We have to thank BangShift forum member Tardis454 for finding this gem of an old lumbering truck for sale on Craigslist in Grand Junction, Colorado. The truck is a rare 1950s era FWD which features four wheel drive, a flat bed with some low sides, and styling that appears to have been directed by the Kremlin. It looks like the truck was supposed to have a long nose and someone just took a sawzall to the whole thing right about where the cowl would have started. That’s not to say we think it is ugly. Quite the opposite, this thing is a ruggedly built and ruggedly handsome hunk of iron.

The truck has a 269ci International Harvester inline six, and a gear ratio somewhere north of the typical farm tractor as its top speed is stamped on a plate and listed as 48mph. Honestly, who buys one of these things to hurry around in anyway, right? With the four wheel drive and crazy gearing, it makes sense that this truck is located in Colorado where it must have spent plenty of time climbing grades and getting to places where other dump trucks feared to tread. Originally the truck was a dump but a previous owner converted it into a flatbed and added the short sides to the bed to keep that low dump body look.

The FWD brand may not be one you are super familiar with but it is one of the oldest brands in the automotive/truck world today. It was started in 1909 and actually continues today although it is part of the Seagrave Group which is owned by a parent company and produces fire trucks and other equipment. From day one, everything FWD made was four wheel drive and that was a pretty revolutionary concept at the turn of the century. They used to tour around the country with their trucks and drive them up state capitol steps and other obstacles to show off how capable and unstoppable they were. By the time they built this truck, the company had been producing vehicles for nearly half a century!

The seller claims that the engine smokes and we think it probably needs a ring job or there’s a ring or two that may be stuck and would free up with some mystery oil of other “magic” liquid. Being that the engine is right in the middle of the cab floor it may be kind of a paint in the arse to get the thing out of there but it would be neat to pull the old IH engine apart to get a look inside. It would probably be even neater to try and find a set of piston rings for it, right?

The big axles, the big transfer case, the motor right there in the cab, and its all for sale for $2,750. I have all day to convince my wife that this is a good idea as we drive out to the Ohio Mile tomorrow….wish me good luck.

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