How many 60 year-old cars and trucks are still being used as regular working vehicles, doing what they were designed to do when new? I bought my ’66 F100 39 years ago (for $500) for the express purpose of hauling stuff. But its working life didn’t really start until it was already 30 years old when I started renovating and building houses. It’s hauled everything: gravel, lumber, drywall, roofing, windows and appliances, as well as loads of junk to the dump and even more loads of soil and compost for our gardens.
And it’s still hauling; I’ve used it quite a bit these past weeks. It will retire when I retire: hopefully none too soon.
I bought it initially for two reasons: to haul compost and straw to our one acre property in Los Gatos and haul tree trimmings and yard waste from it as well as to satisfy an itch to have an old truck and pretend I was a rancher or farmer instead of a tv executive. A guy can dream, right? And beds are made for dreaming.
I got the opportunity to pursue my dream when my job ended in 1993 and I decided I was done with wearing suits and being stuck inside. So we sold our place in Los Gatos and headed to Eugene, having no idea what I would do there. The first step was getting there; I bought a cheap used trailer frame intended to haul a couple of jet skis or such and turned it into cargo hauler. Here the two are getting loaded up for one of several 1100 mile round trips it made up I5 when we were moving from Los Gatos to Eugene. That had a few hairy moments, in rush hour traffic in the Bay Area and when the original three speed transmission kept popping out of 2nd gear on the steep descent on the Siskiyou Pass. In both cases, those little passenger-car sized drum brakes showed their significant weakness. But we made it without any serious incidents, and several times at that.
I’d always had an itch to build things, so I scratched it big time when I became partners with a carpenter that I met at my kids’ school. We built two very nice new houses designed by architects and lots of nice energy-efficient and environmentally-responsible features on some lots on our block, and my truck hauled a lot of the materials for them. We didn’t make any money from them, as the market then just wouldn’t reward these more expensive features on a spec house.
I had bought some empty lots (dirt cheap back then) and when the university needed to get rid of some eight houses (or be torn down), thanks to my neighbor who was a house mover, I ended up with them all, having just the right number of lots. This turned into a huge multi-year project; the houses arrived in 1997 and I didn’t finish the last one (above) until like 2003 or so, having done the great majority of the work myself. The full story of that is documented here.
Over the years here at CC I’ve documented my use of the truck numerous times, including typical overloading like this pallet of fresh moist sod weighing some 3,000 – 3,600 lbs, or about 2,200 lbs over my truck’s 1200 lb nominal load rating.
It’s hauled untold numbers of loads of gravel; a yard of 3/4 minus also weighs some 3,400 lbs. when soaking wet. The rear suspension is reduced to the rubber bump stops. And the front end rides high and the steering is very light at speed. I also used to haul a Bobcat and trailer weighing roughly 7500lbs; I had to be extremely careful driving with that, especially making sure I didn’t have to stop on an upgrade as the lack of a “granny” low gear meant I would likely not have ever gotten under way again. I stopped doing quite a while back; my Promaster van is much more capable at that task.
I could go on and on, but I’ve documented this (so far) endless story in greater detail here in 2017, when I had been using it for 30 years. So rather than repeat all of that, let’s just take a quick look at the state of my truck at age 60.
Given that it’s lived 58 year of its life outside (I finally built a cover for it two years ago), it’s obviously aged some. It had been repainted before I got it; the original yellow on these is quite light.
A couple of years back I did pay someone to weld in some patches on the roof just above the door where condensation that forms on the inside of the ceiling runs down and gets trapped. That summer of 2020 I also undertook some other long-neglected work, including new front suspension bushings, shocks, a new heater core, and fixing the turn signals.
I also had some new floor pans welded in at that time too. What mostly caused them to rust is that water got trapped under the rubber floor mats. I put in a new rubber floor mat afterwards; it almost fit properly.
The knob on the floor at the corner of the shifter trim surround is what enables the Borg Warner overdrive, as this truck did not originally come with that. I just leave it enabled pretty much all the time unless I was to be coming down a long grade with a load in second or third direct, which would mean that freewheeling was in effect, and thus no engine braking. My OD unit is set up to operate manually, with a little switch hanging off the bottom of the dash on the other side of the steering column.
Since we’ve opened the door, let’s take a quick look around. The inside of the doors and the dash show the shade of light yellow that was original.
The odometer now shows 39358 miles. When I got it, it showed 88xxx miles, and I know it had turned over once already, so it’s got 239,358 miles under its belt. And I’ve added some 51,000 of those miles; obviously it doesn’t get driven that much, but those have been hard miles.
The collection of toys riding on the dash were all found at my rentals, left behind from kids in the yard or a corner of the closet or even under a deck when I rebuilt it.
They’re mementos of the many folks that have lived in my 14 rental units over these past few decades. I have a fond memory attached to each one. And the white VW reminds me of my two white VWs. I’ve had really great luck with my tenants; they’ve mostly been great, especially in recent years. I’ve only had one eviction early on, and that was my fault: I was tired and in a rush. I’ve learned to be good judge of character and no, I don’t use a rental manager. I want to know my tenants, and for them to know me. That’s worked out really well.
The “cardboard” ceiling rotted away ages ago, as did the sun visors, which are now indestructible plywood. Ah, I see there’s still a bit of that cardboard on the B pillar.
I’m impressed that the tailgate still works, given how hard it’s life has been. That homemade bumper came with the truck; it’s a bit hard to believe, but rear bumpers on pickups used to be options. This one clearly didn’t come with one so someone welded this up. It is very sturdy; watch your shins around it though.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the gauge of steel used in pickup bed floors has gotten thinner, as I’ve seen some that hauled gravel and such and are quite deformed. Having a front end loader dump a yard of rock into a bed is a test of that, and this one has stood up well.
But I was a bit dismayed about a year ago when I noticed several rust holes in the front of the bed just behind the cab. I tried to keep the truck pointed slightly downhill in the rear to keep the winter rains draining out, but I guess it wasn’t enough. It’s a bit odd, as they are mostly all in a line a couple of inches from the very front of the bed. I really should learn how to weld.
Let’s take a look at the other business end of the truck. The 240 cubic inch “Big Six” was rated at 150 gross hp and a pretty stout 129 net hp, as much or more than a number of smaller V8s in the 1980s. I have reason to believe that this is not the original engine as the oil sump is “backwards”, as used in the Econoline vans. Given that the truck had at least 188k miles when I got it, that’s not too surprising. But it still runs as strong now as it did when I got it 39 years ago. The only significant repair was replacing the weak broken fiber cam drive gear set; I replaced it with a HD steel unit, but the straight cut gears are still howling like a blower ten years later. I regret that now. The distributor drive pin broke once, and I replaced the water pump and alternator in the dim past, as well as the radiator. But otherwise it’s been just some very minimal maintenance.
The Borg Warner T-87 transmission did fail five years ago. I drove to legendary Jerry Turner’s Auto Wreckers in Fresno, CA to buy a used one. That turned out to be noisy, but my visit with then-93 year old Jerry and visit his amazing yard was well worth the trip.
In 2021 I heard about a semi-retired transmission guy (Gary Grimes) out in the country who rebuilt the unit for $700, including installation. A deal, and it’s been great ever since. I’m so happy to have found him.
This truck has outlived my younger son Will, who used to love riding in it as well as his dog Lil’ Man, who we had to adopt since Will couldn’t take care of him properly. He used to love riding in it to the dump and the yard supply place as he knew there would be a treat. Well, and presumably because he just liked to ride along with me. So there’s a lot of memories and emotions tied up in this old heap.
Wanda has taken over that role, so there’s more memories and emotions still being added to that rusty cab.
I’ve always said that this old truck and I are in it for the long haul, to see who will expire first. But I already know the answer to that.
More CC posts on my truck:
Truck Of A Lifetime: 1966 Ford F-100 – Thirty (Six) Years of Hauling Shit, Cheaply
Auto-Biography: Moving On, To Moving Houses
Auto-Biography: The F100’s Transmission Is As Good As New Again
Youtube video of “No Clutch Shifting Mt ’66 F100 With Overdrive”
The Official Truck of Curbside Classic! – Happy Birthday, indeed.
Thanks for the update on this legendary vehicle.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who celebrates cars’ birthdays. My cars usually get a “Feast of [car’s] birthday,” which is an excuse to eat out, especially in the winter months when everything’s blah. Because of that, the Dart’s February 8th birthday gets celebrated the most.
Happy Birthday to your trusty steed! Always enjoyable to see updates on the ‘ol Ford!
Hey Paul, Sorry to hear about your son. That’s got to be the worst thing a parent can experience.
I made a phone call to Jerry Turner about 5 years ago looking for an early A-body Barracuda 4-speed with the flange. It’s probably time I called back to see if he found one. That is, if he’s still alive.
There’s a dozen or more questions I have regarding esoteric things like:
The speedometer – is it a Ford truck design, or was it a part of the Ford parts bin, used in other vehicles?
The original colors: Springtime Yellow with white trim? On a truck? What a 180 from today. Today’s Bronco has a retro combination like that, but why and how did it become retro at all? I suppose it’s reflective of auto trends, but whatever happened to cheerful vehicle colors? We need them.
My 1972 HiLux also had a dealer installed rear bumper. What was with that?
My 25 year old truck looks rust free, except the frame is struggling. Did your Ford have a better frame, how’s it holding up? Did the demand of weight saving create this?
Marvelous truck all around. I’ve enjoyed all your postings on it. It’s very special to many of us! Thank you for sharing.
The speedometer was used in lots of Ford trucks, from the F100 to the biggest ones they made. There were two versions: this one with the auxiliary gauges and another where the auxiliaries were in a separate round cluster to the left. That came with the Custom Cab option. The tach is an aftermarket Sun that I installed and happened to be the right size.
No white trim on this base version. There would have been white trim on the Custom Cab version.
The frames on these are quite thick gauge and very sturdy. I’ve not heard of them rusting out, unlike the cabs and beds. It has surface rust but is rock solid.
Thanks!
I had the opportunity to ride in this truck just last week. It was an honor. And it brought back great memories of my own brief time driving a slightly newer six cylinder F100 for a summer job in 1975, with 3 on the tree and no AC. But it did have an AM radio. That truck too was constantly overloaded and used hard. There’s no question that Paul’s truck is loud, with no insulation, and a lot of wind noise whether due to leaky window seals and shift boot, as well as from using 2-60 ventilation. But I was also impressed by how smooth the big six felt from a passenger’s perspective. And with just the two of us in the cab, no load in the bed, it had plenty of get-up-and-go.
I really enjoyed reading about your old yellow Ford truck, your life and your adventures together, all sorts of little details… fantastic! Thank you for sharing
Congratulations, your old yellow truck is like an old friend to many of us even though we’ve never seen it in person.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve said “Well, I know a guy in Oregon who still uses a 66 Ford pickup because of the low bed height” to someone complaining about their newer truck.
May you both have many more years and miles.
I see the potential for a very interesting auto-biography/biography in the future.
“Travels with Old Yellow”.
Great truck and from what I have read a great life so far all and all despite some difficulties.
Congratulations.
Happy birthday to your truck!
And greetings from another Ford truck half its age. We inherited my in-laws’ 1997 F-150 last year, which is now our family’s third vehicle. Although our other vehicles are newer and have more “stuff,” the truck quickly became everyone’s favorite. My daughter has sort of taken it over… I think she likes to pretend she’s a rancher or farmer instead of a high school student!
What a great old truck – still doing truck things on it’s 60th birthday!
My daily driver is still doing car things at 55 years old – any other CCers using ancient vehicles regularly and not just as weekend/show rides?
Happy birthday, Curbside truck! It is refreshing to see a truck actually doing work.
I started diving (legally) in 1980. How many sixty year old cars were on the road then? That would place 1920 models on the streets. It just goes to show how far we have come in some ways and some in not.
I consider this generation of vehicle peak stage one of auto development. The car makers had figured out how to make a decent, relatively safe vehicles using purely mechanical methods. I wonder how many of today’s cars will be on the road in sixty years. I won’t be around to find out.
I’ve had the same thoughts – the “old” cars of my youth were probably 25-30 years old then and seemed positively ancient to me. My first car – a “classic” back then – was 12 years old when I bought it as a rusty/non running safety inspection failure. Now the average age of cars on the road is about that and even an early 2000s vehicle doesen’t look really old.
It is surprising how usable cars of the 60s on are – you can add carplay, backup cameras and other modern features quite easily and cheaply. Vintage Air makes great climate control systems and power steering upgrades can also be done if desired.
What has made huge strides is active and passive safety as well as emissions technology – I think late ’90s/early 21st century vehicles that incorporate these without too many complicated electronics may be a real sweet spot as far as older vehicles go.
I’ve often thought in terms of relative time as well. This truck, if purchased at age 21 today, would be a 2005 F-150. Based on my marketplace scrolling, thinking gee I need a truck again, these do seem to have hit the bottom of the depreciation curve about now. I’m just not sure like you that they might still be on the road in 2065.
At the time this truck was purchased, I recall 50s cars being a thing at shows & such. They were really 30 years old then. Nowadays, that would be a 90s truck & yes those do seem to have hit peak value for anything in good condition. Perhaps I need to buy a new one now & hold on to it past the bottom of the depreciation curve…
Congrats on the official CC truck making it to age 60! This shows with proper care, a benign climate (much less risk of rusting), and even some abuse (the overloading), a vehicle with a robust design can go right on serving essentially indefinitely.
I hope to do the same with my truck and bike, which are 28 and 35 years old respectively, although I likely won’t be around to see them reach this milestone.
Happy Birthday, CC truck!
Thanks for all those photos. You’ve shown me everything I need to make a model of it! However I’ve been online to check, and it looks like I’d need to do a mix-and-match of three kits, none of which I have at the moment. But they come with the Custom Cab trim, which I’d have to remove, And it still wouldn’t have the overdrive. And I’d need to source a few odd bits and pieces from who knows where.
Good to know the paint’s not original; I won’t have to waste time looking up factory colours, though I mightn’t be able to match it (your interior yellow is no problem though).
Will he do it? Hmm, lemme think about that….
I ordered a new Chevy pickup in 1993, rear bumper, and spare tire, were still optional.
When one compares the dimensions of this truck with a current model and then considers the cost and relative utilities of both, the conclusion that today’s buyers are inept is compelling. If someone were to give Paul a new F150, I would wager that he would sell it and keep using what he has. Right, Paul?
Right.
Its great to see a 1966 Ford still on the road and in daily use! My favorite truck ever. I was lucky enough to have three of them but too stupid to appreciate them at the time.
When I started driving legally in the summer of 1976, Dad presented me with my first vehicle – a 1966 F250. It had been the “shop” truck for the family business. He had bought it new and it had done it’s job well. By that point it had over 200,000 miles on it, was on it’s third or fourth engine, didn’t have a straight piece of sheet metal left on it, and was a bucket of rust. It was geared super deep, and combined with the worn out engine having hardly any compression left, it would do about 50 mph tops. Dad figured I probably couldn’t get into trouble with it and I sure couldn’t hurt it. I drove it for the summer and then to school and work afterwards. As the fall wore on, it became increasingly hard to steer. The front body mounts had rusted out to the point the sagging cab was pinching the steering column.
Dad and I went to the annual Ohio Department of Transportation auction and I ended up with a 1966 F100 short bed Styleside. Paid $425 for it. It had a little over 100,000 miles and some rust. But it ran great with the 240 six along with a three on the tree. It was the usual State Highway bright yellow. About a year later one of the Econoline vans in the company fleet needed it’s six cylinder engine replaced. There was a spare 302 V8 sitting around in the shop so I talked my father into putting the V8 in my pickup and then the six into the van. It would really get up and go after that!
One of our employees had a “loaded” 1966 F250 with the Custom Cab and the Camper Special package. It had power steering and brakes too. He had put a 390 V8 in it, ahead of the factory automatic. It was pretty well rusted out but still ran good. I bought it with the intention of putting the drivetrain and the interior into my F100.
Well, that never got done. As it became typical with me, I lost interest and sold the Fords after buying a 1972 International pickup. But that is a story for another day.
A beauty. It’s wonderful to see this old pickup running and working. I hope I age as well.
Happy birthday to your truck. It deserves a big yellow banana as a present.
I still love your truck! I can still hear/feel the sensations you experience by remembering those in my long-ago 63 F-100. I should have kept that one.
Congratulations, Paul and truck! That’s a great milestone, and I love that you both are still in regular use. There are occasional days I long for my old ’69, but only for a moment. I decided to build a scale version of it, and had to combine two kits to get a longbed with the 240 six.
My ’50 Ford 8N turned 75 last year, and this Autumn marks 25 years of my ownership. Over the winter, I treated it to a new ‘restoration quality’ radiator, cloth-wrapped wiring harness, front axle bushing and a set of correct Tract-O-lite headlights and work light. She should be good to go for another decade or more.
Happy Birthday @ ‘Mellow Yellow’. This truck should have its own website, ‘Things I’ve Carried’ 😅
A remarkable run! May it last another couple decades at least.
A damn fine looking machine. Long may it last
What a heart felt paean to a fine old truck Paul .
I’ve had several older trucks I used as shop trucks, all were basic like this one and served well .
Your Pug is beautiful, I have one now too .
-Nate