Ford’s F-series trucks got their literal start for the 1948 model year with the F-1 being the standard bearer of the line-up and then the F-2, 3, 4, and all the way up to F-8 for the largest ones. The F-2 had a GVWR of 5,700 pounds and was essentially a light-duty 3/4 ton truck, with the F-3 being a heavier duty version of the same but still nominally considered a 3/4 ton. F-2 and F-3 both had the 8-foot bed while the F-1 had a 6.5 foot bed. They were produced through 1952, however the grille was changed significantly for the 1951 model year. I’ll let you walk around it by yourself now while I just quietly wait over here. Take your time.
This looks incredibly solid compared to what is often offered for sale in fields and under trees around here.
I don’t often enough think of trucks in the same chronology as with passenger cars – I had never thought about how this was the first new postwar vehicle from the Ford Motor Company.
Now we need to cue the theme music from Sanford & Son.
The air gauge looks like a factory-made accessory. Air brakes on a pickup? For trailers? Is that an air fitting above the hitch?
Maybe it’s for the dual -tone air horns under the hood. That thing must have sounded like a train.
How long do you think that torque converter’s been on the tray
Or is it an air cleaner?
Anyway, 24 years.
No badging to tell us if it was a V8 or six. I’m going to guess V8, since it’s much more likely someone would pull a V8 instead of the six.
I think that the battery tray is the clue here. V8 versions had theirs on the passenger side. The sixes, like this truck had them on the drivers side.
Obviously when the driver of this truck used their horn they really meant it.
What a great looking classic truck.
As luck would have it, I saw a 49 Ford pickup today. Unfortunately it happened when I was a bit lost and had somewhere to be, so I didn’t stop for a photo. Perhaps next week. It was upfitted as a tow truck, so perhaps an F2, and looked quite intact and in good condition for the age.
These are some of tyhe last model Ford pickups we got in any quatity they are getting rare now in original condition but restorations and hotrod versions abound, repowering them is traditional often with Fordson Major or Super Major diesels there was a kit rumoured to be of US army sourced to do just that, and of course everything else under the sun a friend has LD28 with added turbo diesel and 5 speed in his 49 Bonus Falcon diff and front discs goes ok and very economical
Really nice photos, Mr K. They are, perhaps unavoidably, a bit meditative, wistful. 1948 is a very long time ago now, and this untouched old stager still seems to have something to give as a working machine.
Surely this won’t be crushed after a while? It is need only a bonnet, doors and a tailgate to be a complete body, and as JP noted above, it’s remarkably unrusted.
Thanks, no, this seems to be in a section of this yard where the “vintage” iron sits. It doesn’t seem to get rotated out for the most part, but does sometimes get a new addition to the club. It’s also hemmed in by the imports on one side and Mopars on the other, furthest from the crusher. Prices for parts are higher too although from a purely commercial basis, judging by the (lack of) changes I see when I visit occasionally, the area would be better utilized by replacing these cars with more modern stock. Thankfully for us the owner seems to be happy with the status quo, and is something of a car guy as well.
I’m feeling better about a possible summer project involving a friend’s family heirloom F-2. It a V8 and stored in a shed so no rust but lots of pack rat debris.