1947 ford 79T 1 1/2 ton dual rear wheel (removed for ease of working around it)
134in wheel base
100hp flathead V8
4 speed
2 speed rear

My old man found this truck and asked me to restore it for him. I figured id share some pics of it and update it as I go when time permits. The truck was stored indoors from 1974 untill 2008ish when it was moved outside and wrapped in tarps.

Pulling it out of its hole


Loading it up



Home


Interior


Getting rid of the wrecker parts


bumper, grill guard and grill bars comming off. THe stubborn bars that are left need the bolts cut. and there is no good angle to get a cut off wheel in there. Should be no problem once the nose is off


I need to upload more pics and size them. Most of the trucks tins have been stripped , photographed and rattle can primed. Im only doing this to find all the hidden ugly. The cab and tins are going to be send for media blasting and body sealer once I get it torn down. I didn't find much hidden. It needs cab corners the center floor access plate a small fix on the drivers fender and a small fix on the passenger running board. The original color is dark green. Pretty cool since we planned to paint it dark green in the end anyway.

ETA 10/24/11
Pulled out the engine lift and yanked that heavy hydro winch off the back today. Then spent 3 hrs getting the front wheels off. Not only are they left hand thread on the drivers side which caused some swearing but I had to use the torch and a 4ft break bar to get em broke loose.  Shes now sitting on jack stands ready for the nose to come apart. Pics tomorrow when its light out.

Very cool truck! Are you going to keep it as a wrecker?

Did the pics not all load? Photos of wrecker gear removed in the Op.

No we are not keeping it a wrecker. We do not own a towing business. We wanted a more unique truck than the later run of the mill fords at every cruise night and car show so we went with an earlier truck. Also its a commercial so thats a bit different also. Right now its up in the air what is going to happen with the bed. IF the engine, trans and rear are all savable we would like to retain it as a dually and restore it to original.

If the flathead and running gear is trashed it will be a resto mod. Its kind of up in the air. RIght now im in the digging stage just trying to figure out what is savable and what is trashed. So far everything has been positive.

Nice project! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

cool project!

Well,I like wreckers, and that's a neat old setup on that truck. Here's another that a friend took a pic of this summer:

The wrecker gear is cool and if we were in the auto business I would definatly have kept it but its really of no use to us. Oh and the base on the spool (part of the motors case and cast metal unfortunatly) was shattered so it would have been on functional even if it was repaired to look the part.

Its going to rain like an SOB this week and not being able to get a bunch done is KILLING ME. I plan to have the sheet metal off, engine and trans out and the frame wire wheeled before it goes into the garage. Its supposed to rain untill next thursday here

In  Very nice choice for a project.



If I were closer I would bring the kids by and make them help as character development training.

Thanks PA!  Yeah its a bit far for a day trip