Story and photos by Dan Laity, Fremont, OH
Edited by Mark J. Smith - Editor JeepTruck.com
Dan first contacted us by email and included a picture of his ‘59 FC-150 crossing a stream. We took one look and immediately knew we had to share this amazing truck with our readers. Dan’s story of how he found his truck and restored it follows. His story is an inspiration to all Jeep Truck owners and what can be done with these American classics.

Dan writes; my FC is a 1959 wide track FC-150. It must have been 2007 when I bought it from Lester Bolander after I found it in a field next to his barn in Rocky Ridge, Ohio. He was into restoring tractors and was 80+ years old and decided he was never going to get to it. I paid $150 plus another $75 to rent a trailer to haul it home.

This is what I brought home in 2007
I started perusing eBay for parts and ran across a guy in Dayton who was parting out his FC-170, I bought his cab for $250 which had been sandblasted and primered. I had no idea the cabs were different for 150's and 170's and I had planned to fix my old doors and use them. There were some differences in doors from year to year but ultimately I was able to use them both; I got lucky on several levels.

I started working in earnest on the truck in 2008 or so and thank God for digital cameras and the internet. I would photograph everything as I was taking it apart or before I took it apart. That ultimately helped me to figure out what went where when it came time to put it back together. The web was great, there is a published link with instructions and photos for just about everything I needed to do from rebuilding the transfer case to installing brakes.
This is an FC-170 cab I purchased on E-bay from a guy in Dayton OH. I was able to make it work on my 150 so I think that technically I have an FC-160.
Here is the FC - somewhat stripped down, this was taken in 2009
Here is the chassis, engine and drivetrain mostly complete, about 2011 or so....
Next, the engine turned; again I was lucky and I actually got it to fire over before I removed it. It is running the 75 horse F-head engine. I did most everything myself. The only things I did not do were the engine, I had that professionally rebuilt and the differentials; I only opened them up and cleaned them out and refilled them. Pretty much everything else came off, got cleaned, primed, painted, tagged, and set aside ready for reassembly. I run my own printing shop so I had a 55 gallon drum of suitable solvent and boxes of plastic disposable gloves and I went through a lot of both degreasing the old jeep.

I put in new springs, of course a new master cylinder, new wheel cylinders, new shoes and I had the drums turned. Also new shocks, got a steering wheel at a military vehicle show it is not from an FC but it fit perfectly, got lucky again. Rewired the entire thing (had to learn a lot in the process) and I now run a fuse block with multiple bus fuses instead of a few circuit breakers that it originally had. It had a 12 volt generator but I swapped it out for a 12 volt single wire alternator. I also swapped in an electric wiper motor.
I learned how to do basic welding, fixed body parts myself, I primed and painted it myself and it shows. It is one of those cars that looks better the farther away you are!

It is actually pretty fun to drive, I drive a full size van so I am used to and like sitting up high. Although being in front of the wheels takes some getting used to. It is slow, 45 mph is a comfortable speed but I just got a fully rebuilt Warn overdrive and hope to figure out how to install that this winter.

The trailer is actually a "loan" from my cousin, but I am working hard to weasel him out of it. Near as I can tell from the serial number it is a 1947 vintage. The deal is that I would get it on a long term "Loan" and I agreed to clean and paint it. It was actually in pretty good shape; a barn find.

This shot was taken this summer after the all Ohio Vintage Truck Jamboree
The yellow caution light is my "Don't hit me I am driving as fast as I can!" light.
1950's kiddie carnival ride I found and dragged home - I hope to put it on a chassis and drive it around when I show my FC-150. I call the carnival ride an FC-37.5 as it is quarter scale
Editor’s note:
Dan we certainly got lucky when you shared your story with all of us, job well done.