Words & Photos – Tim Chadwick

Tim Chadwick goes for a pleasant drive in a vintage flathead Ford still used as an everyday jobber for a New Plymouth crane hire firm

Back in the late ’90s, a service station attendant at my local garage told me, “Watch out, those old flathead Ford V8s can get up and go!” He was issuing me instructions on how to drive a vintage Ford V8 and reminiscing about hot rods at a time when I was due to depart and collect a ’38 Ford V8 from the Picton Ferry and drive it up to Taranaki.

Back then I thoroughly enjoyed the long drive up to the ’Naki, and came to enjoy the torque, sound, and smooth workings of the original Ford V8 flathead engine. Since then I hadn’t set foot or backside in another original old style Ford V8 until the opportunity presented itself to test drive the everyday jobbing 1936 Ford V8 wellside ute — or pickup — operated by Ian Roebuck Crane Hire from Waiwakaiho, on the outskirts of New Plymouth. The Roebuck company utilises some very heavy duty equipment and cranes servicing a variety of applications from building contracts to salvage work, and for the oil industry and beyond. One photograph on the Roebuck office wall even shows an aeroplane being craned by one of its machines.

Yet, alongside the heavy lifters, the everyday runabout parked outside the busy offices of the crane hire firm is a utilitarian Ford V8 which hasn’t been glamorised or ‘warmed up’. It is a breathing example of how Ford’s basic workhorse looked, smelled and sounded in the pre-war years, through the services of wartime, and then in the post-war years when the world was getting back on its feet. A wide range of tradesmen relied on trucks like the Ford V8 to perform regular reliable duties.

Working runabout

Seeing the opportunity to rekindle the days of old as an advertising brand image vehicle for Ian Roebuck Crane Hire, but also as a useful runabout, Ian Roebuck and manager Lionel Ham set about procuring a genuine original Ford V8 pick-up truck. Eventually the right vehicle was located in Opotiki, and brought back to Taranaki by Ian and Lionel, whereupon a total restoration began at Roebuck’s sheltered headquarters.

Although fairly straight and very original the old Ford needed some panel work, which was attended to by the staff at Roebuck, along with the eventual painting of the black-and-light-blue livery of the firm’s large cranes. The ’36 Ford brought a job change for the staff used to working on large Kato and Foden machinery. Upholstery work was completed by New Plymouth’s local Ford dealership, and the historic old motor was rebuilt as new by Motor Reconditioners of Strandon.

Trend-setting impact

When I refer to the truck’s motor as being historic, it is of course because of the trend-setting impact the early Ford V8s had on world motoring, hot rodding and on motor racing, particularly here in New Zealand, where many beach racing and circuit specials were built around Mercury and Ford flathead powerplants. “The go is great in a Ford V8″ some of the American Ford advertising literature in the first half of the 20th century said of the iconic engine. There are many different cylinder head variations and engine stud quantities on the various permutations of the legendary flathead, which evolved from design sheets back in 1932 and continued in production until 1953, but these are best left to Ford aficionados for identification.

In 1937, ‘V8’ was added to the embossed Ford logo on the tailgate, following the main change for 1936, the advent of non-wire wheels

Three men, Carl Schmaltz, Mil Zoerlein and Ray Lard, had been working in fairly secret conditions on one of Henry Ford’s ideas before its culmination in the first 21-stud flathead that rolled off the production line on March 9, 1932. It had a single belt, two water pumps, a Detroit lubricator carburettor and an aluminium intake manifold, all within a fairly simple eight-cylinder engine design. There were early weaknesses in the 90-degree V8 (some had said production of such a motor was an impossibility), but Ford persevered, and ended up with a power plant that garnered one of the most loyal followings of the 20th century.
Ford loyalty extends to Roebuck Crane Hire, where Ford racing posters and calendars feature in the office alongside some of the company’s sponsored vehicles, sports teams, and a beauty pageant winner.

“As far as I can recall, Ian’s always driven Fords,” said Lionel Ham from the office as he directed me towards the company flathead

Spartan

As with most early utility vehicles, the 1936 Ford V8 pick-up has a Spartan cabin with a basic metal dash that includes just three gauges presenting rudimentary information requirements for the driver: engine temperature, fuel level and speedometer. I eased myself into the roomy cab and checked out the circular brake and clutch pedals rising out of the floor, and recalled earlier experiences with the long-throw gear lever. A simple turn of the key and a dab on the floor-mounted starter saw the flathead whirr into life smartly.

Sans-seatbelt, as true to the period, I swung my body around and reversed the Ford out of the Roebuck yard with several turns of the large steering wheel. Lock to lock, these old Fords can seem a lifetime to turn compared with modern vehicles, but the ’36 Ford pick-ups improved on the perhaps overly tight speedway car-style steering of previous years. Heading out to our photo shoot near the mouth of the Waiwakaiho river, the gearbox was simple and easy to operate, reflecting the good general driving aspect of the Ford, totally unflustered in the modern mainly Japanese-originated stream of traffic flowing through the main highway into New Plymouth.

When writing about classic or vintage cars, we often talk about the various idiosyncrasies of a particular vehicle’s demeanour on the road, but with Fords of this era, everything is quite straightforward and user-friendly, to coin a modern phrase. Once used to the foot pedals, the long-throw lever of the three-speed gearbox and the ‘swing’ of the steering wheel, anybody could comfortably drive this vehicle. This must be a boon for Roebuck’s workers. At a coastal lake I had cause to drive over several asphalt judder bars, and not only was the good ground clearance evident but also the torque of the Ford V8 as the truck idled over the humps and carried on in second gear from low revs without a flinch.

Useful utilitarian

Simply styled yet graceful for a truck, the old Ford seems to suit Roebuck’s soft blue livery, framed with the black sign-writing and guards. This made photography a pleasure. The rear deck is roomy, usable and with more cartage area than many modern day wellside utilities. The spare wheel mounted on the right side behind the cab fits with vehicle’s era, and adds to the charm of the old truck.

Simply styled yet graceful for a truck, the old

Ford seems to suit Roebuck’s soft blue livery, framed with the black sign-writing and guards.

Market competitors for the Ford V8 pickup of 1936 included other charmers from the States such those of GMC/Chevrolet, Dodge and Buddy-Stewart, but the Ford of course had one major charm card up its sleeves, the flathead. Ford advertised the engine freely with chromed badging and on the truck’s hubcaps. In 1937, ‘V8’ was added to the embossed Ford logo on the tailgate, following the main change for 1936, the advent of non-wire wheels. (Ford produced its three millionth V8-engined vehicle in 1936).

I admired the Roebuck workhorse from several angles before making the return journey to the crane yard, where the truck again took pride of place outside the administration office. Although dwarfed by huge, blue heavy-duty cranes, the old Ford still gets most of the admiring glances at Roebuck’s. This old Ford is a genuine everyday classic still on the job after nearly 70 years. It doesn’t look like retiring any day soon.

further reading

• Pickup Trucks — A History of the Great American Vehicle, Justin Lukach (Black Dog & Leventhal) ISBN 3-8290-2205-0
• Classic & Collectible Trucks, Don Bunn (Publications International Ltd) ISBN 0-7853-2797-5
• Utes & Pickups in New Zealand, Tim Chadwick (Grantham House Publishing) ISBN 1-86934-08-7Utes & Pickups in New Zealand, Tim Chadwick (Grantham House Publishing) ISBN 1-86934-08-7