We’ve been in Port Orford this week and I decided to actually pull out my phone and shoot a few more of the natives. As in any small (tiny) PNW town, the place is crawling with CCs; if you only drive 0.3 miles to Ray’s supermarket three times a week and 4 miles to the Wednesday night bingo game at the Sixes Grange, your venerable 20 or 30 or 40 year old vehicle just isn’t going to rack up a lot of miles. And with the nearest car dealer over an hour away, temptation is a bit unlikely to come your way. Well, that and the reality of low wages (if any) in a sleepy coastal hamlet like PO.
So the old beaters just keep on rolling along. But when something does impair their forward motion, there’s always the Monty’s Garage ’73 F600 tow truck to come to the rescue. If it’ll start up, that is.
I’m not really sure of the exact year of this old Ford; the “dentside” came along in 1973, so let’s just go with that. As to the rust, well, this is what happens when you spend 50 some years hanging out at the beach: Skin cancer for humans; rust for cars. Actually the 1,195 good citizens of PO are probably not at very high risk for skin cancer, as there’s that all-too common fog, and if it is sunny, the chilly north wind in the summer is probably whipping up the sand on the beach. So being sandblasted is actually a greater risk. Maybe they should drive this rig down on the beach on a June afternoon, to blast all that rust away?
Sea air rust is a whole different animal than the Rust Belt stuff. It works its way in from the outside. It’s always interesting to see how certain body panels are more susceptible than others.
Remember this name if your car breaks down in PO.
A very familiar place; to me, anyway. There’s the usual 5-speed behind a hard-working Ford V8. That would be an FE of some sort; a 360 quite likely. I’m too relaxed to look it up right now; just got back from a long hike. Actually, I’m just channeling the laid-back vibe here. As they say here: “Curry No Hurry” (Curry being the name of the county that covers the Southern Oregon coast).
Is that chain rusted solid yet?
Here’s the working end as well as this post’s end.
It’s nice to see this one—at least a half century old—still working away. Paul, I’ve been a Rust Belt resident most of my life (though my Idaho-years vehicles were revelatory!), so **everything** about automotive salt-air corrosion I learn here at CC is enlightening….thanks!
Nice truck. But let’s cut to the chase – how are you and Stephanie enjoying the Wednesday night bingo? 😀
Haven’t quite worked ourselves up to that yet. 🙂
But we tripped the light fantastic at Ed’s last night, where there was a quite good live trio that did a lot of Cream, Hendrix and other classic rock suitable for a trio. The bass player is a friend of ours; he’s an architect and builder. We’re discussing dividing off some ocean view lots on our property and building some smallish houses on them. They have a pretty steep drop off, so they will likely require some interesting engineering. And a rainwater harvesting system, as PO has had a moratorium on new city water hookups for three years and there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon.
Ed’s has a lot of live music; there’s a lively music scene down here.
And the cast of local characters there; two of whom were hammered, made for some good entertainment too. Small town life…
Nice old truck, doesn’t look too far gone yet .
In you youth we had a 1948 Dodge medium duty tow truck, the hoist was hand cranked .
Later we had a 1955 Chevy that I still miss dearly .
-Nate
Paul, nice to see to rust on the outside of a rig, adds to the aesthetic. On the other hand, I spent more than an hour underneath my Aztek scrapping and coating a few select spots with Rustoleum Rusty Metal brush paint. It’s first life in Michigan for 20 years wasn’t kind to it.
Cool how the truck color matches the garage.
On the complimentary colour wheel, bright orange (rust on the truck) and bright blue (paint colour), are opposite each other. Meaning, they are highly complimentary, visually. Go great together.
I’d agree with that.
An ancient working wrecker like this, would be kept in pristine condition, in my neck of the woods. A vintage tow truck would be seen as an antique, worth lavishing attention, and money, into restoration. Different, here in a city. Where it would be treated as a great promotional vehicle. Whereas in a rural village, where time stands still, it is part of the fabric.
Sea air rust is more insidious than rust belt rust. In the rust belt you know it is coming because it is a known part of life to rust up. Near the coast vehicles tend to rust down. I have seen countless vehicles along Mission Beach and Pacific Beach in San Diego, along with Ocean Beach in San Francisco, show this rust. I recall a truck on Balboa, the Outer Richmond in S.F., and it looked shot full of holes top to bottom. Amazed it hadn’t just fallen apart yet. Oh, and it was a Chevy.
One day it is raining and you have a leak over your feet. Inside of the cowl. Who knew? Another day you see holes pop out at the base of the A and B pillar. Soon the cowl rust and A pillar rust meet up. Then there is the roof seam where the original caulk has shrunk a little and now holes appear there. The lower quarters did better in these places being few trees. Now along the Monterey Coast trees would add debris that blocks the drains so that the quarters would start to show rust.
I’ve always regularly washed my cars top to bottom, and underneath, to remove environmental fallout. Plus, regularly wax the paint, and exterior trim. I live in Ontario (Canada), where road salt is the annual demon. Have never had rust surprises. Nor have I needed oil-type sprays. Severe rust takes months, and years, to develop. Aided significantly, by neglect.
Neglect is the operative word. I wash my two daily cars every week. Been doing that since 1970. Only exception is a rainy weekend. However, I don’t deal with snow which would make it hard.
Just thinking, given all the cars I dealt with from parents, to wife, to all mine, I probably have washed cars in excess of 6500 times. I started with my parents when 12. I am definitely OCD when it comes to riding in a dirty car.
Your cars are beautifully maintained. Thank you for sharing them here.
Always a treat, to see your work.
Every owner’s manual I have encountered, included recommendations to wash and wax regularly. Simple insurance, and common sense, If folks want their car to last decades. An integral part of the maintenance regime. Especially, in a geographical region, where rust is a threat.
Notice that these wide-beam-axle mediums didn’t have the revised “dentside” dash with square gauges. Ford did that with the succeeding generation cab too, the F600 and up had the 1980-style dash for 20 years despite pickups getting new dashes in 1987 and again in 1992.
GM did the same thing with the GMT400-based mediums, right up to 2003 they had the 1988 pickup dash while pickups’ had been redesigned in 1995-96.
Still a handsome truck. These were everywhere in the 70s
For Americans and Canadians, I’d suggest UHaul was the highest profile user of the F600. To add to your comment, these as UHaul trucks, were everywhere!
(Off-topic, but I loved those M-Body LeBarons in triple grey. As small domestic faux luxury cars went, less ostentatious than the Lincoln Versailles, or Cadillac Seville.)
What it is with missing interior door panels in Oregon!?! But that missing panel shows that this one started life painted something like Forest Service green. It looks like the outside got painted by the same people who did the building, and the white on the inside was very likely spray cans to cover the green, that would not go nearly so well with the blue as the exterior rust does.
It has been awhile since I have seen a tow truck with such spindly hardware out back. I wonder if this one had the wrecker body added later or if it came that way from new. But I guess trucks like this one got the job done for a long time.
Small town quirky vehicles and the stories we tell on their behalf are some of the best. Port Orford and this wrecker instantly remind me of Fleischman’s 77 Chevy C-10 Bonanza from Northern Exposure. A 90s TV show set in Cicely, AK. but filmed in Roslyn, WA. and written in a funny way similar to Paul’s style.