Sales Literature

Ford created, designed and published various kinds of truck sales literature to hand out to the general public. These are usually in color, contain large pictures of the various interior and exteriors available and have a general discussion of options. Sales Literature is useful for restoration details and fun to own and collect to show along with your truck. The different kinds of sales literature available for Ford trucks include brochures, folders, postcards, press releases,sales bulletins and annual reports.

Parts Books

Ford compiled and published comprehensive Parts Books for its cars and trucks.They have both a text and an illustration section, and will cover every single part in your truck. In some years the body and chassis parts sections are in the same book and in other years they are in two separate books. There are blow up illustrations of the parts, along with the part name and number. The illustrations show subassemblies and give a great deal of information for when you are reassembling your truck, along with identifying the proper parts.  Equipped with these books, you will no longer have to put up with parts vendors selling you the wrong part.

Dealer Albums

Generally, only once a year Ford would sell to each of its dealers one Data Book and Color/ Upholstery Album for the Ford trucks for that specific model year. These truck books, sometimes called "Dealer Albums" were never given to the general public. Moreover, many were thrown out by thoughtless dealers to make space for the next model year. They are therefore rare, hard to find, and true collector's items. The Data Books are usually profusely illustrated with interior, exterior, options and accessory choices. The Color and Upholstery Albums have swatches of the actual upholstery and paint colors available at that time. They also include the code numbers.

Owners Manuals

These are the glove box booklets that give a consumer basic information about the operation and maintenance of his truck. They give the Ford truck owner a general idea of how to operate the various Ford features and accessories.

Shop Manuals

Ford designed and printed Shop Manuals with the detail and specifics necessary to effectively maintain and repair their trucks. These Shop Manuals contain the most complete information available for Ford trucks. Topics include engine, transmission, drive line, brakes & suspension, electrical, exhaust and much more. They are essentially "how to fix it" books   with detailed pictures, diagrams, symptoms, tests, etc. However, they do not include wiring diagrams. If you own a Ford truck and want to work on it yourself, this is the only Shop/Service Manual you will need, along with the Wiring Diagrams discussed below.

Wiring Diagrams

Ford Motor Company usually published the wiring diagrams for its cars and trucks separately from its shop manuals. Generally, Ford trucks have their own wiring diagrams, separate from those for cars. These illustrate, in diagram form, the various circuits and wiring components as well as their placement in the vehicle.

Paint Chips

These are actual paint samples showing the customer the colors available for his truck in that model year. They are usually the size of a large postage stamp and have the color codes along with the color. These are very useful in restoring trucks, because they help you to find the correct color for your specific model.

Bulletins

Periodically, the Ford Parts & Service Division published confidential Service Bulletins to deal with specific repair and maintenance issues as they arose in order to update their Shop Manuals. Service Bulletins are usually detailed and specific as to one or two problems that were not known at the time the Shop Manual was published. As to these problems, they frequently will give much information, often with diagrams and illustrations.