Three Quarter Ton Survivor: 1955 Ford F250
I always think barn finds are more interesting when the seller is responsible for having stowed the car away rather than someone who bought the car recently to flip. The seller of this 1955 Ford F250 not only stored it away himself over 40 years ago, but it was his father’s before that. Listed here on Craigslist in Louisburg, Kansas, it’s not cheap at the $20,000 ask, but how many can there be in this state of preservation and with such a complete history?
The truck certainly has as much dust as I’d expect after more than 40 years of storage, but it looks to be complete and in good condition. The seller says the truck was purchased by his father, who was a car dealer, sometime in the 1970’s. It was then repainted to address the faded original paint and shortly thereafter put into storage.
As one would expect in a 60-year-old truck, the interior is pretty sparse and utilitarian, but the condition of what’s there supports the seller’s claim that the truck has only been driven 6000 miles during its life. The seller claims the paint and seat material are original but doesn’t mention the broken passenger-side window that can be seen in the photos. Speaking of original items, the tires are also said to be original and still holding air, but I surely wouldn’t try driving on them.
Things appear to be complete under the hood, but a thorough inspection and some fresh fluids would probably be a good idea before trying to drive the truck. The truck currently has its original stake bed on it, but the seller is including a regular pickup bed with the sale should the new owner want to install that instead. If I were the truck’s new owner, I’d keep the stake bed on it, replace the broken window and ancient tires, put in some fresh fluids and enjoy it as-is (at least until my wife found out about it.)
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Comments
Repost from January. Like the truck.
Love how I can’t recall what I had for dinner three nights ago but I can recognize a car from four months back.
I was going to say, I thought this was posted before.
Oh, for cryin’ out,,it’s an old farm truck for heavens sake, it’s not $20g’s rare, sheesh. Like Rick Harrison always says, “where’d you come up with that number?” These trucks rarely saw any use, Spring and Fall, and then, it was only 12 miles to the feed mill. There are still quite a few, ok, maybe not like this, but all those barns and buildings you pass out in the sticks, I bet one of these is still out there. On deliveries to farms, I’d always see these in a corner of a pole barn. It’s only when the land is sold, that these surface. Drop a zero, pal, they are a female dog to drive.
If this truck has only done 6000 miles then I’m a monkey’s uncle. Check the wear on the steering wheel. Either it’s done considerably more than 6000 miles or the driver wore sandpaper gloves when using it.
Coming from a farm background, the mileage could indeed be correct. Like I say, these trucks did very little road use, and being a stake bed, probably followed a chopper and pulled a wagon around harvest time, and might have made 75 trips back and forth from the field to the barn, a distance of maybe a mile. And most of that time, the driver probably had dirty gloves on, because farm machinery is always breaking or getting jammed and could indeed wear out the wheel some.
The wear on the steering wheel happened because the owner’s kids used to spend 8 hours a day in the truck “pretend driving”. That would explain the wear.
Bob
There is one just down the road with a grain box same size and color for 2500.00 in mn.
It seems like way too much money to me and I love these trucks, I have had about 5 of them. If the price was a little more reasonable, I would be interested because of the condition, but I would blow it apart and put it back together as a 1/2 ton pick up.
Hang around a rural feed mill in Spring or Fall. That’s when they come out of the pole barns.
I didn’t read anything about the engine. Is it a 272? I think that was the V8 used in these Fords at that time. The 292 & 312 came along a year or so later if I recall right.
With that exhaust pipe passing over the front of the engine, I think it could possibly be a 239. I understand they used them in some 1955 trucks, although it was 1954 only in cars.
I want he’s smoking! 20k REALLY???
I want to make a correction because I just read the Craigslist ad. The seller says that it is the same engine as the 55 Thunderbird, which is the 292. Yay, great engine, parts are plentiful. The 239 was an orphan engine.
Nice truck, but $15k over priced. These old farm trucks with low mileage are still reasonably plentiful. I don’t see many of the Fords around here there are lots of old Cornbinder’s though. The worn steering wheel could be from leather gloves, they are rough on smooth surfaces.
55’s came with the 239, I have an F350 and it also came with the 239. definately not 292 in 55, My 1958 F500 only came with 272
We had a ’55 F-600 with a 317