Canadian Badges: 1950 Ford F-68
Some of you old Ford pickup guys may have looked at that title and thought, “What’s an F-68?” You wouldn’t be alone. This is really just an F-3 from north of the border. Found here on eBay, this one was sold new in Saskatchewan, Canada and is now being sold out of Sweet Grass, Montana.
The seller provides decent pictures and details of the condition of this old Ford. Thankfully, the rust is detailed and doesn’t seem to be overlooked. While repairing the rust could be put off for a while, the interior would need to be addressed right off the bat. It sounds like the gauges will even need some work to be functional.
While the truck is not running, it is said to be mechanically complete, which is at least encouraging news. It appears as though the hose clamps were robbed off of the radiator side at some point, leaving coolant passages possibly open to the elements. Even though the engine turns over, a potential restorer would probably have to walk into this project expecting an engine rebuild. Thankfully, Flathead parts are readily available.
Interested parties may go back and forth in their mind on whether to fix up and drive or to completely restore. Either would be reasonable options for this Canadian pickup. This one looks solid enough to get it going mechanically and use it for an around-town truck, but the F-68 badges may make it unique enough to fully restore. With no reserve and a current bid just under a couple grand, what might this project end up going for?
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Comments
Nice straight old ford, there was one of these parked at my former employers facility out side for decades a number of us maintenance employees tried a turn at buying it but he wanted to much for it. Eventually he sold it to one of his freinds who had a son that worked with us. It was taken up north to the freinds farm and we herd back from the son that his dad had it running in a day. It would not surprise me if this was the case for this truck too. It will need the brake hydrolic’s serviced as well as all fluids but I’d bet it could be a driver in a couple of weekends. That of course doesn’t get it restored that could take a few years depending on how far you go with a restoration. Personally I’d go with a simpathetic resto. I’d only rebuild the engine if it were a smoker or had obvious mechanical bad noises or perhaps a dead cylinder. I think I’d paint it off white with navy blue fenders and running boards.
I think these guys bring a number of these trucks down from Canada…….there have been other ones. This one frankly has a lot more rust based on the generalized rust deterioration visible. Might take quite a few bucks to halt the rust.
With the dollar difference Americans can buy these relics at a discount and flog them south.
But as a Canuck I must quote the movie line:
What Badges ? We don’t need no stinking Badges…..
Like I’ve said before: the old image is sure changing. When I was a kid, if you HAD to settle for a truck then it had to be a 1/2 ton or you were nowhere. Then trucks started to gain in popularity. But it didn’t take long before the supply was exhausted. Now it’s the tonner’s turn. When I was a kid, they were just a well-used farm truck. Now they are a class act…