Hello Everyone,

I've been around Ford trucks literally my entire life. I grew up on a ranch in Montana, and was driving 3/4 ton Fords at the age of 2. I literally do not remember a time when I couldn't drive. Yes, at that age I couldn't reach the pedals , so my Dad would put the trucks in low range then he would stand in the back and throw hay out to the cattle and yell directions to me. When I took my driver's test at 15, the only thing I had trouble with was parallel parking, so my Dad had me practice with our non-power steering '74, trying to park between a tractor and a 2.5 ton cattle truck.

My first car, which I still have, was a '77 Mustang Cobra II, but early on I added a '79 Bronco to my stable. That first Bronco got traded in on my current '79 Bronco in 1994, which was mostly original when I bought it. It had the 400, C6, NP 205, Ranger XLT package, black on black with the chromatic reflective stripe package.



The Bronco was my daily driver for years in stock form. In 2004 I finally got around to installing a 4" lift kit and some 35" tires. I settled on 15x10" Ion polished wheels, but was never really satisfied with them.




In 2005 I was getting ready to restore one of my Mustangs, when the Bronco started dumping transmission fluid everywhere. The rig had 200k on it at that point, at least 100k since the motor had been touched, and it was a bit tire. I took the opportunity to upgrade to a big block, and had the transmission fully rebuilt as well.



In 2011, after a tremendous amount of work getting the factory stripes reproduced, my Bronco got a full cosmetic restoration.



I have been a member of various Bronco forums for years, but didn't venture here due to not owning a pickup truck, but last year I got the urge to have a pickup, so I bought a '77 F-150 4x4 from a friend.



I haven't done much with it yet, it has some electrical issues and it won't pass emissions testing. I just recently started working on getting the taillights working, apparently some shade tree mechanic installed the trailer wiring, and tapped into the factory harness in using those clip on wire taps that dig into the source wire. Not very waterproof...

And then I came across a Craigslist deal I couldn't pass up, a '79 F-150 Indianapolis 500 truck, which I picked up for $600. It has been rattle canned flat black, but it runs good. I'm planning to restore it to its full glory. It's a 2wd with the 302 and AT, pretty bare bones. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but will post those up soon.

I have been selling the chromatic stripe kits for the Bronco for a year and a half now, and am working on kits for longbed F-Series trucks as well. I hope to have those available in about a month. I also plan to reproduce the Indy 500 truck stripes, as they are identical in layout to the chromatic stripes. There is a gentleman reproducing those stripes, but I was horrified to hear how much he wanted for a set, and they are also completely incorrect. He does not have the cutouts for the fuel doors on the decals, stating that you have to "cut them yourself," which means they don't have the correct outlines. He also elected to print the lettering directly onto the door decals, which isn't correct. Not to mention he used the wrong font and size for all of the letters. It doesn't look much like the originals at all. Mine will be 100% accurate or I won't make them.

Yes, I can really get going when I talk about my rides, and this is just scratching the surface. I own 8 vehicles right now, all of them Fords, and I have plans for each and every one of them. I can't leave anything alone... This is my primary hobby and my passion. I have trouble getting enough shop time, my wife and 6 year old daughter need a lot of my time. But, I am nurturing my little tomboy's interest in cars carefully, and hope she will want to spend time at the shop with me as she grows up. So far, it's promising! She loves the Bronco, but I'd say she likes the Mustangs even better.

More information and pictures will be posted as I progress. I hope to have the Indy truck in paint this winter. I'll be using it today to pick up the new tires for the Bronco. I finally had enough of the Ion wheels on the Bronco, and pulled the trigger on a completely refurbished set of vintage wheels, Appliance Turbo Vecs, restored by Detroit Vintage Wheel. The tires are in, but I won't have the wheels until next week.

Thanks for reading! Anyone in the Portland, Oregon area is always welcome to come by and talk shop!

 

Nice to meet you, welcome to the site!

 

Hello, and welcome to FTE, that's a nice Bronco you have there (I have that same engine on a Thunderbird and it's AMAZING), and you seem to have plently of love for the dentside , I'll point you to the right chapters:

Go here for the Bronco: 1978 - 1996 Big Bronco - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

And here for the other trucks: 1973 - 1979 F-100 & Larger F-Series Trucks - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

It seems like you also have a bit of a commercial interest here, would you like to be contacted by an IB representative? otherwise it wouldn't be possible for you to promote your truck-related business, so please refrain from doing so.

 

Thanks. What is IB? I understand about sales related activity, I apologize if I crossed a line. It's certainly not a business for me, but I am trying to drum up interest to help me subsidize my own purchasing!

I snapped a couple of shots of my Indy truck yesterday:






Clearly I have my work cut out for me, but it is a solid platform to start off with. I will start a new thread dedicated to it when I seriously begin work on it. I drove it to work yesterday to pick up the new Bronco tires, and discovered the radiator has a hole in it. Water started creeping up over the hood as I was driving. I ordered a new one, should be here by the end of the week. I'm going to try to drive it more often for a bit, just to find out what else needs attention.

 

Looks like quite an interesting project, you can keep those pictures coming anytime. Internet Brands is the company that owns FTE and several other sites, they manage the business part of the site.

 

Welcome to FTE!