Ford E83W Pickup trucks.
The history of my first Ford pickup.
[back to my own E83Ws page]
Pickup No.1
Back in 1989 whilst holidaying in North Wales, I came across this sorry looking E83W pickup 'resting' in a field,
with only a handful of very corroded Morris Minors for company.
I little digging uncovered its past: NCA 129 was built in 1956, and operated by Wrexham Farm Services,
until in the early 1960s it moved over to Windsor Garage in Llandudno, North Wales. There it was used by
garage owner Bruce Turner, for light recovery duties until he sold up, some years later. Bruce turned
his attentions to running a caravan site up in the Conway valley of North Wales, taking the little pickup with
him. For many years it served as a runaround until bodily decay rendered it too bad to continue using.
NCA was parked up in a field, and left to moulder, in a new coat of red oxide paint.
I got talking to Bruce about elderly motors, and it came up in conversation that he had some Minors and a
Thames sat in a field ... by this point I was getting interested and was soon on the scene, weighing up the
'finds'. The Minors were pretty shot and good only for spares, but the E83W was another matter.
Although very very rough, it had to be worth rescuing even though at the time I knew nothing about them.
After many lengthy negotiations, a deal was struck, and later in the year Dad's XJ6 was pressed into service,
towing NCA back initially to a temporary storage yard near Stockport. After a while it was moved over to a lockup
in Cheadle, then went into my garage at our first house, and now nestles safely in a large garage alongside my other
truck at our new (old) house.
To date I've owned NCA 3 times! I had it for a few years and ended up buying the 2nd pickup truck. After a while
common sense suggested that I didn't need both, so NCA was sold. A few years later I heard of it again and, when
a phonecall advised that it was back on the market having had some work done on it, I purchased it back once more.
Some work had been done, but then it had been left outside on a pile of junk, so when I saw it the little truck
looked yet again very sorry for it. The inevitable happened and I rescued it again.
A few years passed and reluctantly I sold it on again for its restoration to continue. I maintained contact with its
new owner and it became clear that nothing much was happening. Eventually I believe it was sold again and I lost
touch for a couple of years.
Out of the blue, via this website, NCAs current owner contacted me advising that it was going on the market, and that
a friend of his was interested in customising it. Fearing what a customiser would do to this rare truck in fitting a
V8 under the bonnet, I rescued it once again and vow never to sell it again!
Currently she is sat in the garage alongside CJM and awaits a final push to get her re-assembled.
Having been taken apart by other people since I first found NCA, it is missing a few parts: steering column, good
screen frame, and some small brackets (eg number plate bracket) so if anyone can help please get in touch!
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