Hood Emblem question

[69F110]

I reckon this is directed towards Keith, Willowbilly3, 68F250 (Barry) and the other experts.

When I was in an Army School from April 2003-July 2003 at Ft. Leonardwood, MO., I saw a beautiful restored 1968 F100 SWB that was on display at the Ford Dealership in St. Roberts, MO.

Now, this was the cleanest, smoothest restoration I have ever personally seen. My wuestion though is this:

The hood emblem was a non-reflective emblem with the background done in black. Was that optional on the 68 (any model for 68)? I was under the thought process that 67 was the only year the non-reflective emblem was available, then from 68 on, the emblem was withh a reflector.

I did take some photos, so let me see if I can get them posted here for you all to look at...plus, this is one beautiful truck.

[69F110]

Alright,

I'm thinking I resized them small enough... so here they are.

[69F110]

some more pics...
Notice in the 1st one herenthat he has that hood emblem on there too.

[tazzman68]

From looking at the pics, the reason it has 67 emblems, is because it is a 67. Look at the picture of the dash, the pull style heater controls are from 67, not 68.

[FORDification]

The truck in the pics you posted is a very nice '67, but it's not a restoration. I saved the pics and lightened them up considerably in Photoshop and noticed the following details:

1) Those hood side emblems are definitely '67-only. A new Federal mandate for all '68 models required reflectors on all four corners. And the emblem's painted highlights were never offered in black, only red.

2)This truck has a '69 Ranger grille, but without the Ranger emblem that should be there.

3) What's up with the cheesy repair of the front cab mount?? What did he do, just rivet a piece of steel over the rust?

4) It's not painted the factory color(s). This truck has the chrome trim which goes around the base of the rear window area...something only used on tu-tone paint jobs. But a tu-tone paint job would have also required chrome trim on the tailgate, and there is none on this truck.

5) The painted letters on the tailgate on this truck are painted black, which Ford never did. They're supposed to be white. (As I sit here at work typing this, I can't recall what they did for black trucks, but any other color had those tailgate letters painted white.)

I've seen those hood ornaments before, but know very little about them. Not exactly a sought-after option in it's day.

[69F110]

I feel like such a novice. I actually looked at this truck. The guy at the Ford place said "it's a 68", and I reckon I cataloged it and never questioned it. I just couldn't figure out about the hood emblem...now that i look at them again, it does have the heater knobs.

Good eye for detail Keith...I never even registered those riveted plates on that cab mount. One day Keith, even I too shall be almost that good.

[Comet]

Keith, the only tailgate letter colors I've seen in something other than white, was on a white truck itself. They were black, everthing else I've seen was white, like you said, even the black trucks. I assumed this was the factory colors since I've seen it a couple times, but could be painted later by someone else.

[FORDification]

Keith, the only tailgate letter colors I've seen in something other than white, was on a white truck itself. They were black, everthing else I've seen was white, like you said, even the black trucks. I assumed this was the factory colors since I've seen it a couple times, but could be painted later by someone else.

Whoops....mistyped that. I meant to say I wasn't sure about the colors used on white trucks. I thought the letters would be black, but didn't want to say anything before I verified it as fact. (I mean, that would be SO unlike me, right?)

[willowbilly3]

You can buy red letters I think. I have seen them.

[bluef250]

A similar hood emblem was on the 1958 Ford my dad bought. This is the first "new" vehicle I can remember. There was one emblem on each fender. I see that the same emblem was used in 1959.

[68F250]

Hey that's a nice looking truck!!

As already mentioned, the grille is a '69. Looks like a Custom Cab (has the emblems) but the background color on the CC emblems should be a burnt orange (red), same for the hood side emblems. The '68 and '69 Custom Cab emblems have the black background. Wheel moldings were only used on the Ranger. The side "spears" look like '67s but it's hard to tell. Keith, you can see the trim that wraps around the back of the cab? Then I think the original paint was a two-tone. This tailgate is missing the trim piece plus the taillights should have the 3-screw trims, not 2-screw. White trucks could also have red lettered tailgates. Now, about the hood ornament, yes it was an oddball option. Interestingly, it's almost identical to the ornaments used on the '63 Falcon front fenders, has the same Ford crest inserts. Speaking of crests, that's a car line crest, the truck line crest is the lightning bolt and gear (a little bit of trivia). Hate to dog such a nice truck. Thanks for posting the pics!

[FORDification]

Whoops....guess I wasn't looking as hard as I thought. At first glance those Custom Cab emblems looked like the chrome trim around the base of the back window. I just looked again at the back of the cab after lightening the picture up and see that the rear cab trim is not there....so disregard all the talk above about tu-tone trim.

Good eye Barry!

[NM5K]

You can buy red letters I think. I have seen them.......

My white 74 has red letters on the tailgate. Factory...
Dunno about my 68...I never saw it's stock bed, and it ain't had one since
when it was built nearly...It's stahl "ute" bed is about the same age as
the truck...I often wonder what happened to it's original bed...
Probably scrapped by the ute bed installer I guess...MK