When you’re a kid, ice cream is an occasional treat. But once you’re an adult, you can have a coneful of cookies and cream whenever you want (although your doctor may think otherwise). If you become the next owner of our Pick of the Day, you—and your friends, family, and even your whole block—can have the delightful dessert on demand. You can find this 1969 Ford F-250 Good Humor ice cream truck listed on ClassicCars.com by a dealer in Rogers, Minnesota.
Founded in 1920 in Youngstown, Ohio, Good Humor brought its ice cream creations to neighborhoods with an initial fleet of 12 freezer trucks. Kids and adults alike knew one was coming because the driver would ring a set of bells to announce his or her impending arrival. By the 1950s, that number had grown to more than 2,000, each one following a tight schedule, stopping at the same corners at the same time each day. According to Good Humor, “By 1960, each truck carried a menu of more than 85 treats, including creative ones like Banana Split bars and apple pie on a stick.” Through the decades, Good Humor switched truck flavors, going from Ford to Chevrolet and back to Ford. If you look at this page on the Good Humor website, you’ll see a Ford truck that looks an awful lot like the 1969 F-250 profiled here. Who knows? It may be this exact vehicle.
Unfortunately, a variety of factors made Good Humor decide to focus on distributing its products through grocery stores and retire its fleet of trucks in 1978. Some of those iconic vehicles were bought by distributors while others were purchased by individuals. In a 2021 article, Motor Trend estimated that less than 100 of them had survived.
Clearly, this is one of them, albeit it did benefit from a restoration. With the exception of the front end, everything was customized for ice cream delivery. The Hackney Brothers Body Company created the refrigerated rear compartment for housing frozen treats. Of course, this truck comes equipped with bells; there’s also a functional light bar on the roof to minimize the chances of people missing this truck’s arrival. If you look at certain photos in the gallery of the ad on ClassicCars.com, you’ll notice the driver-side door has been replaced with a solid panel—if the driver needs to exit the truck to pass out Original Ice Cream on a Stick Bars or Giant King Cones, (s)he just gets off the reupholstered black vinyl seat and walks through the opening and down the steps on the passenger side.
Despite starting as a work truck (with some sweet employee perks), this F-250 has some surprising features. Although there’s not a V8 under the hood, the one-barrel 240ci inline-six is connected to an automatic transmission. A closer look shows this truck not only has power brakes, but also power steering as well. In addition, the roof can be folded open to let in a breeze or closed to keep out the elements.
Even without its refrigerated section packed with sugary delights, this 1969 Ford F-250 Good Humor ice cream truck is appealing on multiple levels. For $109,995, you can buy a cherished part of your childhood, a cool collectible, a vehicle for your business or bed-and-breakfast, or a soon-to-be-popular addition to big family get-togethers.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com
