well, your great grandpa might be right about the carb, but he would probably be right if he said the same thing about most any part of any truck of that era.

That was just after the end of World War 2 and you could sell anything you had for sale because people had been without for so long because of all the consumer goods going to the war effort. Ask gramps about this. America and the Allies came out of the war triumphant and had the only manufacturing facilites with which to produce anything at all, because all the Axis powers had been bombed to smitherines, so had no manufacturing facilities. America was king.....PERIOD.

What I'm getting at is.....the parts didn't have to be great, people would buy them anyway.

As for the carb on your truck, I agree with gramps, but there is another way to look at it. If you are just wanting to get this truck running, the cheapest and easiest way would be to rebuild the stock carb.

Here's a kit on ebay for $30 shipped to your house. If you were my great grandson, I'd order it for you. (I do have great grandkids).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD-...QQcmdZViewItem