Looking Back: 1961-63 Ford F-100 "Unibody" Pickups - PickupTrucks.com News


I always wondered why Ford came out with a new cab but not a new bed in 61.


It seemed that Ford was banking on the unibody to be the sales leader in trucks.

 

Correctamondo Sir.

I think is it interesting that the truck was a huge flop back in the day and very sought after today.


John

 

Ford management did have reservations about the integral body from the get go, a did not release it for the 1961 F 350 pickup or the 4X4 models. The idea was to take the "Ranchero" concept one step farther for light duty full size pickups. The South American market didn't like it either, they simply sliced the integral body and got a separate bed with the same styling. Why Ford didn't follow the South American pattern after learning of customer resistance is a mystery.

 

I absolutely loved the uni I had way back when. Only problem I had was having to replace the rear window, twice. Too much body twisting I guess. If I used the truck for just running around town and not as it was designed for, I most likely wouldn't have had any problems. But, back then, we actually used our trucks.
Wish i still had it today. ;-(

 

I have wondered this myself--it doesn't sound terribly more difficult than tooling up with the old bed, and it's far better looking.

Hijack alert: at about 0:46 into this video, you can see the operation of the clutch pedal, which has an accordion/bellows style firewall seal. My 62 just uses a slab of rubber with a slit in it there. Anyone know if that seal is available?

~Steve

 

I had a '63 F-250 with the "wrong" bed. Never understood why Ford couldn't have done something better than that. Also wondered why flaresides used the '53-'56 fender style through '79. GM changed the fenders with each generation so that the back matched the front.

 

LG, One thing is, we look at trucks very differently today than then. Trucks were like tractors something necessary but not treated like cars, if that helps any. Today with leather interiors & 4 doors, many are above cars.



John

 

Because the fenders looked great, hard to improve on perfection! Look what happened in 1980 when they did change the design of the fenders and tailgate. GM kept the same fenders between 1955 and 1966, two different generations.