-power-assist drum brakes on a vehicle weighing, what, close to three tons? We’ve come a long way there.
Paul – did you happen to get a closeup of the control and the pushbutton on the center of the dash, and/or do you know what they are for? 2-speed rear end perhaps? I can’t imagine a service box having a dump bed or anything else which might require a PTO-driven hydraulic pump. I’m guessing that the lever through the floor is for the parking brake (drum on the driveline?).
I’ll have to give the Ford designers props for their valve cover hold-down design however – just look at that engine – no SBC (or BBC, or any pre-1980s Chevy engine for that matter) would dare to be that oil-free!
I didn’t, because this truck was of lesser interest. But I think you’re right about the hand lever being an E-brake, and quite possibly a drum on the driveline, as you suggested. The bigger Ford dump truck I shot the other day had one.
Might this be rigged with trailer brakes of the old vacuum type seem to remember controls like these for them?
The lever in the center of the dash appears to be a micro-lock parking brake, which is basically like a line-lock on a drag car: you hold the brake pedal down, then flip the lever, which closes a check-valve on the brake line so fluid cannot return to the master cylinder, thus keeping the brakes engaged. The push button appears to be just a universal horn button. Quite common for the horn contacts inside the steering column to become brittle and break on these old trucks.
OMG not a carden shaft handbrake on a commercial chassis, have you ever needed one in an emergency Paul? Scary shit with a worn driveline I kid you not all the slop makes it pulls the thing all over the road done this in a Landrover with nearly a ton of glass insulators in the back later thought of punching the 4×4 button but way too busy at the time.
Dashboard says “The demands of the service or the importance of the job are never so great that we cannot take the time to do the job safely.” Found that under a news story of a PG&E worker electrocuted.
I think a lot of the hate comes from the fact that the motor weighs a ton and has a low specific output. The Y-block pinnacle was, of course, the Thunderbird 312. In the late 50′s Ford refined the design into the FE-block, 352-360-390-428, and STILL had a problem with an engine that weighed almost as much as the vehicle it was placed into, with not a ton of horsepower (excepting, of course, the 428). At least they got rid of the front exhaust crossover with the FE motors.
Informative comments to accompany an informative article.
Old Coot Approved ™ posting.
As an aside; glee would have been intensified if the original drive train had been altered by the inclusion of a Mopar hi-po (early) 340 and Torqueflite 727 and cut=to-fit driveshaft etc.
Whatever rear-end would work and hold up to output OR alter rear U-joint or whatever.
Carry on.
The worst thing you can do is repaint a Ford another color. The interior shot shows how clean this truck was. The repaint destroyed the character of vehicle. The 17.5 wheels on this truck are original standard equipment. Split rims in the 60′s were a heavy duty option. This engine was not intended for performance, it is a truck, not a race car. Low speed operation is were the bulk of truck work was done. People have forgotten in this country on how to be frugal with money. Farmers, truck fleets and goverment agencies counted there pennies during this era, a lesson that has been forgotten today ( huge deficiets ).
Hi all, i am restoring a 61 350 w original 223 str8 6. This truck was used in the movie The Chase in 1966. Any one have an idea where to find replacement one piece wheels or what axles would fit for replacing with newer wheels?
I have a 63 f350 and bought a 61 350 dump and got extra wheels that way