California 1965 Buick Riviera + 1965 Ford F100

New member in the family

I ended up purchasing a 1965 Ford F100 from a Mecum Chicago Auction.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/CH1021-468807/1965-ford-f100-pickup/

It was poorly described in the auction itself. They only posted a walkaround video 8 hours before the auction and I had to manually transcribe the VIN from the image. Here is how they described it and the actual info:

  • 327 CI V-8 engine – False. It appears to have a 352 FE (well as best as you can assume – this engine makes sense for the year).
  • 4-speed manual transmission – True
  • Power brakes – False. It has no power assisted brakes
  • Alloy wheels – True
  • Interior upholstered in custom Diamond stitched Black suede – Garbage. It is a tied-on velour seat cover hiding the original – very ripped – seat
  • Edelbrock Performer intake and carburetor – True
  • Twin I-beam front – Well yes, that is standard for this vehicle
  • Custom dual exhaust – True

Some other stuff I’ve learned

  • It has an aftermarket air cleaner (well, that was obvious from the pictures)
  • A remanufactured distributor, but still points-style
  • An electric fuel pump – and they didn’t remove the old manual one
  • It has an aftermarket ignition switch
  • No keys for the door locks
  • No seat belts (they weren’t standard in 1965)
  • Broken fuel gauge
  • One license plate light wire is cut
  • It has an original radio – but it has no original dash slots for a speaker. This is confusing and unusual. Posting on forums, nobody could explain why it doesn’t have a speaker slot
  • It has a crappy 80s or 90s tape-deck with some bolted on speakers
  • Its an aftermarket universal antenna that is broken
  • It has an aftermarket universal driver-side mirror. Unfortunately they welded the original mirror holes
  • Original head-liner
  • Presumably aftermarket carpet
  • An aftermarket Tachometer (which is incorrectly wired to the lights)

I was able to find a bit more (very recent) history on the truck. Classic.com is now up-to-date after I shared with them the matching VINs:

https://www.classic.com/veh/1965-ford-f100-pickup-f10dl630662-ZpP8jBp/

Looks like it was auctioned at Mecum Chicago in 2014 but received a high bid of $6k

https://www.mecum.com/lots/CH1014-201231/1965-ford-f100-pickup/

Claims 390 CI and “recent restoration”. Interesting these Ford FE engine blocks are notoriously difficult to ID but in 1965 only a 352 CI was available, 360/390 CI didn’t come until 1968.

The only sure-fire way to determine is to measure bore and stroke. Stroke will indicate whether its a 352/360 versus 390, so I can confirm or deny the 390 claim (it would be awesome if it is). Measuring bore would be tricky, but if its not a 390 then I’ll just assume its the original 352.

Interestingly it does appear to have headers ID’d as: C8AE-H which are stricter emissions headers available from 1968 onwards (Source: https://www.fordfe.com/c8ae-h-heads-t2579.html). Of course, these could be fit to a 352, but a potential signal that the engine may not be original, so opens up other possibilities.

So next steps:

  1. Measure stroke to verify if a 352/360 versus 390
  2. If a 390, cheer! If a 352/360… assume its a 352 and expect to never really know

Source: http://www.fordification.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37092 

E engine displacements Displacement Bore Stroke
CI----Bore-------------------Stroke
332 4.000 in (101.6 mm) 3.300 in (83.8 mm)
352 4.002 in (101.7 mm) 3.500 in (88.9 mm)
360 4.052 in (102.8 mm) 3.500 in (88.9 mm)
361 4.047 in (102.8 mm) 3.500 in (88.9 mm)
390 4.052 in (102.9 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
391 4.052 in (102.9 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
406 4.130 in (104.9 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
410 4.054 in (103.0 mm) 3.98 in (101.1 mm)
427 4.232 in (107.5 mm) 3.784 in (96.1 mm)
428 4.132 in (105.0 mm) 3.98 in (101.1 mm)

And then it was sold at a 2018 Mecum auction for $8k:

https://www.mecum.com/lots/CH1015-224121/1965-ford-f100-pickup/

I also found this “Sold” listing from a dealer in Illinois. It contains a link to an August 2nd 2019 video and the images are hosted on a wordpress folder dated 2019/06 so I believe this isn’t just a re-post of the Mecum sale, but was another sale. No word on price.

http://www.americanclassicrides.com/listings/1965-ford-f100-pick-up/

ca65riv