To oversimplify, to be said to have “game” is to possess easily recognizable skills or appeal above the average. The context of this informal use of the word is rooted in sports. I am terrible at sports. I played tennis in high school for about five minutes, and even then, my older brother had set precedent with Coach Menzie years before that no Dennis will likely ever be the star of the tennis team. I could run well enough, but I wasn’t committed to being the best at anything that required physical skill. When it came to speed, coordination, or strength, I didn’t have game… and didn’t care.
I did, however, learn to play the piano reasonably well, as well as continuing to take pictures and write creatively into my high school years and beyond. I knew that even if I was never going to be Ansel Adams or Langston Hughes, I had been given the skill of mastery. Give me something to try, and if it interests me enough, and even if I’m not the most intuitively gifted in that area, I am going to work at it until I’m satisfied with what I’m putting out. I’m nothing if not consistent, and I consider my relative predictability to be an asset.
Another area in which I don’t have game is in my gambling skills. This should come as no shock to anyone who is familiar with my risk-averse and somewhat thrifty nature. When my friends and I go to Las Vegas on one of our annual trips during an extended weekend, and as I’ve probably mentioned here before, once my very modest gambling allowance has been spent, that’s it, and I’m done. After I have spent some time hanging out with my friends at the craps table and watching them in action, I’m then off to find what I consider to be the most traditional symbol of Las Vegas gaming that comes to my mind: the slot machines.
I had enjoyed sitting at the bar in many a casino playing video poker, which is where I had won my first-ever Vegas “jackpot” of fifty dollars (at the off-the-Strip Stage Door Casino), but there’s something about the simplicity and ritual of playing a slot machine that makes it so iconic. You feed it a five, pull the lever or hit the buttons, and watch as your residual credits go up or down, as lights flash and synthesized bells jingle before you in a celebratory way. I can do this. I enjoy games of skill, but much of the Las Vegas experience in general, to me, is represented by chance.
This 1960 Ford F-100 definitely had game. Not only was it still running and looking decent fifty years after its manufacture date at the time I photographed it, but it was actually doing work on what was a regular Monday for most people. Not only that, but it was being used for what looked like a business. It’s one thing to use an old vehicle for your own personal use. It’s something else entirely for a business owner’s profitability to hinge in part on said old truck’s reliability.
Hauling old slot machines for repair or repurpose isn’t the same thing as saving lives, but there are a ton of slot machines in that part of Nevada, many of which bring revenue to the businesses at which they are installed. Chances are that if one repairman can’t get to an issue, there are at least three or four other such establishments in Las Vegas that would appreciate the business. This is important work in a city like this.
Ford trucks, in general, have had game for something like four decades, being both the best-selling pickup for forty-four years straight, as well as the best selling vehicle in the United States for thirty-nine years. Recent news stories (and I’ll cite the one from the Wall Street Journal) indicated that GM’s overall truck sales recently passed those of Ford this year. It has previously been discussed and debated here at Curbside about the substantial differences between Chevrolet and GMC trucks. I look at it this way: there may be a set of twins that can do the job as well as one same-aged peer, but I’d rather be the lone individual that does it all by himself. I realize this metaphor doesn’t fit exactly, but this perspective is coming from a writer who grew up in a family in which things and attention often had to be shared with other siblings.
These pictures are now almost exactly five years old, but I would be willing to place a wager that this 1960 F-100 is still on the road doing what it did back on this particular workday. The 1960 model year was the last for the third-generation Ford F-Series pickup, which had been introduced in this iteration for 1956. Over 226,000 F-Series pickups were produced for 1960, of which about half (118,000) were Styleside models like our featured Custom Cab. While there were no external clues that indicated to me that this Ford pickup has been doing this same kind of work since new, it appears to have been utilized as a work truck and not a pampered prize for enough of its life that it shows. In its apparent day-to-day use of hauling gambling games that were past their prime, this old Ford truck demonstrated that it still had game… in spades.
Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
Monday, February 8, 2016.
“These pictures are now almost exactly five years old, but I would be willing to place a wager that this 1960 F-100 is still on the road doing what it did back on this particular workday.”
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for this one, Joseph, and if I see it, I’ll take a picture for you.
Excellent! That would be great to have the five-years-later update on this Ford.
Hey, with a Tommy-Lift installed on the back too, that truck is definitely used for work all the time and with it being painted body color has been that way for some time. I’m not sure if it’s just me but I see far more of the next generation like Paul’s around than of this one. It looks happy and eager in a bright combo two-tone like this.
Like you, I’m no athlete, my most enduring athletic memory is running laps around the field in Mr. Futura’s 7th grade PE class and getting tripped by Jason Bateman, the actor, who was in my class that year. I got up, caught up, and shoved him hard in return and as a result we each had to run a couple more laps. I don’t play music either and stopped gambling some years back although my wife is an avid Texas Hold’Em player whenever she gets the chance…
I immediately thought of the character of Lucille Bluth hysterically running onto the track to ask you to be penalized. That was good for a laugh.
This seems to have customized sides to avoid driveway drag. Or was it a factory option?
In the ’70s the construction company I worked for had two F250 flatbeds. One was a cobbled mix of ’55 and ’56 Ford and Lincoln parts, the other was a purebred ’59 that looked like this one. The mongrel was a stronger and more reliable truck. The ’59 was always failing in various ways.
Stock exhausts on these pickups didn’t ever go all the way to the rear; they exited just past the rear axle to the sides, so “driveway drag” was never going to be an issue. Obviously not that many still have stock exhausts.
The lift gate is obviously what is going to cause “driveway drag”.
I am right there with you on the athletic thing. I had no interest in being athletic as a kid and still don’t.
Every time I look at one of these I think of those early photographs of race cars that had every part of the car leaning forward. Although it surely was the result of crude cameras, it made the car look as though every part was straining for that little bit of extra speed. This truck looks like it is leaning into the wind in the same way.
A number of years ago there was a car dealer in my area that had a smattering of old stuff in the lot. One that I never got in to photograph was a truck much like this, in yellow and white. Now that you have this one handled I will quit thinking about the one I missed. 🙂
I respect athletes, and I won’t lie that there was some part of me that was jealous of that kind of ability. In this country, anyway, it seems to be a ticket to guy-dom to be able to shoot hoops, or whatever. I was fortunate in that I was able to recognize that my other abilities were also great, and that no one in my family put me down because I wasn’t an athlete. Some aren’t as fortunate, I imagine.
You nailed it with the forward-leaning lines of race cars of that era, and other vehicles in general. On this truck, the dog-leg caused by the panoramic windshield, along with those wheel arches, make this truck look like it’s leaning forward.
I like the truck, but I love your story, Joseph. I’m so much not an athlete, although I am fit and active, that I wasn’t even familiar with the term “got game”. I really like the image in the first ad, the one with the rainbow FORD lettering. As was so common, there’s artistic exaggeration in the vehicle proportions, and the low, almost slammed, stance enhances the look in a way that tries hard to emulate a passenger car of the time.
Thank you, Dman. I also like the illustrations in these ads – probably better than I would period photography.
Like the others, I have never been any type of athlete nor am I interested in such things. It seems there was something called a Super Bowl recently. That descriptor makes me think it could be an oversized commode.
This era of Ford pickup has always seemed so scarce; it’s almost easy to forget about them. I would love to get a closer look at this one. The tommy-lift is icing on the cake.
Even where I live, which still has quite a few older pickups on the road, many of them still at work, this generation is rare. But seeing the pictures here reminded me that many of us, certainly me, may have owned one of these Ford’s in our youth – the NyLint or BuddyL stamped steel toy version.
Superbowl as big toilet – Bahahaha!! Too funny. I did enjoy watching parts of it, though, seeing as I lived in Tampa and loved it.
That’s quite a load for an F100, especially with that lift gate on the very end. I assume it has helper or HD rear springs.
Is it possible this is a 250? I can’t tell the badge from this distance.
Joseph’s images aren’t full size (1200 pixels), so I can’t either. I assumed the F250 would have different hub caps to cover the full-floating rear axles, but in a brochure rendering, it shows them with similar-looking hubcaps. Could be.
Would all the 250s of that vintage have been full-floating? I thought that since the GVWRs of a lot of those older 3/4 tons hovered around 7500 lbs., they would’ve been able to get away with semi-floating, like on the ’80s and ’90s light-duty 3/4 tons that had similar ratings.
Good question. That seemed to change depending on make and generation. Later (slickside) F250s all seem to have the full floaters.
Ford didn’t do the semi floating axles in the 250s until the 80’s.
Here’s a closeup of the hood with the F-100 badge, though is it possible that the hood could be a replacement? And I’ll try to go with 1200 pixel edits moving forward.
I normally don’t pre-edit my shots before uploading. They’re automatically reduced to 1200 during the upload, which is the optimum size, and allows for a nice big picture when clicked-on. But if you want to pre-size, yes, use 1200 rather than 800. We all want to see your pictures in their full glory! 🙂
I’m wondering if it’s a 60. I am no expert so I’ll just tell you why I question it. The size of the rear window looks small compared to the ads. I owned a 58 and if memory serves they had the smallest rear window of this vintage. The back window of this truck looks like my 58.
Did the rear window change between years, other than the wraparound and non-wraparound styles?
The company still has the truck right there on its website, so I’ll guess it’s still in service. I sent them a note asking for any details—I’ll report back if I get a reply: https://slot-machine-repair.business.site
George, this is terrific! Thank you!
You’re most welcome, Joseph Dennis. Especially ’cause I’m a Ford Guy, I took your neato story today as a challenge to find the slots-repair company in question. Blowing up your image didn’t really help read the lettering on the truck, so I just skimmed all the repair firms there in LV—and hit paydirt eventually. I haven’t heard back from the company, but if anything comes back to me I’ll share it right here. Who knows, they might think it very cool that some Car People took notice….
Okay, one more picture at affordableslotmachinerepair.com.
Maybe the business renamed itself, or something like that?
Anyway, door lettering is different—maybe this is an older photo before a repaint or something?
I can’t be certain this is the same truck, but it sure looks like it…..
George, thanks again for this! My thought is that this must be the same truck and company. Even if the name and lettering on the door is slightly different, the layout is the same. Companies reorganize / rename all the time. So cool to see this truck again here! What a great calling card.
So handsome and modern for a mid ’50s design – my favorite generation of all Ford trucks (sorry, Paul)….
I also like the looks of it. I really had trouble on the internet identifying the model year, but it came down to the windshield and the arrow-shaped “F-100” callouts on the side of the hood.
Cool that the colors of the featured truck reflect the adverts, too. Always love your articles, Joseph – the way you expand beyond the vehicle itself is always very creative!
Old trucks are simple and easy to work on. At this age there’s no worry of smog checks. They can make great vintage hobby vehicles, though the lack of creature comforts and modern safety features can be a concern to some. When I had my ’66 F250 I would get a constant stream of positive comments at gas stops. It was useful for a lot of home improvement projects. I’ve been really happy with my ’07 F150, it’s really comfortable and I’ve driven it over the West. I couldn’t imagine not having a truck.
Grew up thinking that the forward slant of antique racer’s wire wheels was drawn into the illustrations in kid’s book to exaggerate the sense of speed.
Somewhere (YouTube?) I saw a film of that era’s race cars and now I’d guess it was actual distortion of the wire wheels by impact force of torque.
Or am I just plain wrong? Ideas, anyone?
I might be wrong, but I think the distortion is from old photos taken with cameras using a focal plane shutter. If the car is moving fast enough and the shutter is slow enough then as the slit of the shutter moves over the film the image will be changing. If it scans from the bottom of the image then the bottom of the wheel will be captured earlier than the top, so the wheel will appear to be “leaning” forward.
Interesting to note then the 1957-60 Ford F-series soldiered in Brazil to the early 1970s.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970_or_71_Ford_F-100_Brazil.jpg
Roger628 posted also some photos of these Brazilians F-100 on that article. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-sighting-argentinian-ford-three-door-suburban/
I love the second life many designs had lived in Brazil (often in altered form) after their original run somewhere else. Thanks for linking these.
I too am of the type whose skills are commensurate with his interest in ideas such as having whole teams of sentient beings fiercely wrestling with an inanimate piece of inflated leather simply in order to deliver it at one end or the other of a nice field, or running along a perfectly good track full tilt when some fool has put small fences at regular intervals across it, or deliberately testing one’s bladder and other parts by heaving weights off the floor only to replace them there without having done anything with them. (I too diverge from the family way here, whose natural skills – perhaps they all got mine first – meant the greatest danger they all faced on any athletic enterprise was an excess showering of trophies and medals every time they went on the field, though I did once win a cloth badge: runners up in basketball in Grade 6, which was pleasing to me as I was a reserve and sat unused on the bench watching on in nervous bewilderment, but I am digressing).
The eager windscreen pillars on these old Fords always made me think the driver had to sit at that angle too, which could convey youthful enthusiasm to be on with life but more often seemed to encase an aged curmudgeon whose bend forward was more from a work-weathered backbone and fading eyesight.
An award is an award, Justy Baum, so like you, I would have been really pleased with that 6th grade ribbon for basketball. That is actually one sport I would have wanted to excel in.
I could see making the assumption that a driver would be hunched over the steering wheel, parallel to the leading edge of the wraparound windshield. That totally makes sense to me.
Like you Joseph, I never was much interested in athletic pursuits. If I’m going to sweat, I want to be paid for it (except for hiking)… Pretty impressive seeing this truck still at (hard) work. I also tend to only play the slots since the table minimums in the CT casinos are to rich for me. I don’t enjoy the slots as much since they did away with actual coins… it’s just not the same without the visceral thrill of seeing and hearing the coins pour out.
Mike, it’s funny you mention coins and their sounds. I’ve been watching both the original series Vega$ on DVD, as well as other Las Vegas-themed movies, lately. When I see someone hit a slot machine jackpot and a ton of coins spill out, it makes me wish I would have been able to experience that. But a win is a win, and I only play for fun until my “allowance” runs out. Haha