Long before the first passenger car-styled Ford Ranchero Pickup in 1957 and the first passenger car-styled Chevrolet El Camino Pickup in 1959, Ford Motor Company introduced the 1940 Ford Pickup. Prior to this model, the pickup — all makes — were pretty much hard-riding work trucks with minimum comfort and convenience features. They had hard seats, maybe one sun visor, one windshield wiper, no arm rest and they looked like a truck.
The 1940 Ford pickup was considered revolutionary. It was a work truck with all steel construction and rugged framework making it more durable than its competitors. But the design, that was clearly unique for the time. The cab of the truck looked like the 1940 Ford Coupe, which was designed by Eugene Gregorie, a very stylish car and considered by many as the best-looking car of that era. That car was also a very popular model for moonshiners in the southeastern part of the country as with minor modifications, the coupe could carry up to 130 gallons of moonshine and outrun the revenuers with the hot 85 HP V8 engine.
From 1932 through 1939 all the light-duty Ford trucks had grilles that were completely different from the passenger car grilles, but the 1940-1941 Ford Pickup featured the same front look as the cars, including the fenders, grilles and dashboards. Of course, in 1942-1945, all production was for WWII.
The popularity of the 1940 Ford continues today. Pleasanton’s Stan and Judy Hall had been looking for a 1940 or 1941 Ford pickup for about three years. Judy was constantly checking eBay and Craigslist. The couple even made trips to Redding and Ventura to check vehicles out, but none matched their expectations.
“On the morning of July 4 of 2018,” Stan said, “a 1940 came up on Craigslist. Judy called the seller in Milwaukie, Oregon within minutes of the listing and had a good feeling about this one.”
Stan took the phone and talked to the owner while Judy booked a flight to Portland for that morning.
“It was a gamble, but it was clear that this guy was a car guy, so I was in Portland by lunchtime. The seller made it clear that this was a driver, not a show truck, picked me up and when we arrived the truck was in his driveway and it was just what we wanted, not perfect but a real clean look.”
A deal was made for $28,000, and the truck was off Craigslist that afternoon. The truck had a damaged grille, and it took about a year and a half to get a reproduction grille. Stan put on new wheels, white-wall tires and hub caps to give the truck a traditional look.
Stan found 1940 license plates with PC imprinted to indicate the truck has pneumatic tires. If it had solid rubber tires the authorized license plate would have the letters SC. He also made a matching trunk that rides in the bed of the truck and when that was done, Judy named the truck Rosebud.
“Other than that,” Stan said, “not much has been changed much, just minor tinkering.”
The truck was restored by Bob Schaber in Milwaukie in 2003 then sold that year to a man in Texas where it stayed until 2013. That year one of the original builder’s friends bought the truck and the following year the original builder bought it back. So this truck has had four owners since it was restored 22 years ago and has a total of 4,700 miles on the odometer.
The power train is a 350-cubic-inch Chevy V8 engine with a matching automatic transmission. Of course, it has power brakes, power steering, air conditioning and a fabulous interior. The Halls love this truck and have no plans to sell it. Stan estimates the current market value at about $40,000. With the changes made by Stan and Judy, I think most would agree, it is now a show truck.
Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.