Attn. History buffs

[retro-man]

Just wondering if anybody knows the history of the F-series trucks from c. 1960 to c. 1964. I was browsing on ebay motors, and was reminded of something that I had noticed years ago: that the pickup bed on the 62 (and I think 63) F-series doesn't match the cab - it is lifted straight from the c. '59-60 body style. I also noticed that the single year of '61 had the unibody design. I think I remember hearing somewhere that the unibody tended to tear itself apart under truck use. What I suppose is that Ford went to the unibody in 61, found out it didn't work, and returned to a separate cab and bed on frame design for 62, but for some reason didn't have design or tooling for a matching bed ready for 2 years (?!?!). Is this in fact what happened? Any buffs out there know the story? Just curious.

[02SilverStroke]

Ford had the "unibody" design for model years 1961 through 1963. To my knowledge (I was only nine years old in '61), the separate bed was not offered in '61 except the Flareside. The separate Styleside bed (the old 57-60 bed) was added during the 1962 year and continued through 1963. In 1964, a new Styleside bed was developed, and the "unibody" design was dropped as was the old 57-60 style bed. The 1964 Styleside bed was Ford's first bed with a "one hand tailgate latch". Prior to then the Stylesides still had chains on each side to open the tailgate. The "unibody" Stylesides had "door handles" on each side of the tailgate. Also, if you have noticed, the taillights on the "unibody" Styleside were long and narrow, the separate Styleside bed had the little round taillights. When the bed was redesigned for '64, they went back to a nicer looking long and narrow taillight. We had a neighbor who bought a new 1962 F100 with Styleside bed. He wrecked the truck (only damage was to the bed) and replaced the Styleside bed with a Flareside bed. Then his next two or three F100s were Flaresides. I don't know whose bright idea was to put a single unit bed and cab in a truck as large as a 1/2 ton. It definitely was not one of Ford's Better Ideas. Repairs were cheaper on the ones with the separate beds, like my neighbor's truck. If he'd had the "unibody" design, his truck could have been totalled. As it was, he just replaced the bed (even with a different type) and still kept driving his same truck.

Edited October 21, 2006 by 02SilverStroke

[retro-man]

Thanks for the info! Still, hard to argue with this!

[02SilverStroke]

That's a great picture. I noticed he called it F100 Mercury. It must be a Canadian truck because some Ford trucks in Canada were once called Mercurys.

[matthewq4b]

That's a great picture. I noticed he called it F100 Mercury. It must be a Canadian truck because some Ford trucks in Canada were once called Mercurys.

 

 

They were not called Mercuy's they were Mercury's Sold at the local LM dealer.

 

Matthew

[ranger94]

most of the info on the unibody is correct i own a 61 unibody sb that im restoring right now and the problem with them was that the cab and bed flexes at different rates so when it was loaded down the tend for the doors to not open or close although my grandfather had it loaded down to where the back bumper was almost draggin the ground and never had any problems with it.but the unibody was used 61-63.in 61 all were unibodys starting in 62 and 63 only shortbed 2wd were unibodys.i love the unibody its a great looking truck although its not a very good design only 2 bed crossmembers that go from wall to wall and bed mounts directly to frame and for support theres what some ppl call a torque box that sits right up against the cab.if you want to check out more on these trucks go to fordtruk.com its a great site dedicated to only 61-66 ford f series