My wife and I have been taking our daughter to the state fair since she was a toddler. She is now significantly older meaning we’ve been attending for quite a while. We did miss a year or two in there somewhere but overall it’s one of the few traditions we non-tradition holding three possess.
Seeing this old Ford F-600 still doing its thing has become a personal tradition within a family tradition. Despite taking a picture or two of her every year, this old girl is finally getting her much deserved moment in the virtual sunshine.
For anyone who has never attended their state fair, they owe it to themselves to attend at least once. While the knee-jerk reaction might be to think it’s all about farming, livestock, and other related agricultural activities, that only covers part of it from my experiences. You want to learn the latest methods to efficiently build, insulate, and heat your home? Go to the state fair. You want to know the most recent developments and leisure activities at state parks or how to fillet the very bony asian carp that have invaded numerous waterways? Go to the state fair. You want to see some talented musical acts, all available in a relatively small location and often for free? Go to the state fair.
One of the reasons we went to the state fair again this year is seen here. Our daughter gave a demonstration at the 4H building about how bruises are created by filmmakers. This picture is of a woman’s finger my daughter made to appear bruised. The woman breeds rabbits for commercial sale and was showing rabbits in the rabbit house. Unfortunately, people kept trying to pet these caged rabbits. She said the rabbits don’t like it and will bite. My daughter gave her this “bruise” so the woman could fib to people about it being a rabbit bite and hopefully discourage the bad behavior of visitors.
This simply illustrates you never know what can be found at the fair. But a guaranteed sighting at the Missouri State Fair is this Ford F-600.
The first Missouri State Fair was held in 1901. Two years prior a gentleman named N. H. Gentry had persuaded the Missouri Swine Producers Association to lobby the General Assembly for establishment of a state fair. An auction of sorts was held so various cities could bid on the amount of land they would donate to the cause. The winning bidder was the City of Sedalia with 150 acres ponied up for the effort. Located sixty miles due west of the state capital, the fair is still being held on the same parcel of land.
Ford introduced their fifth generation F-Series trucks in 1967 and the last year of this generation was 1979. In 1968 the option of a Caterpillar diesel was made available although the model names received an extra digit at the end to denote the diesel, such that the F-600 became the F-6000. Being an F-600 this example is gas powered. Having seen it drive around many times over the years, there is no doubt it has a gasoline powered engine.
The cabs of the F-600 and other medium duty Fords were shared with the lighter duty F-100 series trucks. Fenders were revised for the medium duty trucks to allow for different axle configurations.
Physical changes to these trucks were quite infrequent, with the first being for 1973 when the headlight surrounds grew in size and the font used on the letters to spell “Ford” above the grille was changed. Our particular example has the smaller headlight surrounds as found in the 1967 models, so this truck is at newest a 1972 model.
Supposing this is a 1967 model, it has been around for fifty-two of the state fair’s 118 years, meaning it’s been here for over 44% of the time the fair has been in existence. That is stamina.
As a water truck used to suppress dust, this truck covers the fairgrounds continuously during the fair as well as for various events held at the fairgrounds throughout the year. It’s highly doubtful this truck is sitting for any extended period of time other than the winter.
In its tenure, this truck has seen a tremendous amount. It has been in service through ten presidential administrations. It has kept the dust under control prior to the annual ham breakfast conducted during the fair for twelve governors (well, technically eleven, as one served two nonconsecutive terms).
One interesting event this old Ford undoubtedly witnessed and helped with is the Ozark Music Festival that was held at the fairgrounds in July 1974.
A company from Kansas City successfully convinced both the Missouri Department of Agriculture (which oversaw the fair) as well as the City of Sedalia to host a three-day rock concert at the fairgrounds stadium. Musical acts were not small names either, as Aerosmith, Boz Scaggs, the Eagles, and Lynyrd Skynyrd among a host of others performed.
www.katydepotsedalia.com
Only 50,000 tickets were to be sold, however attendance was 150,000 to 350,000 (depending upon the source) and prospective attendees created a seventeen mile traffic jam outside of Sedalia. The aftermath was significant with one death and over 1,000 drug overdoses being reported. In the aftermath, helicopters were used to spray lime on the fairgrounds to prevent the outbreak of disease prior to the mess being cleaned up. Due to the sheer number of discarded hypodermic needles it was easiest to capture the debris by scraping off the top layer of soil with bulldozers and hauling the resultant piles to the landfill.
There was also a strict timeline for cleanup as the fair was to open two weeks after conclusion of the festival.
The Kansas City Star newspaper has a synopsis of the event here. Several other sources of information, often with more lurid details, are readily found. The referenced Missouri Senate report from later that year stated:
The Ozark Music Festival can only be described as a disaster. It became a haven for drug pushers who were attracted from throughout the United States. The scene made the degradation of Sodom and Gomorrah appear mild. Natural and unnatural sex acts became a spectator sport. Frequently, nude women promoted drugs with advertisements on their bodies.
This Ford truck had a front row seat to this spectacle, which some sources purport to be bigger than Woodstock, and this fine old Ford truck is still here. If only it could talk.
Incidentally, the City of Sedalia outlawed rock concerts within the city limits due to this. That edict must have relaxed over time as Foreigner performed the night of August 16 of this year.
A few years ago my wife and I struck up a conversation with a gentleman at the fair. A resident of Sedalia, he has attended the fair on opening day every year since 1959. This Ford has been there nearly the entire time.
Just think; this picture showing a stunt car show at the fair in 1957 was as new as 2009 is now when this truck first went into service. That sort of alters the longevity perspective of this old Ford truck, doesn’t it?
Inspecting this F-600 a bit closer, I realized it hasn’t gone very far from where it came. It was purchased in Sedalia, so it’s really only gone across town. The motor vehicle inspection sticker found in the lower left of the windshield of any car or truck registered in Missouri is also telling. The inspection sticker is dated April 2003, which makes me suspect this old truck likely hasn’t left the fairgrounds property in all that time.
Despite its age, this old Ford has a lot of life left in it. In May, Ford announced the reintroduction of the F-600 for model year 2020, based upon the existing F-550 architecture. It makes me wonder if any of those will still be as reliably doing their thing 52 years from now as what this old Ford is still doing.
Found August 16, 2019, at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia
Related State Fair reading:
1959 Dodge Coronet Highway Patrol car by JS
1968 Mercury Monterey Highway Patrol car by JS
Boz Scaggs and Eagles for me. That truck is fantastic, I love how its a regular-looking F-cab with supernormous bolt-on flares.
I know that it’s probably from sitting down, but those guys pushing the VW look like they all crapped their pants.
This truck is the kind of workhorse which is no fun whatsoever to drive, but can’t be faulted as it’s perfectly suited to the purpose. No power accessories, no surplus power, no AC. Nobody wants to linger there or that vinyl pattern might print on their skin.
Cool topic Jason. That ‘bite’ looks convincing. And a neat old Ford. Enjoy these single purpose specialty vehicles that seem to last forever in their roles. There is a nearby flying club that has an old 70s Ford Louisville dump truck for snow clearing the runway.
The lineup for the Ozark Music Festival was outstanding and timely for the summer of ’74. As America, BTO, Marshall Tucker, Jim Stafford and Lynyrd Skynyrd had big hits in ’73/’74 and some peak commercial success around then. The Eagles were about to become huge the next year.
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils would have been another great act for this event, given they were from Missouri.
‘Sweet Home Alabama’ would have been climbing the Billboard charts that July. Music fans know Skynyrd’s song was a reply to Neil Young’s ‘Southern Man’, as Young’s ‘Walk On’ was a reply back at Skynyrd.
Decades later Young apologized for his heavy handedness:
“‘Alabama’ richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don’t like my words when I listen to it today. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, too easy to misconstrue.”
‘Waging Heavy Peace’ (2012)
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils actually did wind up playing, along with several other big acts that weren’t on the poster
I see it still has the original Ford toolkit sitting on the front seat. Somebody needs to use the toolkit to remount the air conditioner!
I am always learning on this site.
Didn’t know the extra 0 meant diesel. Thanks!
Love it! The tactile sensations come rushing back to me from a 1969-ish F-250 I used to occasionally drive for an employer. V8 and 4 speed stick, it was used for winter plow duty before it was stolen in the late 70s. The left-handed key, the sound of that Ford starter, the lighter than expected clutch pedal that made it easy to kill on takeoff, and the dead spot in the middle of the steering.
I am kind of your opposite here – I live less than 3 miles from the Indiana State Fairgrounds and have been to the fair exactly twice (and one of those was as a part of a group that volunteered one evening at a food concession).
Part of it is that I married a lady who grew up right across a side street from the fairgrounds and who has no desire to see the place again. The one time we went there was a great display of antique farm equipment. I would consider going back, but have missed it for this year. Maybe next year.
Given your (and Mrs. JPC’s) proximity, the lack of desire is understandable. Many residents in Sedalia plan vacations around fair time.
Although, as one who enjoys different types of food, you may be missing out on some real novelties, such as deep fried cookie dough or chocolate dipped bacon.
Trust me, If I could do a no charge drive in/drive out for just the food, I would be there every day! My arteries could never clog because my body would expand to provide more room for them to stretch out. 🙂
I love the Missouri State Fair. We all went in 2017 and had a terrific time there. Just this past week, I was talking to my neighbor (a Wisconsin native), and we agreed that no one does Fairs quite as well as Midwesterners.
Somehow I missed the F-600 though. Hopefully I’ll get to be in Missouri during Fair time again soon, so I’ll look for it… I have a feeling it’ll be there.
Great bruise demonstration, by the way! I found that the smaller, unexpected events like that are the most interesting.
And I can only imagine how muddy the 1974 Fair was, having been held a few weeks after the grass/topsoil were scraped from the grounds!
IIRC, the reflective section on the ID plate on the side of the hood did not appear until 1968. The ’67’s had the number to the right in the red part. That would put this truck between 1968 -72.
All of those acts in that festival were either big (BTO, Eagles) or just on the cusp of being big (Bob Segar, REO Speedwagon). The only act that from that festival that I’ve seen was David Bromberg, a couple of years ago in the comfort of a theater (he was very good).
That’s the kind of vehicle that gets zero attention, zero affection, and nothing but an expectation that it work hard, work well, and work right now as needed. It’s good to see it getting its day in the sun, the wait has been long enough.
And as others have stated that is quite the musical lineup! The equivalent lineup today would be a major ticket event and not seen at a state fair.
This sort of lineup in a sense marked the end of an era. One of the resources I found said all musical acts in total were paid around $200k; it would have been over $25M today.
Also, the crowd was so dense, acts were flown in by helicopter and dropped on the stage.
I’ve never been to a State Fair. And always assumed they were located in (or at least as near as feasible to) the capital city. At 60 miles, Sedalia seems kind of far, so it’s interesting to hear that money was involved in the origin of the location.
I’d never heard of the music festival, and the lineup seems eclectic (and amazing). Electric Flag and Leo Kottke and Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with Jim Stanford and BTO. But a few acts you mention, like Aerosmith and Boz Scaggs, don’t show on the poster.
“Sedalia seems kind of far”
That was what I thought. But then I live in a state where the State Fairgrounds is a landmark in the inner city. Of course it was in the far-out suburbs when it first opened in 1892, moving from 40 years at a location that abutted the city’s original mile square. But now it is in a location that is in dire need of revitalization (and has for the last 40+ years).
I’m from Kentucky and that state fair is held in Louisville, and has been for as long as I can remember. I can’t think of the Kentucky State Fair and not be reminded of my grandmother, whose automatic reply when someone complained about life not being fair, was “fair, if you want fair you need to go to Louisville in August”.
I remember seeing the posters for the Ozark Music Festival way too many years ago. Several of us semi-seriously considered going but we eventually talked ourselves of making the trek (from western Kentucky). I wonder how many of the acts advertised on the flier actually showed up. That used to be a common complaint about music festivals; they would advertise a huge number of “name” acts to sell tickets and then, instead of Marshall Tucker or Joe Walsh you would end up having to listen to Slim Chance and the Can’t Hardly Play Boys and others of a similar ilk.
Bob Seger and Cactus didn’t make it. But there were a whole bunch of unadvertised acts that did, including Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult, Boz Scaggs, Premiata Forneria Marconi (!), Jeff Beck, the Charlie Daniels Band, the Souther-Hillman-Furay band, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Sweet, and Shawn Phillips.
The show was sold to the city and some at the department of ag as being country and bluegrass. The promotors somehow conjured up images of young couples happily strolling the fairgrounds and listening to music.
For this type of show, Sedalia was ideal. There was a large theatre for rent, lots of parking, and with a current population of 20,000 Sedalia would have no need for a large police force. Depending upon one’s viewpoint, it was a perfect storm.
Looking over the full roster it really is an eclectic group; I’d say about twelve acts could be described as country, folk, or bluegrass. But I suppose mixing in those half-dozen hard rock acts attracted a rowdier crowd (Jeff Beck started out as hard rock but was into his jazz fusion phase by ’74). But yeah, the “no hassles guaranteed!” nudge-nudge promise was carefully left out of the pitch to the locals.
1973 was actually a full reskin, just like the pickups got. Ford chose to go subtle on the medium-duties for whatever reason, and the mediums did not get the F100-350’s revised dash, instead keeping the 1967 look up to 1979;
http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/United%20States/Ford%20Motor%20Company%20Trucks-Vans/1979_Trucks-Vans/1979-Ford-F-Series-Trucks-Brochure/index.html
That would become a tradition; the Ford mediums kept the 1980 dash all the way to 1997, a full decade after the pickups got their first major update, and GM used the 1988-94 pickup dashboard on mediums up to 2003. It seems the logic is that medium conventionals are rarely personal purchases so who cares if the driver’s view is dated, but surely the expense of “replacing” one set of dashboard components with two is more than just updating the big ‘uns?
The cost to keep the old parts around is almost nothing, and medium-duty truck and van customers value having the same interior for a long time. The Super Duty-based mediums used the same interior from 2000-08 and almost the same exterior (a mild grille refresh came in 2004), and though they got the blocky 2008 SD’s interior in 2009, they still used the curvy ’90s Ford steering wheel through 2015. The 2016 facelift finally gave the mediums the blocky steering wheel to match, just in time for the 2017 Super Dutys to abandon the vintage 1999 cab in favor of sharing the 2015+ F-150 cab.
Similarly, after adopting a “jellybean” interior in 1997, the vintage-1992 E-Series vans soldiered on with minimal changes until 2009, when they got an exterior and interior refresh to give it more resemblance to the 2008 Super Duty. And again, the curvy steering wheel remained for over a decade afterward. Though the traditional van line has now been dropped in favor of the Transit, the E-Series chassis cab is continuing, and for 2021 is getting the steering wheel currently used by the F-Series (though the rest of the 2009 interior remains).
Well into the early 1990s the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex, VT had a circa-1950 Dodge water truck. Assuming it didn’t see salted, winter public roads it could’ve lasted indefinitely but at a certain point it probably became worth more as a classic than it was worth to keep in use. In fact, I’m not sure if they bought another big-truck water hauler or now just douse the track using a smaller tank trailer towed by a pickup or UTV.
” The winning bidder was the City of Sedalia with 150 acres ponied up for the effort.”
Two weeks ago, my father and I attended the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Sioux Empire Fair isn’t South Dakota’s official state fair, but may be the largest fair in that state. It has been in existence since 1938, and was established under similar circumstances.
The difference being that rather than a statewide bidding process, the fairground property was donated by Mrs Winona A Lyon, who stipulated that:
1) The grounds would be dedicated to a yearly fair,
and
2) The fairgrounds be named after her deceased husband.
I enjoyed the time spent at the W. H. Lyons fairgrounds, and can now report “A good time was had by all.”
Yes, the Sioux Empire Fair is the largest in SD, larger than the official South Dakota State Fair up in Huron (pop. 13,000). Attendance-wise, the Brown County Fair in Aberdeen frequently outpaces the SD State Fair as well. But all of those pale in comparison to the Clay County Fair in Spencer, IA.
” While the knee-jerk reaction might be to think it’s all about farming, livestock, and other related agricultural activities,”
As it happens, the larger the fair, the less likely it’ll have an agricultural focus. The continued growth of urban areas means fairgoers are less likely to have any personal connection to agriculture, and as ag equipment continues to get larger and more expensive, the logistics of transporting it to a dense urban area get prohibitive.
Machinery Hill at the Minnesota State Fair, for example, was once the pinnacle of farm displays, the largest of its kind in the world. But today, only John Deere remains, and their “exhibit” consists mostly of lawn mowers, with a single large tractor roped off so the city slickers can’t touch it. “Serious” ag exhibitions now happen at dedicated agriculture trade shows like the Farm Progress Show, the North America Farm & Power Show, Farmfest, or Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany.
The State Fair sounds similar to our Aussie Shows, like the Royal Melbourne Show, and it’s smaller country cousin the Geelong Show I’ll be going to soon. Over the past 25 years the show has gone from being mostly livestock, agricultural and homecrafts with enough other stuff to amuse the townies, to mostly sideshows and spectacles in the main arena and precious little ag machinery. While my wife and daughter ooh and aah over the homecrafts, and criticise the cookery (which Jane aced for several years), I head for the machinery shed and revel in all the old steam engines and early diesels and restored tractors and such (this one’s a Jelbart). And hunt for CCs in the members’ carpark!
Seeing the front end (and dash, shifter, etc) took me right back to elementary school in Ohio, in the mid ’60’s. Our school replaced several of its buses with Ford chassis, the same front end as the state fair truck.
I can’t recall if they were F600s, but they might very well have been.
The Fair’s 600 is equipped with “long haul” 16 gallon behind-the-seat fuel tank. Should be able to make it darn near around the fairground without stopping for fuel. LoL
What’s with the “dual ignition” two key switches? One for the local Fair Board one for the State? Haha
When I first spotted the RH located ignition switch, I thought to myself I was having a senior moment because I would’ve sworn recalling how convenient the LH located switches were to reach while standing beside the truck.
And finally, the column mounted hazard lamp switch may help narrow down the model year.
Re the dual key switches: I’m thinking the second one is to start the Honda(? small engine geeks, am I right?) engine on the water pump on the back of the truck.
I have driven a box truck, dent-side version of this. Chevy trucks of this vintage had more car-like driving experience. Only Cornbinders had a bigger steering wheel than these Fords. Brings back memories. This one doesn’t seem to have a 2 speed axle, unless the monkey climbed down off the pole.
One of my favourite things to do in the autumn when I lived in Texas was going to the State Fair of Texas. I didn’t go there just for fun and all of every food imaginable batter-coated and fried. I learnt so much about farming and ranching techniques and stuff as well as lot of mechanical know-how.
I recalled seeing lot of DO NOT PET OR ELSE! signage at the rabbit and hare booths. I happened to see one turning Cujo on an older boy who ignored the warning. Not a pretty sight.
Once in a while, the Big Three made the world debut of their new trucks at State Fair of Texas due to the large attendance and strong penchant for them.
I take it there’s some sort of optional gauge package this truck didn’t have? What would have gone where those round plates are?
I attended just one state fair here in Maryland and it was several decades ago. No music festival at this one, though it did feature a single musical act, Nils Lofgren who is from this area. To most of the world he’s probably known for backing Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young, but locally he’s had some hits of his own too including “White Lies” and “Bullets Fever”, the latter an ode to the NBA club now known as the Washington Wizards. I don’t remember if I saw any old trucks spraying the place down though.
I’ve read through many remembrances online from Ozark Music Festival attendees (and many photos and short films of the event) and they don’t match the sordid description in that senate report. Most had a great time, enjoyed the music and did not witness any violence. Any nudity was the result of a 105F+ heat wave and insufficient water, and trash was left on the fields because there were almost no trash bins at the site. The widespread drug use reported was accurate though.
A loaded panel could house a tachometer and air (brake) pressure gauge.
Despite missing “that” weekend at the fair, the recall is perculating up fuzzy, but possibly a vacuum gauge was available too?
And again, the hazard lamp switch… seems like the first year or two had a plunger switch on the dash panel, rathen than the Fair truck’s column located switch.
Tough old truck and an interesting tale. I’m surprised the festival lineup didn’t include the Ozark Mountain Daeredevils, since they were from Springfield.
It did, along with several other unlisted acts I noted in an earlier post. The advertising flyer was printed well in advance before the lineup was fully settled.