One of the last major programs under Henry Ford's direction at Ford Motor Company was an exciting new product line which would be known as the F-Series family of trucks. Although Ford had handed the reins of the company over to his grandson Henry Ford II in 1945, the senior statesman of Ford Motor Company still took an active interest in company plans, including plans for what would eventually become the immensely popular F-Series line of vehicles.

Sadly, the father of the American auto industry passed away at his home in Dearborn before his last great dream could be realized. Ford died April 7, 1947, and the F-Series truck was introduced the following year. The lineup for the new trucks included two Class 4 through 6 models, the Ford F-7 and the Ford F-8 -- Ford Motor Company's first "medium duty" trucks. The big trucks were powered by a newly developed gasoline-fueled Lincoln V-8 engine and had maximum Gross Vehicle Weight Ratings (GVWR) of 21,500 pounds.

Air brakes were introduced on the new big Ford trucks in 1949. By 1952, overhead valve engines had been introduced to the line and, the following year, an entirely new

F-Series was introduced.

The second-generation heavier duty "Fs" used a revised numbering system, going from single-digits to hundreds, and featured setback front axles and a high "greenhouse." The largest of the new trucks, the F-900, placed Ford in the Class 7 market segment for the first time.

Two years later, this branch of the Ford F-Series family was being offered with tubeless tires, wraparound windshields and a 12-volt electrical system.

In 1958, two important new engines -- a powerful Super Duty V-8 and the first Ford domestic diesel truck engine -- joined the F-Series powertrain lineup. The F-Series received new front-end styling, and the heavier weight classes began to take on their own distinct medium-duty and heavy-duty look.

In recognition of the fact that not every truck driver could bend steel in his or her bare hands, power steering became available across the board in the 1966 F-Series. Two years later, a diesel engine would be offered on the heavier trucks in the lineup.

Fueled in large part by F-Series success, Ford Motor Company in 1968 regained truck sales leadership after more than three decades. By 1969, power brakes and air conditioning would be offered as F-Series options, and the Kentucky Truck Plant, eventual home to North American F-Series Super Duty production, had opened.

When the F-Series was revised in 1980, significant changes would be included in all models, but the most extensively revised were the medium-duty models, almost completely redesigned for the new decade. ....

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