(submitted by John P) Every winter we have a winter camp out. This year it is in Carlisle, Illinois. The local Boy Scouts’ camp has an old F350. Not sure the year. But it does have some great patina on it. Clearly not roadworthy, and it’s missing a couple of things… but it is used in the yard for brush clearing, etc., and judging by the hydraulic cylinder, the dump bed still works.
I especially like the rear wheels. Duallies one side and single on the other.
“Make it work!”
Sure looks good for a 50 year old vehicle from Illinois. So, is it missing a wheel from one side or is there another reason for three wheels on the back? I wonder if they have a shop to change oil and replace tires?
I would imagine for a truck like this, one that likely never leaves the property, the oil is good so long as there’s some in the crankcase and tires aren’t bad until they no longer hold air.
Actually it is missing two of the original dually (high offset) style wheels that were replaced by a standard (no offset) single wheel. So my guess it that a tire finally gave out and they through on what they had laying around.
I see a pattern here…
-.dual wheels on one side, single on the other
– solitary headlight, with other MIA
– west coast mirror on one side, more conventional smaller style on other
If you pop the hood, will it be a V7 (V8 on the driver’s side, V6 on the passenger) ?
Good observations.
Sounds like Johnny Cash’s “One Piece at a Time”.
Most every BSA camp truck I experienced in the ’70’s was not remotely roadworthy. They got the job done, regardless.
I never realized “camp trucks” were a thing, but evidently they were and not just in Boy Scouts. I went to a day camp as a kid called Green Acres in suburban Maryland in the early 1970s, and they had this decrepit 1950s school bus I never saw transporting campers like the other, newer buses they had. It just sat on the campgrounds rusting away, with many broken windows, the interior in shambles with many seats missing. I assumed they kept it for spare parts, or just because they didn’t get around to hauling it away. But then one day I saw it carrying things across their site, essentially used as a moving van. Don’t remember if it even had tags, but I doubt it ever left the campgrounds anyway.
Runs and drives PTO still lifts the deck its all good.
When they get to this point, they seem to enter a state of limbo and will continue on for another decade, virtually unchanged.
Stage 8, maybe?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/stories/cc-deep-thoughts-seven-stages-of-the-car-life-cycle-showroom-to-clunker-to-scrap-metal/
That F-350 looks like it’s led a hard life, and serving its final years as a camp truck is the equivalent of retiring to Florida with a part-time/casual gig for beer money. A great old character, likely with some fine stories attached to it.
This must have spent little time on salted roads as the front lacks the “Ford bend” caused by the front cab mounts drooping from rust, causing an angle between the front fenders and the cowl where a straight line should be.
I am reminded of another “camp truck” – in the early 70s we visited some relatives in Minnesota who either owned or ran a lake resort there. Their “garbage truck” was an ancient Dodge from a few years either side of WWII. They couldn’t believe that I would be interested in it. It was in a condition similar to this one.
During my Bachelors I worked as a student worker in the college Facilities Management Dept. They had an old dump truck that would get to the landfill under it’s own power but did have a few issues with reverse and at least one of the fwd gears. They would send a second truck with a winch on it to help the dump get up and down hills at the landfill depending on where they were instructed to drop their load.
I have driven a similar farm truck spreading droppings (fantastic fertilizer) from four quarter-mile long chicken houses. Its a matter of “climbing over the fender” to drop another quart of oil in the crankcase every six weeks when the house are cleared of droppings and spread among the fields to grow hay. The brakes are non-existent and the clutch is just about shot. Yet, it works!!
It’s either a 68 or 69 per the grill, doors, and side markers on the hood. I’m leaning toward 69 based on the grill. Ole girl has lived a full life!
Our old Caravan is now a camp van.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2007-dodge-caravan-always-there-always-back/
I don’t think it’ll get to the same stage this truck is at. What a great story this guy could tell.