I recently got a 1961 F250 4x4, it is supossed to have came from the factory (special order) with 1 ton running gear, due to it being used as a concrete truck. It has very little cancer. It seems to have around 220k miles on it, because it is on its 2nd motor and soon to be 3rd. And the rear end is very sloppy. It now has what is supposed to be a 352 out of a 1967 pickup, but im not totally sure, all I know is that it is FE. Anyways I was looking to find out if they even had highboys back then (it is easily clearing 35's with no cutting) , How rare this truck is, and to see if anybody has ever seen one before.

 

A few things...first, there werent any highboys until 74 or 5 as I recall...and there wasnt an FE engine put in any F100-350 out of the box until 1965...the earlier trucks had one V8...Y block ... if distributor is in back of engine...its a Y block...up front its an FE...
If you post the warranty plate info I and a few others can decode it for you...the tag is located on the inside of the glovebox door.

Post some pics when you can.



- cs65

 

Welcome to FTE

The enthusiasts term High Boy (not Ford terminology) was originally coined for 1973/76 & 1977 F250 4WD's. 1977: before serial number Y20,001 (midyear 1977, refered to as 77.5 by some).

After this cutoff serial number, there were no more High Boys assembled.

Since the same frame and suspension was also used on 1967/72 F250 4WD's, these are also refered to as High Boys by some ppl.

1961 F250 2WD & 4WD's came with the Dana (Spicer) 60 rear axle.

I doubt it has the F350 (one ton) Dana 70 rear axle, because the axleshaft's bolt pattern on Dana 70's used on F350's from 1953 thru 1967 is 6 lug 7.25 inches.

Dana 60's as installed in F250's (1953/85) have an 8 lug, 6.50 inch bolt pattern. The front wheels match this bolt pattern.

What do you mean by a concrete truck? Does it have a pickup bed, or something else?

If something else, a total of 359 1961 F250 4WD Cab & Chassis were assembled.

Cab & Chassis means that there is no back of cab equipment...just the bare frame.

If a customer so ordered it, Ford installed factory Stake Beds and Flat Beds on the Cab & Chassis model or sent them out to be converted at customers requests to aftermarket body makers.

While Ford sent some out, most customers just bought Cab & Chassis, then sent them out to aftermarket body makers.

Types of aftermarket bodies included: Utility bodies, dump bodies, box bodies, fire fighting equipment, ambulance bodies...the list is endless.

The Warranty Plate on your truck is installed on the inside of the glovebox door.

On this plate are the AXLE, TRANS, COLOR and other codes.

Post these codes...several of us can decode all of them. This will tell what the original equipment was.

Note: Ford introduced factory 4WD's on 1959 F100's & F250's.

Prior to 1959, all the 2WD trucks were converted to 4WD by (mostly) Marmon-Herrington, and some by Armbruster and NAPCO.

Even though Ford offered 4WD in 1959, customers and Ford alike still used Marmon-Herrington thru 1972 to convert some 2WD's to 4WD.

 

Ok the truck has a pickup box, it was supossedly special ordered by a concrete company in 1961 with heavy duty everything (thats why i guessed 1 ton), i had the vin decoded by the web site and it came was a 292 y block, factory 4x4 f250. Ok, this truck has been in my buddy's family since 1969 when they bought it from the concrete company. who said that is was special ordered. I doubted this my self so i crawled underneath and it was a D60 rear, and havent checked the front. It hasn't been lifted by my buddy's family at all, but it is clearing 35'' muddies no problem. I'm going to try and take a pic and post it to show you guys.

 

<a href="100_3452.jpg picture by Tarrin0009 - Photobucket" target="_blank"><img src="http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/i...9/100_3452.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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^ ^ These links do not work. ^ ^

1961 F250 4WD Pickup Production Figures:

Flareside Pickup: 1,671.

Styleside Pickup: 149.

Rare as original...how many of each are remaining today?

Prolly less than 15% each.

 

I don't believe a V-8 was available in 1961 4x4 F250's, was it Bill?

223 or 262 I-6 was all you could get I believe.

 

AFAIK, the 292 2V was available as an option on all:

1957/58 F100/250 2WD's.

1959/64 F100/250's, regardless of whether these trucks were 2WD or 4WD.

292 2V: The 4th digit of the VIN (engine code) will be a C.

If the OP posts the first 4 digits of the VIN, that will tell if it was a factory 4WD, a Marmon-Herrington 2WD converted to 4WD, and what the original engine was.

The 5th digit is the assembly plant code. If he posts the entire VIN, I can tell him what month the truck was assembled, even if he X's out the last three digits.

ALL the FTE VIN decoders are rife with errors, regardless of what year the vehicle is.

I wouldn't trust any of the info.

 

Login to a private Photobucket.com album
This will take you to the page where the pics are at, on cardomain doing the pics like i tried before worked.. oh well. (can somebody delete my previous other attempt?)


Here is the VIN
f26cr181274

 

That's taking us to a private account login that requires a password.

Try posting the pics again, but use the img code selection instead of the one you used last time (HTML?).

 

F26 = F250 4WD

C = 292 2V

R = San Jose CA Assembly Plant

181274 = Assembled June 1961

 

 

Sweet, Got it

 

That's not the original grille.

It's a 1964 Custom Cab anodized aluminum grille (and parking lights).

1961 Custom Cabs (which this appears to be from the stainless steel windshield mouldings), had a chrome steel grille which looks much different.

In the center of the '61's grille which is composed of horizontal bars, are the block letters F O R D

The outside mirror is from a 1973/79 F100/350.

What color was this truck originally, Green, Blue or Black? Prolly Green.

The COLOR code is listed on the Warranty Plate.

B = Turquoise / L = Dark Green / S = Light Green

 

I know it is not the origional, it was bent up and bashed back in the mid 70's so they put a 64 grille on it, but i do have a 61 grille to put on it.