Scouting for old rusty relics isn’t something we can all sign up for as a hobby. But for Thomas Mortske of Mortske Repair YouTube channel, it’s a lifestyle he’s unwilling to give up. Together with his loyal ‘Doggo” Duff, the duo will stop at nothing to get a beat-down classic up and running.
Remember the V8-powered go-kart barn find we featured back in August? Well, Mortske went back to his colleague’s barn to pick up the red flathead 1951 Ford F-4 truck that had been sitting in the corner.
“This thing has been sitting in the barn. His daughter didn’t remember ever seeing it come out of the barn, so I guess it’s been sitting for at least 20 years, probably closer to 30 or 40 years,” Mortske revealed.
According to Mortske, the truck appeared to have been last regularly used in the early 1970s. The previous owner might have tried to get it running 20 years ago (probably failed).
The 1951 Ford F-4 truck was a first generation of Ford F-Series truck and came with the flathead V8 engine and a 4-speed manual transmission. These trucks were perfect farm hands used for hauling grain, feeds, or ferrying cattle. They came with a hoist and trap door ideal for offloading cargo off the bed.
Mortske's truck's rear left wheel was stuck. It also had a busted exhaust manifold and was missing a fuel tank. The interior needed some TLC. The door panels were falling off, and the seats had seen better days.
Luckily for Mortske, the engine turned over when manually pulled, a good sign it would fire up.
The old truck let out a few secrets when Mortske tried firing it up. The starter couldn’t turn, and upon inspection, he discovered someone (the previous owner) had gone all ham on it with a hammer and chisel, tearing up the stamp steel cover.
“He took a hammer and a dull chisel, and he opened up that son of a biscuit up like a tuna can trying to get that Bendix to engage and pull in, and he’s trying to knock that cover. I don’t know what he was doing. He should have just taken the starter off,” Mortske revealed.
After fixing the starter and feeding some crank juice onto the carburetor, the truck roared to life – but not without a bit of tweaking.
We recommend catching the rest of that action in the video below. You could learn something about getting these old relics running after sitting for decades.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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