1956 Ford F-100 Long-Bed, Custom Cab, with 4-Speed Manual Transmission

Ford F-100 1956 Description

It is with heavy heart that I am listing my 1956 F-100 for sale. This truck with all of its options, puts it into a very limited production, shall I even say, rare category. The specs are:

• 1956 Ford F-100 Truck

• Factory Long Bed (Express Model)

• Original 272 V8 Y-Block

• Original 4-Speed Manual Transmission with Granny Low 1st Gear

• Original Custom Cab

• Original 2-tone Paint (Only available with the Custom Cabs)

• Original Small Rear Window

• Original Side-Mount Spare Tire

  Believed to be Original Dealer Options:

• Step Rear Bumper

• RV/Towing Mirrors

  I bought this truck from the 2nd owner who purchased it as his first vehicle in 1972 when he was 16 years old. He bought it from the original owner who was his High School principle at the time. He purportedly purchased the truck new in Oregon, before moving to the Seattle area in Washington a few years later. The truck was still in Seattle when I purchased it. He had the original 1972 title which had listed his dad as a co-owner because he was apparently too young to own a vehicle at 16. Unfortunately, I do not have the original title since it was used to transfer the truck into my name. 1956 F100 Aficionados that I have shown this truck to, and looked over, have been pleasantly surprised by the solid, rust free condition of the truck. Even when they zeroed in on the areas that are almost always rusty, usually rusted through (such as the ledge on the door, the lip on the front bottom edge of the hood, and the sun visor in the roof, etc), the worst that they found was light surface rust. Spending virtually its entire life in the city, on city roads, in a state that doesn’t salt its roads, I believe has contributed to its exceptional condition.

  1956 was the first year that Ford put an 8’ bed on a ½ ton pickup truck. It has been reported that in 1956, 137,581 short bed trucks where produced, with only 25,122 long beds being made. Of those long beds made, many owners over the years have parted the body pieces out and scraped the frames, or have been cutting the frames down and shortened them into a 6ft bed, reducing the number of remaining longbeds even more.

  These trucks have been popular to Hot-Rod and modify for decades. This truck of mine has all original drive-train, all original sheet metal, all in very good, solid condition! I also have all 5 original wheels that came with the truck new, all in Excellent condition! The engine runs like a champ, and the transmission shifts smoothly through all the gears. The previous owner claimed that the engine had been given a complete rebuild at the 100k mile mark. Evidence seems to support this claim. This truck has been so well taken care of during its life, it even appears to have the original paint in the wheel wells and under the hood with factory production notes! Many have attested to the increasing rarity of these trucks stock, as Hagerty’s Overview of the truck put it:

  “The second generation of Ford’s F-Series truck line was one of the first post-war pickups to gain collector status as happy Ford owners began holding onto these trucks in the 1970s. As such a lot fewer were left to rot out on fence lines. A lot of these trucks, however, saw engine swaps and less than authentic restorations, which makes a bone stock example exceedingly rare today.

  The most popular and unique year of this generation Ford is the 1956 model, as this was the only year of this generation that had a wrap-around windshield. While long-legged owners have to pay attention to ingress and egress lest they bash their knees into the door frame dogleg, the unique styling rules the day for everyone else.”I would like to note that as a relatively long-legged owner (I’m 6’1”) I have never had an issue getting in or out of the truck.

  I have been driving this truck as my Daily Driver for approximately 7 months with my daily commute totaling 42 miles a day. When I say daily driver, I mean DAILY. Minimum 5 days a week, every week, only exceptions where when I had to pause to do the occasional repair or maintenance, such as change oil, etc. All lights, turn-signals, brake-lights, etc. work and operate as they should.

  The work that has been done to the truck to this point includes, but is not limited to:

• Complete repaint of the upper white portion of the cab. The old paint was brought down to the metal, with the old seam sealer in the drip rail removed. The drip rail was then preserved with Phosphoric acid to help preserve and protect from rust. The roof was then smoothed and the roof seam in the back was filled to give a seamless, clean look to the cab. The goal in the entire process was to have as much metal and use as little bondo as possible while still having a perfectly smooth surface. New seam sealer was then applied before everything was painted with a PPG base/clear coat in the correct Colonial White.

• A dent in the front fender being repaired (pulled, not filled) led to both front fenders being painted in PPG single stage paint.

• New weatherstripping was installed on the Doors, front cowl vent, and Rear window.

• Removal of the old weatherstrips on the doors exposed some rust on the bases of the doors. This was repaired using new outer lower door skins and inner door bottoms made with American steal from Mid-Fifty. The repairs were then painted in the same PPG single stage paint.

• Completely Rebuilt Front end, which includes:

  • New Front disk brake conversion with correct 5x5.5 Bolt pattern

  • New Front Gabriel Gas Shocks

  • New Front Brake Hoses

  • New Moog Tie-Rods

  • New Spindle Bushings

  • New Kingpins

• New 7” Power Brake Booster

• New Dual-Chamber Corvette style Master Cylinder with 1” Bore

• New Brake-Light Switch

• New Brake Lines all around

• New Rear Brake Hose (It is the hose that connects the single brake line leading to the back, to the splitter on the axle that leads to the wheels

• New Rear Brake Shoes and Wheel (Slave) Cylinders

• New Vacuum Hose with Inline water vapor filter

• Rebuilt and Cleaned Carburetor

• Rebuilt Heater, which includes:

  • New Heater motor

  • New Heater Seals, including hose seals

  • New Defrost tubes in a flexible vinyl/plastic material, so it won’t disintegrate like the original fabric ones

• New Dome light switch

• New Horn wiring kit

• New Original Style Horn Button

• New Horn Relay

• New Brake & Clutch Pedal Pads

• New Speedometer Cable

• New Original Style Temperature Sender

• New Taillight Wiring from approx the rear wheels back

• New Dash, Dome, Taillight and front Parking/Turn Light bulbs

• New Headlight Switch

• New Cigarette Lighter and Wiring with Inline Fuse Installed

• New Wipers

• Wheels and Tires that came off of a 1988 F-150

  
  The previous owner stated that the following had been recently replaced:

• New Fuel Tank

• New Fuel Pump

• New Fuel Filter

• New Water Pump

  The work that still needs to be done, and as time goes on, I will be doing:

• New Bed Wood and Bed Strips

• Seat Recovered

• New Headliner and Door Panels

• New Windshield (Has Several chips)

• New Driver Door Glass (Window has a crack and vent has de-lamination)

• New Paint (The roof can been repainted with the rest of the truck if you wish, but is not necessary, since it was done just recently)

• Clutch will need to be replaced soon (The clutch has recently started to produce an occasional slight squeak when being lightly applied. No sound is produced when being mid or fully applied.)

  I also have a large amount of parts that have not been installed yet. If you would like a detailed list of those, please contact me, and I can get that to you.

  This truck is a great driver, a pleasure to cruise in, and the perfect candidate for a driving restoration! This truck bluebooks at nearly $70,000, with the average restored truck selling for $40,000+. I am asking a very reasonable $16,500 for my truck. I am open to reasonable offers. With the average full restoration costing approx. $20k, you will be money ahead buying my truck, and will be able to drive it from day 1! Please don’t insult me by trying to say that it is only worth about $10k, because most all trucks in that price range are in pieces and/or missing motors and have rotting rust. Not to mention they are all short beds, which are a lot easier to find then a longbed!

  You can call, text, or send me a message if you have any questions, or are interested! Please no calls after 9:30pm or before 7am PST. My phone number is: 360-224-8755. If you wish to have the truck shipped, I am willing to assist in the shipping process (such as loading onto a trailer, etc.). Please contact me so we can discuss the different options available. Full, cleared payment must be made before shipment. An immediate, non-refundable deposit of $1,500 via PayPal is required. The remaining amount is required within 14 days of purchase, unless a pre-arranged agreement has been made. Cash is the preferred method of payment.

  For some more info, values, and approx. costs of restoring, read the below article: