A Brief History of The Ford Ton Truck

Written by: Mark Williams

Although the Model T has been used in commercial service since its inception in 1908, it wasn’t until 1917 that the Ford Motor Company produced their first commercial vehicle on a permanent bases. This vehicle was the 1-ton truck chassis. This truck was offered to commercial buyers as an addition to the regular car bare chassis. More than anything else the new Ford truck resembled the various aftermarket 1-ton truck conversion of the car chassis, which had been available for many years before. The new truck was basically the car chassis with but featured a new much stronger frame, 2 foot longer wheel base, stiffer rear suspension, artillery-type rear wheels with solid rubber tires, and similar to the conversions, a rugged worn-gear drive differential that was available in two gear ratios; standard 7:1 and the optional 5 1/6:1.

One of the more interesting aspects of the new 1-ton chassis was the new rear springs. Yes springs! There were actually 2 quarter-elliptic springs mounted transversely end-to-end rather than the single cross-mounted cantilever spring used on the passenger cars. Other than the rear springs, differential, drive shaft, and few other minor parts, all other parts were exactly the same as the passenger car, including the engine and transmission and front axle assembly.

There were many body manufactures for these new chassis, but the most prominent were: Columbia, New York General Merchandise, Mifflinburg, Calumet, and American Body Company. There were bodies available to fit almost any commercial application. There were stake bodies, fire trucks, busses, panel delivery, dump trucks, tanks trucks, bottle delivery, and many more. In January 1924, consistent with a new Ford policy of factory-sponsored bodies, Ford Motor Company announced a new Ford designed cab for the 1 ton truck chassis. Their sloping windshields could identify the first production of these units and open sided C shaped daylight opening. By March 1924 Ford Motor Company was offering 8 different combinations of completely equipped trucks (chassis with body and cab) Ford would have entered this lucrative truck market earlier were it not for a concern that it would have imposed an economic hardship on the independent truck body builders and thereby avoiding ill will.

In 1925 Ford was very active in the truck market and added several new bed types. The first to be added was the 8-foot platform-stake bed announced on December 24, 1924. In the spring of 1925, when truck sales were taking off, Ford introduced a fully in closed body. The new body was fully compatible with all cataloged vocational beds/bodies

In 1925 the bare chassis was priced at $365.00, which was $5.00 less than the 1924 chassis. The C-Cab body was an additional option priced at $65.00 and the closed cab was only $20.00 more. Truck production continued until the demise of the Model T in June 1927. Of little known fact TT truck production actually continued through the summer of 1927 after the production of the passenger cars ended in June. No one knows for sure why, but it is believed that it continued due to it’s popularity in the commercial industry. Eventually truck production ended since Ford manufacturing processes was based on a high degree of passenger car interchangeability and the supply of parts were fully interwoven. It was for this reason to expect that the arrival of a new car would usher in brand new 1-ton truck, a situation that was publicly acknowledged by Ford. In 1927 over 40,000 1-ton trucks were built in the various cab/body combination. The TT truck was eventually replaced in 1928 by its big brother the 1.5 ton Model AA.