I have had a love for the 1948-52 Ford trucks for as long as I can remember.  When looking through some of my Dad's slides I found this photo from when I was around 3 or 4 years old.  It may be what seeded my obsession.

Truck was brought from Tennessee to Michigan in 1962 by George, whom I assume was the original owner, he used it to move produce between his farm and his vegetable stand 3 miles away.  He bought a new truck in 1972 and put the truck in the barn.  It was bought by his neighbor Marvin in the Fall of 2008 with 9236 original miles and reconditioned over the Winter.  He showed it the Summer of 2009 and I bought it in the Fall of 2009. 

Running with the Big Dogs.

After much searching I found BedBolts.  The first picture shows what you get with each anchor.  The large threaded part bolts through the bed, you can then thread in an anchor or plug.  I used 1/2" anchors in 4 places to tie down the tractor, with angle iron across tying in each pair to spread out the load.  By counter sinking them in and painting them black they just blend away when the plug is installed.  I plan to install some 3/8" BedBolts on each edge to tie smaller things down or bolt storage boxes down.

New lower racks.  I wanted lower racks for better visibility out the back and so they would not have to be removed to display items in the back

Barrel Nuts make for a nice finished look. Planned to stain the racks black after they aged a year but a sample I tried just did do it for me.

As you can see, a year later I have stained the new racks, I went dark green instead of black.   Also flipped the tires to black wall.

My intent with a dark stain was to have the rack blend into the total look of the truck instead of saying look at me.  I had custom stain mixed at a Lowe's paint department.

I wanted to have some music, more than what an AM radio would give, but not big dollars.  Also wanted to keep truck 6 volts.  Bought these powered speakers for under $25 shipped off the net. They run on 4 AA batteries or AC adapter.

Cut a piece of hardboard (heavy cardboard material) to fit the original speaker hole.  Extra holes go over tabs on dash for original speaker mount.  Foam under metal straps is just for traction so they don't move around.

Mounted in dash.  I painted the board flat black to blend the speakers into the board when grill is mounted.  The wire draped across the ignition key is the audio in to the amp that drives the speakers coming out ash tray hole.  Cut the wall adapter off and used the cord to connect into a switched 6 volt contact on back of header blower switch.  Be sure you hook it up correctly for positive ground.

All buttoned up.  iPod plugs in and rides in ash tray.  If I bought one of the new iPod Nanos I could even close the ash tray.  The amp was small enough that it wedged between the ash tray bracket and the glove box.  I could reach the off switch if I really had to by pulling the ash tray but I just leave it on all the time.  You do have to be careful not to short out the plug when it isn't connected or it will make noises in the speakers.