{"id":227079,"date":"2026-01-10T18:57:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T18:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227079\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T18:57:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T18:57:03","slug":"classic-1939-ford-flathead-v8-truck-from-coalfields-workhorse-to-showpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227079\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic 1939 Ford flathead V8 truck: From coalfields workhorse to showpiece"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bryan\u2019s parents had Valiants, a Ford flathead truck and a Bedford truck.<\/p>\n

Bryan\u2019s Ford flathead truck was bought from Brown Bros (NZ) Ltd in 2013. <\/p>\n

A mechanic gave him the heads up that it would be for sale.<\/p>\n

The owner knew Bryan would keep it standard and not rip it to pieces to make a hot rod. <\/p>\n

\" Bryan Southall has owned his 1939 Ford flathead V8 truck since 2013. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

\u201cThis particular 1939, 3-tonne Ford flathead V8 was imported from the United States and known as the barrel-nose model due to its distinctive front grille shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were made for two years, in 1938 and 1939.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Dual rear wheels. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

The petrol engine offers 95hp and has a four-speed crash gearbox, which requires double-clutching to change gears. <\/p>\n

The front axle has two wheels, and the rear axle has dual wheels. <\/p>\n

\" Bryan Southall prefers to keep as much of his Ford flathead truck in original condition only restoring where he needs to. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

\u201cBrown Bros used the truck right up until 1984,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the last rego, which is still stuck on the windscreen. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt had sat in a shed for nearly 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The truck was used as a support vehicle for Brown Bros water well drilling activities, and it was part of the early coal exploration for the Huntly coalfields.<\/p>\n

\" The truck worked from 1939 to 1984, and the cab is still in original condition. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

Bryan has no plans to carry out a full restoration. <\/p>\n

He appreciates the truck\u2019s history and loves the patina of the bodywork and original signwriting.<\/p>\n

\" Once he has done necessary restoration work, Bryan and his wife Viv will take their Ford flathead truck to truck shows. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just do the bare minimum to get it going again and compliant with modern requirements so we can start taking it to truck shows. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to keep everything as authentic and original as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryan and Viv\u2019s son Ken enjoys tinkering on old vehicles and has two cars of his own in the shed. <\/p>\n

The Southalls hope Ken\u2019s son continues the family passion for classic vehicles further down the track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryan\u2019s parents had Valiants, a Ford flathead truck and a Bedford truck. Bryan\u2019s Ford flathead truck was bought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[135530,106566,138,1859,4915,135533,79504,3146,135531,6210,71,2070,68549,305,424,135534,2686,111,139,69,5823,59611,135535,61,132053,23857,135532,115735],"class_list":["post-227079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-135530","tag-bryan","tag-business","tag-carved","tag-classic","tag-coalfields","tag-cows","tag-earth","tag-flathead","tag-ford","tag-from","tag-full","tag-grit","tag-have","tag-life","tag-milking","tag-moving","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-passion","tag-showpiece","tag-southall","tag-to","tag-torohangas","tag-truck","tag-v8","tag-workhorse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}