Hi,

I just acquired a 1954 F100 pick-up.
It's quite a nice original and I'm gonna restore it mechanically and keep it the rusty/used look
It's all first paint except some small spray-can spray-overs that I hope I'll be able to remove.
The big problem is the hood. It's off another truck and doesn't match the original Glacier Blue paint, would anyone know where to find an original 53-55 Glacier Blue hood? Any scrapyards that have them?

I'm also looking for some steel rims with hubcaps and polished rings to replace the 80's American racing thats on it now.

I'll add some more pictures as the project follows, still needs springs, glass, rubbers and brakes to get it on the road.

Lennert from Belgium

 

Welcome Lennert, that's really got to be a conversation piece over in Belgium, they are here in the US so I can only imagine how cool it is to have one over there, Real cool my friend.

 

Welcome to FTE!

Looks like you're off to a good start.

 

welkom hier Lennert
wat betreft de motorkap die kun je gewoon opnieuw spuiten en veroudert maken zodat hij past bij de rest

 

Hello Lennert

Trying to exactly the right hood in exactly the right color would be a difficult task in North America - it would seem impossible on the continent. If it were me, I would use an abrasive pad (they are branded as Scotch-Brite in the US) to take off some of the paint. These are rough texture plastic pads, similar to those used to scrub hard surface floors with a single disk machine. Good luck with your efforts.

 

First off you have a 1956 hood on your 1954 truck. If your goal is to have your truck look original then I would start there.

 

A good airbrush/custom painter worthy of the name should be able to repaint your hood to match the "patina" and color of the rest of the truck. The vinyl wrap guys could also create a convincing wrap. This a completely vinyl wrapped carbon fiber body:

 

Hi,

I know it's a '56 hood, but other than the emblems I don't think there are any differences?

What's the best place for buying quality made replacement parts?
Looking at MAC's, LMC, F100centrals, Midfifty?

Did the brake lines today, waiting for the other brake parts to arrive.

Regards Lennert

 

depends on witch parts your looking for I order most of them by mid fifty

 

The inner bracing on the underside of the hood around the hinge area is different and the 56 hood has two carriage bolts that hold the cross brace at the rear center of the hood. This is very noticeable since the heads of the bolts are visible on the outside of the hood. I guess the point of my comment was to determine whether you were attempting to create a look that was a "survivor" look or just one that looked old. If all you are interested in is the "patina" then the 56 hood should work...that is if you can get one the right color.

 

I'm going the survivor way on this one, don't want any varnish on it. Has to look almost the way it was dragged out of the Arizona desert.
In my opinion a false year hood would't hurt the survivor way as I see it as a piece of it's history, but let's not start on that discussion
I have a friend who knows a former Belgian paintbrush champion, I guess he should be up to the task of painting the hood.

Do you guys run radial or bias ply tires?
Was looking at some wide white wall's and looking around for steel rims but they seem hard to find (rusty ones not new)

 

Radial tires have less stress on the rims, contrary to what people said years ago. The beads are far less stiff than the old bias ply side. When it comes to my wheels, I'm pretty much a purist there. Just bought a set from Summit Racing here in the USA. You have a choice on how wide you want them. Love your '54, both me and my girlfriend were born that year and loving life even more now that we've long passed the 60 year mark.

 

What size do you run ?
I've been looking at H or G78-15 at the front and L78-15 back .
Or 215-75r15 front and 235-70r15 rear .

 

I don't think you'll like how bias ply tires drive unless you are only going to drive it a few km to a show and park it. Coker makes radial tires with the look of old bias ply.

 

I use 235 75R 15s. They don't look large on 53-56s since they have a large fender openings. Plus it up my rear axle ratio a bit. You probably have a 3.92 in your rear axle (my '54 I had long ago did) and with a smaller tire you'll have the engine screaming at 50 mph (not sure how that translates into kilometers as we aren't metric in the USA)