Taken Dec 24th, 2023 in Pt Arena, California outside the only coffee shop for miles which was open on Christmas Eve.
Curbside Outtake: Chevrolet Corvette And Ford F-Series – Suddenly, It’s 1966!
– Posted on January 2, 2024
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Curbside Classics Archives
This is a great pic! The colour of the Ford is near identical to the CN Rail corporate brand colour used on their fleets for years, since the 1960s. Since changed to white. The famous CN logo, first adopted in 1960. One of the longest-lived brands in North America.
A badly faded example for comparison.
More accurate colour. The modern looking logo almost out-of-place, on such vintage vehicles.
CC effect: A substack writer on design described the development of that CN logo today.
https://www.logohistories.com/p/canadian-national-railway-allan-fleming-1960
Nice combo! I’ll take the Corvette, since I already have a Ford PU.
Speaking of, that gnarly 4×4 Ford is sitting a bit high in the front. These did sit pretty tall originally, with their solid axles and high clearance, but this one looks even a bit higher than stock in front; maybe a spacer between the axle and springs?
The Corvette was a Powerglide.
My appreciation for the PG has grown over the years. In fact, the idea of a 427 PG ‘Vette is rather intriguing. 100 mph in Low! I’d gladly take one.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/automotive-history-capsule-1967-corvette-427-tri-power-pg-the-ultimate-and-fastest-powerglide-equipped-car-ever/
Given the body on that truck, I wonder if it was originally set up as a snowplow, with front springs set up to carry the extra weight – would that make sense?
Possibly. But given the bed, I’m more inclined to think it’s from a governmental agency; state, fed or local.
It may only look nose-high because of the camera angle. It looks like there are likely spacers on the rear axle too. Someone ordered (or modified it) for very high ground clearance.
I seem to remember private snow plows on otherwise stock 4×4 3/4 ton pickups or Jeeps/Scouts/Broncos. And agencies used much bigger trucks for public road clearing.
I don’t believe Ford offered a ‘factory’ F-350 4X4 during those years, that truck may be a Marmon-Herrington or Coleman conversion. Converted 4X4’s often did set high as typically the conversion would use ‘stock’ front springs and replace the dropped I beam axle with a straight drive axle. Usually this would require a 2″ to 4″ block between the rear springs and axle to get the truck somewhat level.
I agree about the spacers but it also looks to me like the tires on this truck are not very tall – maybe only 31 inches. What do you think? Smaller tires would also make the suspension lift look higher than usual.
That F-350 has the rare radiused front fenders used on some 4X4’s and larger pickups with 17.5″ wheels.
Not much risk of the wheels contacting the body, eh? 🙂
The truck appears to be a 63, if the grille is the one it started life with. My old 63 (the roughest riding vehicle I ever owned) would probably float like a Continental compared to this one!
Nice pic! The ‘Vette is Nassau Blue – same color as the ’66 427/425 roadster I owned for 27 years and drove all over Europe and the UK. Brings back fond memories of a great, fun, good handling and very reliable car.
F series is the rare one here, that model Vette isnt exactly common either but more of those have landed since they were new.
The truck bed sure looks like a repurposed military trailer, like the one shown below (an M105 cargo trailer). My guess is that it’s a home-made retrofit – with an Army surplus trailer and a suspension lift kit, but just a guess. Great find!
I agree with you. That most definitely looks like a repurposed, retrofitted military trailer.
A few more notes: the two vehicles came in separately, but I didn’t notice if the owners met up inside the coffee shop, as we were leaving when the Ford pulled up. If they were locals they probably knew each other as this is a pretty small remote community on the north coast of California. I did see the Ford drive up on the highway before it pulled in and it was nose high in profile, so the parking slope and camera angle don’t add much if any reverse rake.
Are there any external indicators to show if the Vette is a big block or small block, at least originally? As for its Powerglide-ness, it did have a PG badge on the back and an auto shifter that looked original.
Yes, the ’65-’66 396/427 Corvettes had a hood bulge like the one below, to clear the taller carb and air cleaner; the ’67 had an even more prominent hood “scoop”. No; PG-equipped Corvettes did not have any badges that reflected that choice of transmissions. In fact, no Chevys did either, except for the very earliest years in the early ’50s. That’s a rather odd choice for the owner to add a PG badge; generally speaking that’s not what most want to advertise.
A nice pair and I’m not talking about the waitress .
-Nate