Franklin Brown's 1950 3604 3/4-Ton Pickup

22 May 2006
# 1532

From Franklin:

              I’m Back! I got another old Stovebolt truck (Franklin has had another 1950 and a 1955.1 in the Gallery ~ Editor) and I want to share it with you.

              Here are some pictures of my 1950 3604 ¾-ton pickup with (I think) the original 216 motor (AHCA serial no.) that I awoke from a 27 year nap.

              When some friends helped me haul this treasure home in fall '03, it had '76 license plates. The engine was stuck. I was patient and applied liberal amounts of Marvel Mystery Oil, (WD40), etc. in the spark plug holes and waited two or three weeks before trying to start it. I was doing some other stuff to it -- oil change, etc. When I did put on a new battery, it turned over great. After an ignition tune-up, carb cleaning and temporary gas can, I got it started and running good. Sweet, actually.

              Since then I have worked on everything on this truck to get it roadworthy -- new clutch, U-joints, everything about the brakes re-done, new wiring harness, lights, all glass except driver’s door is new, new interior, new plywood bed floor. The list goes on.

              It still needs lots of work but I’m having fun. The engine starts quick and runs good and the truck drives good. But it does smoke …. a lot. A couple of weeks ago I drove the ole girl to a Cruise-In about 35 miles from my house - and back!! without incident. It used one quart of oil on the trip there. I put in a quart for the trip home and all other fluids checked OK. Only trouble on the trip home was a noisy, whining speedo. I stopped along the way and disconnected the cable.

              A friend followed me there in his '56 Ford F100. He said he only saw smoke when I took off after stops. This trip did add a few things to my to-do list. The picture is me at the Cruise-in.

Thanks,

Franklin Brown
"Frank 50 "
Bolter # 734
Central Illinois
Amish Country