30 Closed Cab PU
Well-known member
Am new to the Ford Barn, 1930 Closed Cab Pickup that has been in the family since around 1960. Originally born/raised in Belvidere Illinois, ended up in Watertown Wi since 1978. Inherited the A in 2012 when my father passed away. My father born and raised in Minnesota and South Dakota with 5 brothers/sisters on different rental farms, they moved a lot, 10 different places as far as I have been able to find out. He and his brothers ended up in Belvidere since there were a lot of jobs in the Belvidere/Rockford area after WW2. He was a machine tool wirer for Sundstrand's. When I was a freshman in high school we moved from town into the country on a 15 acre farmette, while working full time in town dad raised 20-30 head beef cattle, chickens, a few pigs, corn, and hay. When he was in his late 50s started collecting Massey tractors from the 1950s and before. Most of them he would get running, but not restore. When he was in his late 70s had an auction and sold 50 tractors, after he passed away we had another auction to sell the rest (what he considered his good tractors) and his tools/etc. - another 25 tractors. He was always working on things to resell to make extra cash, and bought the Mod A around 1960, he got it running, repainted it, and used it back and forth 2 miles to work for a couple of summers. Then it sat in different garages/outbuildings. With the help of the Rockford Model As club, we got it out and started it on a Saturday morning in spring of 2011. My hopes were to take him to a family reunion in it, but it needed too much. Overheated/boiled over within a 2-3 miles, when oil was drained it was the nastiest brown color, did not look like oil. Sadly Dad passed away in January of 2012. So hauled it to Watertown, and have been driving it some, having it worked on, and me working on it since. The radiator was bad, full of some kind of black solid crap, not sure if stop leak, or if old black pepper - replaced radiator. I remember my father long ago saying Black Pepper was used to stop radiator leaks. Wiring harness replaced, was 80 years old and insulation was gooey, added fuse on top of starter. Found out lube after 50 years sitting is no longer lube. Oil pan full of sludge and blocked the oil pump - Pan cleaned out and valve access cleaned out and now using multi-weight detergent oil, luckily the Babbitt's/crank are OK. Speedometer rebuilt - oil/grease had solidified. Generator bearings went bad - rebuilt. Distributor bearings went bad - repaired and updated distributor shaft for bearing lube and updated dist. plates. Wheel bearings making noise - was able to clean/repack before destroyed. Water pump went bad/froze, put on a leakless. Rebuilt gas gauge. Rebuilt electric wiper. Serviced horn, did not work. Replaced window regulators so windows would crank.
Front axel bent a couple of inches on one side - straightened. A lot of this work was performed by Templin's Old Time Auto, at the time was a 5-10 minute drive. Sadly for me they have moved to about an hour drive at freeways speeds. The last thing is the cooling system, wants to overheat on 80 degree day at 40 mph. Had a bad head gasket - found a local guy with some experience to replace the head gasket/valve job - Did not help much. Have flushed/back flushed with white vinegar, and thermocure, inspected the block/radiator with a borescope and used a IR Temp gun to take temp readings - all seems good, readings reasonable. Currently am
working with a Barn Senior member, going to do a block test, but we suspect the replacement Radiator is undersized, is unknown manufacturer 2 row 8 fin. With so much having to be done, and me not being a mechanic, paid to have most of this done. Also could not find anyone local that would allow me to do the work while they watched/helped/guided me. Now that I am retired, and the major issues are resolved, am hoping I can do things and the maintenance myself. Looks like it will stay in the family, my son who is in the Air Force stationed in Texas wants it. Having the Ford Barn is definitely a big help now that I know about the site. Attached are a couple of pictures, one from around 1960 before repaint, my dad in the cab, me/my sister standing in the back against the cab, and other family and friends. The other picture is shortly after getting it running, and 50s years of filth washed off. Rims/wheel are from a mid 30s Ford, with same bolt pattern, circumference with tires is the same so speedometer is correct, this is the way my father ran it, am leaving it this way. New tires/tubes and rims/wheels blasted and painted. I call the truck a 50 footer, look real good, but has a little rust and the paint is not A1. Just looking at having it be a reliable runner, preserve it not restoring it, have some fun with.
Front axel bent a couple of inches on one side - straightened. A lot of this work was performed by Templin's Old Time Auto, at the time was a 5-10 minute drive. Sadly for me they have moved to about an hour drive at freeways speeds. The last thing is the cooling system, wants to overheat on 80 degree day at 40 mph. Had a bad head gasket - found a local guy with some experience to replace the head gasket/valve job - Did not help much. Have flushed/back flushed with white vinegar, and thermocure, inspected the block/radiator with a borescope and used a IR Temp gun to take temp readings - all seems good, readings reasonable. Currently am
working with a Barn Senior member, going to do a block test, but we suspect the replacement Radiator is undersized, is unknown manufacturer 2 row 8 fin. With so much having to be done, and me not being a mechanic, paid to have most of this done. Also could not find anyone local that would allow me to do the work while they watched/helped/guided me. Now that I am retired, and the major issues are resolved, am hoping I can do things and the maintenance myself. Looks like it will stay in the family, my son who is in the Air Force stationed in Texas wants it. Having the Ford Barn is definitely a big help now that I know about the site. Attached are a couple of pictures, one from around 1960 before repaint, my dad in the cab, me/my sister standing in the back against the cab, and other family and friends. The other picture is shortly after getting it running, and 50s years of filth washed off. Rims/wheel are from a mid 30s Ford, with same bolt pattern, circumference with tires is the same so speedometer is correct, this is the way my father ran it, am leaving it this way. New tires/tubes and rims/wheels blasted and painted. I call the truck a 50 footer, look real good, but has a little rust and the paint is not A1. Just looking at having it be a reliable runner, preserve it not restoring it, have some fun with.
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