55 UTE & paint question

[georgeb64]

HI folks, been a long time since I had an old Ford and I picked up a 55 UTE. Not a newbie to cars, but new to this group. Nice board y'all seem to have here.

My car is somewhere between a car & a truck & is certainly a poverty edition with no radio, heater or defrost. No turn signals, small hubcaps with a 6 volt system. What the heck its fewer things to mess with.

It has the stock 272, Holley 3 bolt, dual exhaust, and 3 speed on the column.

So far so good with it, thanks to a little help from a shop manual I bought.

I want to touch up on the engine and its a light green. My local auto parts guys have nothing close & on-line ones I see is what I think I need but computer screens tint things differently from what is there.

Anybody have a VHT or such favorite paint code, brand, or number they use which would match up pretty close to what I have? Thank you.

George

[Ole Don]

That car is so cool, I have never seen a 55 Ute. Of course, we dont seem them at all here in the center part of the US. I have never seen a 272 in green either. Those exhaust manifolds are unique. Very cool machine you have. Where do you live?

[georgeb64]

Thanks Don, I am in GA. Taking some adjustment to driving it as the left hand shifter seems un-natural to left hand drive guys.

Interesting old car though. The log headers have been on the car forever according to old pics, so I dont know if that was for the Aus market cars for twin exhaust or were fabricated after the old ones broke/wore out. Work good though.

Thanks for liking my car/truck...ute. I'm trying to figure more out about it. It was built on a sun liner frame, with bigger brakes, beefier springs, and larger wheel bearings. Actually rides pretty nice.

Here is a couple of more pics.

Any ideas on that color?

Thanks.

[scicala]

Originally Posted by georgeb64

HI folks, been a long time since I had an old Ford and I picked up a 55 UTE. Not a newbie to cars, but new to this group. Nice board y'all seem to have here.

My car is somewhere between a car & a truck & is certainly a poverty edition with no radio, heater or defrost. No turn signals, small hubcaps with a 6 volt system. What the heck its fewer things to mess with.

It has the stock 272, Holley 3 bolt, dual exhaust, and 3 speed on the column.

So far so good with it, thanks to a little help from a shop manual I bought.

I want to touch up on the engine and its a light green. My local auto parts guys have nothing close & on-line ones I see is what I think I need but computer screens tint things differently from what is there.

Anybody have a VHT or such favorite paint code, brand, or number they use which would match up pretty close to what I have? Thank you.

George

I love you're car. I never realized 3 on the tree shifters on right hand drive cars were on the left side of the steering column.

I'm no expert on engine colors, but have worked on 1954 Mercury's and that green color looks the same as they painted '54 Mercury 256 Y-Blocks.

[JeffB2]

Check out this link:https://www.google.com/search?q=1954...46%3B608%3B405 Since the 256 was one year only in the States I wonder if Ford exported their surplus to Australia? You might want to verify the block code: http://ford-y-block.com/Block%20identification.htm

[georgeb64]

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Hi fellas, thanks for the info and the links.

I'll get up under the car tomorrow and do some Dick Tracy work and verify what I have in there. The color sure looks like the Merc color.

From what I could find the 55's were exclusive 272's but since it was an "assembled" from this and that for sale as a specific car, a little verification is a good thing.

Appreciate it & thanks for liking the ute.
George

[frank long island]

nice car maybe the color was an export/ausie color only I like the utes as I now have a 64 ranchero that I will be posting pics of soon

[rick55]

The Oz utes were all 272's though anecdotally some 58's had 292's. They all used a single exhaust with the dreadful front crossover pipe. They all used the US station sedan Dana diff with 4.11 gears and 7.00x16" tyres. The rear brakes were larger than the sedan. The fronts are standard Customline.
I have owned mine for twenty years. Great to drive. The gear shifts on the manual
shift, which all 55's were, is on the let as you would end up hitting the door if you were constantly shifting. We didn't get the Fordamatic until 57 and surprisingly these have the shift on the right. Both set ups used a crossover mechanism to hook the shifters up to the left side of the gearbox. Our 58 manuals had a mirror image gearbox which put the shift on the right side of the box.
Our engines for that year were the light green colour.

[georgeb64]

Hi Rick, thanks for clearly first hand information. I expect to find the 272 numbers. The log headers are pretty neat and certainly an improvement over the crossover. I wouldn't imagine Ford would make twin exhaust for a no frills workhorse.

There are two hanging leather straps from the back wall behind the seat which secured the tire? Since there is an arch in the panel behind the seat I figure that is where the spare goes...correct? Looks a little tight for a modern wheel & tire though. Was wondering if I should get a space saver of some sort. Also is there supposed to be a regular bumper jack?

Appreciate the confirmation of the engine colors.

Was there a shop manual for the utes? I've looked all over and either find car or truck. If there is one, and you know of a spare around someones garage there, let me know please.

Thanks for the info Rick & all.
George

[rick55]

The 55 272 are *AS?......
The numbers are loosely based on the Canadian numbering system. All Oz engines are stamped just below the left head on the front of the block and may also be stamped behind the starter motor. The same number should be found stamped on the right front chassis leg just under the battery but may well be etched away by battery acid. There should a set of numbers stamped on the firewall BH BJ BN......
The spare wheel is supposed to fit in that recess, though cars did have quite thin 6.00x16" cross ply tyres. The bumper jack is the same as US model sedans.
Interestingly, your ute has the badge off a 57 Mainline on the tailgate. They sell for mega dollars here in Oz.
I have never seen a workshop manual specially for the ute. The most common manual here in Oz for these cars is a Gregory's manual, similar to a cutdown Chilton or Haynes manual.
It is possible to pick up owners manuals for the mainline but they are like rocking horse teeth. These cars were the workhouse for trucking companies and farmers and many can be found rusting in paddocks.

[RCM]

The car is great! Congratulations.

[georgeb64]

Thanks. Rick, great info. The VIN begins with BN and was found where you said. Interesting about the rear lid emblem, that was what was on the car. Although its not perfect, I think the fix up was pretty good...not like there were a bunch others around to compare as the work went along. Do you think the indents on the rear fender well chrome trim should be blacked? They look pretty sporty as is. I just think its a cool old car/truck...ute

The license plate on the car is NT Outback Australia. Is the NT for Northern Territory?

My daughter is coming your way. She is going to school in Melbourne at the University. Maybe I'll get a chance to come visit and meet up with you around Christmas time.

Thanks for the help.

George

Down in the shop now; and found a raised cast on the block by the distributor. It is ECG. According to the charts its a 55-57, 272, used in cars & trucks, typically Dearborn casting. Sound right?

[s55mercury66]

George, your Ute is really nice! Sorry, but that is all the info I can add at this time. Very nice

[JeffB2]

I think Ford missed the boat by not having a U.S. version of the Ute back in the 50's I bet it would have been a seller on this side of the pond too.

[Talkwrench]

Yes the Northern territory is correct for the number plate.. SO unusual for cars to head your way.. normally the other way around.. Nice rig!

[rick55]

I would be more than glad to catch up at Christmas but I am a long way from Melbourne, 2000 miles! If you are in Melbourne over Christmas you have some good weather and opportunity to check out more than a couple of old main lines. Contact the 49-59 ford club based in Melbourne. They have a website and I feel sure would welcome you.
As mentioned number on the bulkhead is a bit of a mystery on Oz Customlines and Mainlines. It actually denotes what model it is but there is a chassis number stamped on the chassis which is seldom used. It appears that the id stamped on the firewall is a production based number. All our cars were sourced out of Canada as Ford Australia is owned by Ford Canada
The chrome detail on the rear wheel wells is sometimes blacked out, though I can't remember if they were from the factory. I would imagine they probably were.
And as Talkwrench (Rob) mentioned NT is the prefix for Northern Territory. If it was a NT car it will probably still have some red dust still in the chassis rails. The mainline utes were the heavy duty work utes throughout Australia at the time.

[Daves55Sedan]

Originally Posted by JeffB2

I think Ford missed the boat by not having a U.S. version of the Ute back in the 50's.

We had the Courier sedan delivery wagon instead of the UTE here in the U.S.


http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/a...er/55wgn-8.jpg

[mercman from oz]

Enclosed are some pictures of this 55 Ute when Ted of Cambria, California owned it.
You will notice that it has the same Northern Territory Plates attached as when Ted owned it.
Ted sold it & it had sign writing added which really detracted from its good looks.
It is great to see that this car is back to looking as it should look.
These cars are rare in Australia these days, & being able to locate one in such good condition is a real bonus. The 57 & 58 models, which share the same 55/56 body are more plentiful. Congratulations on owning such a great car.

[georgeb64]

Thank you all for the responses and information. That explains the CA license plate that was in the car 55 UTE. I bought the car from a private collector in NC who had it in FL but on loan to a dealer friend. Car seems to have traveled more miles in a trailer than ever on the road...sordid stories with old cars eh? So it was a crowd attraction to get folks into see the new cars I reckon. I felt it should be driven, so I spent some time & $ refurbing things, and detailing out some of the past abuse. I've been driving it...most folks can't even figure out what it is & when I tell the story of the its they look at me like I have 27 heads.

That withstanding, folks really like the old guy. I reckon though most utes were pretty well abused on the farms from the first day. When I'm done enjoying it, I hope it returns 'home'.

Take care. George

[rick55]

Here's another ad for a mainline ute, 58 model.



With price of the basic car listed as £1410 - the price of an average house in those times, it equates to 2.4 times that for the US $. It works out to roughly US $3350. The average wage was apx £1000 or $2400 dollars so they were a very expensive vehicle for the day - even more so in 1955, we didn't have hire purchase in Oz in those days.