[blucar]

In the late 1960's I had a friend, Joe, that was a certified FORD Fanatic. He had a large plumbing company, all of the service trucks were Fords ranging in age from '51 to '69. His everyday driver was a '57 Ford 2dr wagon, he also had a '56 Ford f100 that he drove from time to time.
One day the local Ford dealer called Joe, by a quirk of fate a brand new, 8CM (Merc) long block engine appeared in the Ford parts system, they grabbed it, called Joe first to see if he was interested. Joe snapped the engine up..
Within a few short months his '52 1 ton service truck blew an engine, the new 8CM was installed in the truck. The '52 was set up to be a rolling shop, with pipe racks, threading/cutting machines and multiple bins for pipe fittings.. All of which were for the old style galv pipe.. Copper pipe was quickly becoming the norm and ABS plastic was replacing cast iron for waste lines so the truck became "yard art", gathering dust, etc., in the far corner of the company's truck yard.
In about 1974 the ski boat I had blew up the engine. The boat was a classic "speed boat" similar to a Cris Craft, the engine was a Merc 8CM that has modified extensively, cam, 4 barrel, Malory ignition, etc.. I decided to repower the boat with a SBC, had one built and purchased all of the marine equipment and adapters.
Talking to my friend Joe one day I told him I was going to repower my boat with a SBC, Joe went nuts, not at all happy that I was going to discard the 8CM engine in favor of an 8CM. Joe offered me the plumbing service truck, we agreed that I would pay him $200. for the truck, I could use the engine in my boat and junk the truck. The deal was made.
I installed the engine from the truck in my boat using the 4 barrel carb, Malory ignition and original marine equipment. The boat ran great, we used it until the summer of '77 when we bought a new boat. I sold the "speed boat to a neighbor for $500, he had it repainted, changed the name on the transom and used it for many years.
I can't remember just when Joe asked me what I had done with the '52 Ford service truck, I told him it was still sitting in the corner of my yard, Joe asked if it still had the pipe machines bolted to the bed I told him it did. Joe offered to buy the truck back to get the pipe machines, I told him he could have the truck for $200., he was a happy camper. It was not until a couple of years later I told Joe that I had sold the truck back to him for what I paid for it.. Joe thought that I had played a good joke on him.. He was a good guy...

I have a decal sticker on the rear Qtr window in my '36 coupe that is from Ford Parts Obsolete, the address is 616 E Florence, Los Angeles. The sticker is from about 1969, maybe earlier..

In the late '80's I was talking to a local car guy, he asked me if I knew anyone that had a good 8BA style of engine, I asked why? He needed an engine for a roadster project he had, He wanted to put an Ardun/8BA engine in the roadster, had all of the Ardun parts, but could not find a good block. I told him I had an 8CM that had came out of my boat.. I went on to tell him that a valve seat had came out which bent a valve and beat up the piston in one cylinder. I sold the 8CM.. It has lived in the roadster every since.