Between 1961 and 1966, Ford built some pickups that didn’t look quite right. Ford truck enthusiasts call these machines the Wrongbed pickups.
The curious saga of the Ford Wrongbeds begins here, with the company’s new Styleside pickups introduced in 1961 (above). In a departure from conventional U.S. pickup truck construction, Ford body engineers combined the cab and bed in a single welded assembly, which the company—with great fanfare—called “Integrated.” Note there is no gap between the passenger cab and the pickup box. They’re one unit. This style of construction was intended to provide a more sleek and contemporary look, and it also reduced the number of body panels and welds required, reducing manufacturing cost. While some folks call these trucks “Unibody,” borrowing the Chrysler trade name, that is a bit of a misnomer. There was still a conventional ladder frame underneath and only the bodies were unitized, if you will.
Actually, this mode of pickup truck construction is not so unusual today. You can find integrated cargo beds (in both unitized and body-on-frame versions) on the 2004-on Honda Ridgeline, the 2001-2013 Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT, and Australia’s ubiquitous Ford Falcon and Holden Utes, among others. But when Ford attempted the design way back in ’61, a serious problem soon arose. Owners discovered that when the cargo box was loaded, the doors would no longer open. Or close. Body panels rippled and tore. The new body shell design was insufficiently rigid, twisting out of shape when loads were applied.
As Ford rushed to find a remedy for this embarassing problem, there was a solution close at hand, fortunately. The automaker’s Flareside, 4×4, and high-load capacity pickups were still built on the traditional separate-cab-and-box plan, and the Styleside models of the HD trucks used a ’57 to ’60-style pickup box, complete with round tail lamps and the previous generation’s styling and sheet metal parts. It looked weird, but at least it worked. F-100 Styleside pickups with the old-style separate cab and bed were hurried into production and offered alongside the Integrated models in 1962, and in mid-1963, the Integrated body style was quietly dropped altogether.
As we can see above, the pickup cab and cargo box don’t really match at all. The character lines don’t align and the styling themes are remarkably different. You can see how the Wrongbed label soon appeared. But this odd sheet-metal mashup didn’t seem to deter Ford pickup buyers much at the time, and it certainly doesn’t bother Ford pickup enthusiasts today. If anything, the Wrongbed feature generates collector interest and gives folks something to talk about. The Ford light truck line got a complete makeover in 1964 with conventional cab and bed (below) but even then, the oddball Wrongbed continued on through 1966 on one model, the long-wheelbase pickup with 9-ft. cargo box.
Thanks, this was all news to me. I knew about the weird Studebaker pickups with Dodge beds. They would make a good story too.
I worked at a Ford garage in 1967. There was one of these trucks sitting on the rear lot, apparently abandoned. This truck had an ugly hole in the back of the cab and into the gas tank. Remember, the gas tank was behind the seat! The passenger door wouldn’t open either. I didn’t realize what I was looking at until I read this article.
Sounds like a precursor to the Pinto.
Before 1957 they didn’t have wide beds, & nobody really thought about it being that odd. Besides that they were more for work than beauty.
Good to know! I’ve always wondered why my pickup’s box didn’t match the cab!
Fascinating. Even though I’ve seen that, I was not aware what happened. Seems like a major faux pas. I wonder if the consequences, especially the functional problems, hurt market share.
Looking for an edit button but by “faux pas” I meant “miscalculation”.
I like them all. Wish I had them. I think their really cool.
I wonder how they over came those problems with the Ranchero and El Camino over came these problems?
The F trucks being on truck type chassis flex big time.
Ranchero, Elcos, Aussie Holden, Falcon and Valiant utes are all uni body cars and actually very strong.
We have one of these trucks in the barn. Went on the Wally Byam Caravan around the world.
I had a 66 F-250 with the long separation bed. Owned it 7 years . Wish I still had it.
I think another reason ford used these beds on the 4 wheel drives is because the 4×4 chassis’s wheelbase was 8″ shorter than the 2wd.
I have seen those wrong bed trucks before and just thought somebody had either changed the bed or put a bed on a cab and chassis model. Never knew they came factory like that. I prefer the flareside anyway, they did something similar with those by using the same fenders all the way up until the 1979 models—-they just didn’t quite look right with the 67 and up models. In 1980 they went to a newly designed fiberglass fender which fit the cab better, but the bed and tail gate was the same one first used in the 60’s! Talk about getting your money out of the stamping dies!
Ford Australia used the same tailgate on utes and van 71-98. And the tray lining screw in panels went back to 66. Fuel tanks interchange 66-98 also. Though various versions but all bolt in the same hole.