Yes, there was a good Allis Chalmers dealer in that area called Lift & Equipment - New Orleans & branch in Baton Rouge, it was run by a man called, Harry Tabony. They had strong presence in the port operations in LA. Then things started to unravel in the early '80s.
Harry introduced this Yankee to the best etoufee I've every had on a business trip to see a customer called Ryan Stevedores in the mid 70s.

What a great post with lots of great info! Our shop lift is an old 8,000 # capacity AC, diesel D262, wet clutch. Love to hear that old girl run!
Being an old Clark guy dating back to the early 80's- and then watching the GPS/GCS arrive, I was more than ever convinced that the old C500/355/685 series had been the finest truck ever built. But I gotta admit- over the last several years I have seen features such as hydrostatic steering and lift cylinder types on old AC machines that seemed years ahead of the competition. There are still quite a few old AC trucks in the Baton Rouge area. Apparently there was a very strong dealer here prior to the saturation by Clark in the 70/80's!

MEngr,
For the record AC started using the Continental flat head F163. F227 engines around 1972/73 to replace the AC engine as part of a "cost reduction" program. What a mistake. Then later went to a private labeled Teledyne Continental overhead valve engine TM27 & Waukesha engines for lifts above 6K capacity around 1980/81 to try to regain lost market share & reputation. And then in 1982 start using the Mitsubishi 4G53/54 engine and transaxle in their "World Truck to compete with "off shore" competition.
Then in1984 AC lift trucks died the death of a rag doll & AC corporate disappeared of the NYSE.

MEngr
I started with AC in Harvey, IL in Dec. '67 in the Tech Pub dept. - one floor down from Engineering. Sam Comfort recruited me out of college. My name is John Johnson, Mark Kemner (you may recall) & I were roomates. Who U B? My personal e-mail is in my profile if yo uwish to respond there.

SeaLevel;
The truck's S/N can be found on the right side stamped on the frame just behind the engine's compartment door. It will be made up of a group of 3 letter followed by 5 numbers. The first letter is going to tell you at which one of the four production facilities produce it, the second letter will tell you what month it was built and the last letter defines the year it was built. The IC engines used were AC G153, AC G230, Waukesha FC133, also used were diesel D262 & D175. My first company I worked for after college was AC Engineering-Harvey, Ill, and I learned that there are other systems that make up a lift truck then the power package. Unless you have a great deal of free time to spare, to locating brake, drive axle, cooling system, hydraulic system, lift mechanism, and other major wear items I would not advise you to get involved with this unit.

Spot on Viper - as the adage goes "Pay Me or Pay Often Many Times" later. When I was selling I would run into customer that bought trucks off the internet "cause the were "cheaper" than the the unit I was offering with 90 day P & L labor. They eventually would tell me the made a mistake our service guys work on this "cheap lift often @ $80/hour + travel time + parts.. I wanted to but never did say "I told you so".

A lift truck that potentially is 27 year old or greater (he doesn't have a truck s/n yet - only the engine s/n & that ain't much help) is like that song goes " Nothing But Heartaches" and a boat "a hole in the water you keep pouring $$ into".

Used common sense
A good forklift is never cheap and a cheap forklift is never good.
If a new forklift is $20,000, a good 10+ year old unit is $10,000, a 20+ year old lift that run is $5000. That means a $1000 forklift is JUNK.
Be careful

All thank you for input! Found important details today:
Four cylinder teledyne continental motor F163
Make: A7ME140
Catalog number on mast:4821522
Serial on plate on engine:279710
All tires shot.

Without the model base model number & s/n number it is difficult to tell what engine it had. But here are some facts - I worked for AC for 14 year until 1982 & was the Product Mgr for the engine lifts.
1. The truck could also have an Allis Chalmers G153 engine in it or the Mitsubishi 4G153 or 154.
2. Under the Allis-Chalmers (Buda) name, trucks were made from 1953 until 1983/4. The manufacturing tools & design were sold to a company in Columbus Ohio & sold trucks under the banner ACMH - that company "died the death of a rag doll" and then Kalmar took over & marketed products under the brand Kalmar AC. Then Kalmar AC went out of the manufacturing business and had an OEM agreement with Komatsu to sell trucks (with red paint & different decals). Then Komatsu bought out Kalmar AC, later the name was changed to TUSK (same as Komatsu but with red paint different decals). About 2 years ago the TUSK name disappeared and Komatsu reorganized - US headquarters now in Illinois, Parts out of Tennessee, assembly in South Carolina.
Old Allis Chalmers parts "might" be available from Komatsu but those parts are some place near Kansas City, Mo (in an old mine shaft, I'm told).
3. With this history, in a nut shell, parts will be really hard to get in my opinion.
4. Don't get romanced by "low" hour meter reading - older hour meters (non digital) are a "fast moving" service part items & can be & will be changed faster than one changes underwear.
5. My opinion is keep your hands in your pockets off your wallet an/or check book & politely walk away & go shopping for a different dress. You won't find a good one for $1000. Remember that with todays scrap metal prices - you can get about $500 for a completely dead forklift.
6. If this unit was made by Allis-Chalmers the s/n number will be stamped in the frame.

4 cylinder Continental mostly in the little ones. Waukesha in some. Continental 6 cylinder and AC 6 cylinder in the bigger ones. There shouldn't be much problem getting regular service parts and motor parts.

Everyone out there correct me if I am wrong, I believe they have the Hercules 4 cylinder engines or the Wakusha.

It is powered with propane and was circulating coolant through radiator when running. Did AC make their own engines?

Which engine is in it?

Depending in the model, parts can be very difficult to obtain.
AC changed hands a number of times and did keep very good parts records during the changes. Komatsu owns the parts rights now, but has let go everyone they had with any knowledge.
Later model Kalmar ACs were 100% Komatsu older could have been built by Kalmar or Allis Chalmers or Budda...