1940 Ford pickup truck received Dearborn Award
Steve Pieper always admired the style and design of the Model A Ford pickup trucks. There was a void in his garage, so he began a three-year search for an old Model A.
Whenever business would take him to a different part of the country, he would scout the area for that elusive pickup in restorable condition. “I must have looked at 10 trucks,” Pieper said, “and none of them was worthy.”
Eventually, he heard about a 1940 Ford pickup in California. That was the first model year in which Ford styled the front fenders, hood, and grille to better match passenger car designs. He purchased the truck sight unseen and had it trucked home.
All was not quite as advertised, but there was no rust. The frame had been altered, and several other parts were not correct, including the gearshift lever on the steering column. The shift mechanism had come from a passenger car to replace the original floor shifter. Additionally, an incorrect V-8 engine occupied the space under the hood.
“I ended up buying three trucks to make this one,” Pieper notes. A correct 85-hp flathead V-8 was found in Knoxville, Tennessee, along with a needed factory-installed sway bar. Two other similar trucks, one from Oregon and one from Virginia, contributed much-needed parts. The major organ donor came from California. Pieper found a complete — and straight — frame for his Ford.
The truck was dismantled down to the last nut and bolt and the restoration began with the goal of turning it into a show winner. Pieper didn’t realize the project would stretch beyond two years. He documented each item as correct before installing it on the truck during reassembly. His painstaking efforts at authenticity would pay off later.
Records show this particular truck left the factory with a single windshield wiper and one sun visor. The distinctive headlight rims are painted instead of being chrome-plated. Rectangular parking light lenses are incorporated into the uppermost part of the headlight rims.
The bumpers on the 15-foot, 4-inch-long truck have no bumper guards, the rear bumper having been a $4.15 option. The 7-foot-tall cab provides an abundance of headroom beneath the $2.50 optional cardboard headliner. The beat-up bed was replaced with an authentic reproduced version manufactured in Missouri. The original tailgate remains on the truck with the Ford script and V-8 stamped in the steel. The spare tire nestles in the indentation on the right rear fender. An optional lock, with two keys to secure the wheel to the truck, cost 95 cents.
In rubber-rationed 1940s America, exposed spare tires could be stolen off wheels. To thwart thieves, an available steel loop was incorporated into the wheel lock. The loop of steel surrounded the spare tire, with the short side selling for 55 cents and the long side of the band a bargain at 40 cents.
Pieper concedes that he is lucky because the twospoke steering wheel is reproduced along with the bumpers. Amazingly, so is the glove compartment handle. The plastic windshield wiper knob atop the dashboard is original. The round rubber clutch and brake pedals are replacements. Pieper, who initially had difficulty in replacing the two splash pans under the engine, was ultimately successful.
Inside the cab, in the red dashboard, is a 100-mph speedometer surrounded by the fuel, oil, temperature, and battery gauges. Three knobs below the instruments control the throttle, headlights and choke. The starter button is at the far left.
Back in 2001, the handsome red Ford pickup was entered into the Eastern National Early Ford V-8 antique show in Connecticut. After microscopic judging, the judges informed Piper that his truck was perfect in every way, except for the exterior mirror. The back, they explained, was chrome-plated instead of being painted black. Pieper had a library of documentation concerning his truck that he was happy to share with the judges.
“I could show chapter and verse that the back of the $1.70 mirror could be either painted or chrome,” Pieper said. Consequently, he was awarded a 1,000-point Dearborn Award, an honor rarely given.