1955 Ford F-600

[Cubewanos]

Long time reader, first time poster.

I recently bought a 1955 Ford F-600. I have never restored anything like this before and I have a concern. I am worried that I will try to do the "correct" restoration but it will be for waste because I may do something incorrectly. May I better off just making my own or trying to stick to the restoration?

Any tips or tricks before I get started?

[paul2748]

Unless you are going to show it for judging (concours) restore it to your satisfaction and don't worry about it being "right"

[Daves55Sedan]

If you are going to do a body-off-frame restoration, here are some clues.
If the frame is to be sandblasted and refinished, it needs to be completely stripped down of every nut, bolt, ball-joint, universal joint, bushings, etc. Sand gets in everywhere and will immediately ruin bearings, ball-joints, universal joints, etc. Those parts can be cleaned with solvent and re-packed with grease.
The truck body can be stripped to bare metal (which also removes all rust). One way is plastic bead blasting and another way is dunking in chemical dip tank.
If doing the chem-dip, all nuts bolts, brackets, fittings and pot-metal parts must be removed prior to sending to the tank.
The chem-dip method ends in a spraying of metal-prep upon the stripped body parts. This substance must be removed with solvent (cheap paint-thinner) prior to body-work and primering. I would also recommend acid-etching prior to primering or use a marine primer instead of automotive primer.
Is this a COE (Cab over engine) type truck. If so that will be pretty rare.

[dmsfrr]

Do you know which engine the truck has? Does it need rebuilding as well? Many of the large trucks used a 'Lincoln' based engine. Parts may or may not be hard to find and unexpectedly expensive if you do. Research where to obtain engine rebuild parts before you need them. Also be aware that some 'new replacement' parts are made off-shore and seldom of good quality.
There's a chance using a later version drivetrain (or various parts of one) may turn out to be less trouble / more cost effective in the long run.
Two engine ID links:
http://ford-y-block.com/lincoln.htm

http://ford-y-block.com/Block%20identification.htm

Ford made worthwhile yearly and maybe mid-year upgrades in electrical, carburetion, ignition and mechanical systems between 1955 and 1958 until '63.
Research the changes so you can plan ahead to include these improvements if desired. Some 'later' pieces may be easier to obtain than the earlier ones.

It's your truck, build it the way you want to.
If you are concerned about judged events some judges won't know the difference as long as it looks 'period correct'.
Other shows with pickier judges have various categories for non-original vehicles if it comes to that.

The red & white '55 Bird on the left under my name was missing it's original engine. I debated the troubles of trying to stay original with the engine or go with one a few decades newer. Since I'd never worked on one before I decided 'period correct' would be easier, so I wouldn't have to find or fabricate one-off parts, without a suitable shop & tools.
In hindsight and after discovering the car wasn't as original as I'd been told, I wouldn't mind the driveability improvements of at least a newer transmission.
.

[miker98038]

We always like pictures, and you might add your location to the signature line.

What do you intend to do with the truck? Sunday/show driver, towing, etc. It all plays in to what advice you'll get.

But those big trucks are cool.

[Hot Rod Reverend]

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You need to answer this question before you begin... "Do you want to restore this truck to sell or to keep and drive?"

take a look at this blog here www.hotrodreverend.com/blog. I built, am building, my 55 Ford Fairlane because I am keeping it - there are things that are factory correct, period correct, or other items I did that are up-to-date and modern.

[51504bat]

Check to make sure the wheels aren't the 2 piece widow makers.

[mercman from oz]

These are great looking trucks. Here is the illustration of the 1955 Ford F600 from the Australian Sales Catalog. The F600 was the largest Ford Truck that was offered for sale in Australia. Also, 1955 was the first year that the OHV Y-Block V8 was offered locally. Our 1954 Ford Trucks and Cars still retained the 239 CID Flathead.