I don't have the pictures uploaded yet, but will soon. I got a guy in the area that wants me to restore his '54 F-100. It was bought new by his Grandpa. I got the pleasure of seeing the original dealer invoice, and bank note that showed the loan terms. It will be as concours as possible. I managed to talk him out of the ideas the local "street rodders" were trying to fill his head with. They had him convinced the truck was just an old truck needing a new lease on life, and he should go with a new suspension, and engine, and the whole shebang. The truck's teary eyed, and sad, but we're gonna make it new again. It's a deluxe cab model, 239 Y, 3 speed column shift. Quite a bit of rust in the cab, and the hood has it too. The original duo-tone seat is torn, but there, but not savable . It was Meadow Green originally, but changed to blue at a time shortly after purchase. I found a guy in Washington parting ways with two nearly complete parts trucks, and a bunch of extra parts, so we'll be getting those in the next week or two. It will be neat to see this thing on the road, all nice, and new, and original looking. Will update soon.

 

Well, here are some pictures







and some parts truck pictures

 

thats is pretty...nice to see a stock restoration I just hope it will be all original..
Good luck and tell that gentlemen that ford did it right the first time it made it,there is no need to ''upgrade''.thats my humble opinion even tho i drive a ''darksider truck''.

 

The one on the trailer is the one to be restored, and it will be as close to original as we can get it. It will get original style hoses, and clamps, and nuts, and bolts. Stock wheels, and tube type tires. The engine will be rebuilt, and painted as original, along with the transmission. The correct stickers will be applied. The only thing that will not be original, is he has asked for a disk brake bolt on conversion up front, but wants it to be able to be removed, and the correct drums installed, without cutting, and welding. I am still thinking about talking him out of that, though. Otherwise, it will be as 100% original as possible, without having to spend years hunting NOS parts. All the original parts that are replaced, he wants cleaned, and coated to prevent further deterioration, so he can store them, and be able to say that he still has all the original parts.

 

Good for you. That truck looks pretty good. I can't believe it doesn't have any more rust than that. Please keep us updated with pics as you go.

 

Looks good,has 'restore me' all over it.

 

Hey, Joe, good to see you again.

That truck is in great shape! Where do you see rust? I see some paint peeling...

Good job converting him to stockation! Especially since it is his Grand-daddy's. Show him some pics of mine if he needs inspiration or more convincing. and mine is not pure stock or a concours restoration... Drum brakes should be good enough for stopping his Y-block and 3 speed, no biggie tho if he goes with disc...

good luck have fun and show us pics!

 

Hey abe, yeah, the cab corners are wasted, the bottoms of the doors are gone, on the inside, and the floor board has got some swiss syndrome. The hood is breathing through the front edge, a little. No biggy though, it'll get handled. He is confident with me taking the lead, so I asked him how original. He said he wanted it as close to the day his grandpa bought it, as possible. SWEEEEEEET!

 

Oh yeah, I forgot..it arives this week to start the tear down. We will be heading to Washington in the next two weeks to get the donor trucks.

 

The truck showed up yesterday. It was really neat getting to go through some of the old things in the glove box with the guy. We found match books from the 50's, and 60's, and an original brochure from the late 50's for the camper the guys grandpa bought for it. The dealer stamp that was on it showed the old phone number 3-????. It is really exciting when you get to find little treasures like that. In the truck, were a set of the original road reflector accessories, complete, with the red nylon flags. I also found three of the original hubcaps, and only wish I could get real reproductions, instead of the innacurate ones so commonly available. The original metal vacuum line is intact for the distibutor, along with the original metal fuel line to the carb. It has most of the inner paneling in place, but very warped, and destroyed. For so long, I was led to believe, by the aftermarket world, like so many other enthusiasts, that the headliner was a solid unit, turns out, the stock headliner is perforated. The original fiberglass matting is still on the roof. It has 67K miles on it. The seat cover is the duo-tone, and it's too bad that the original material is nearly impossible to find. We're going to go the route of an almost perfect restoration, just shy of a concours museum piece, because he wants to be able to drive it, without the hesitation that comes from owning a 100 point vehicle. I will be updating this thread regularly, now, I'm off to start tearing it down.

 

That is neat. Take plenty of pics so you remember how stuff looked originally.

Yes, the repop places are not interested in authenticity. They want to make a buck, so they do not make the correct headliners. The Deluxe Cab (or Custom Cab in '55 and '56) had the perforated headliner for better acoustics.

The pic of the hubcap: FYI (or perhaps you already know) that is not an original one.

Please note the angle of the inside door handle. That is how they are positioned. I see a lot of nice trucks that have the handles in the wrong angle. It keeps you from banging your knuckles when you roll down the window.

Let me know if you find seat material close to the original with that Herringbone pattern. The original sure is expensive!!!!!

good luck!

 

Cool pics and quite the find. A little off topic but I noticed the water heater in your garage and a radiator is that what you are using to heat your garage? electric or gas, Recirculation pump. How efficient is it? or am I seeing something totally wrong? Thanks for any info.

 

I got the hood off, the front latch panel off, found both park light assemblies to be rotted beyond recognition. Pulled wiring, and have the front fender/clip about ready to come off. The hot water valve moves, which is truly amazing, unsure if it seals internally. I've been photographing like heck, every nook, and cranny, and all the routing of things. I fully agree about the door handles abe. I am unsure about the hubcaps, only because I have no reference other than reproduction offerings. They appear to be original, but please, do share your information with me. They do not show them in the parts books. Will be uploading some more pictures soon. No dragoon, what you see in the pictures, are my hot water heater (electric), and a space heater (oil radiator type). I have no garage heat.

 

Front sheet metal is off, along with the passenger door, and the heater. Horns are off, front fender adjusting rods, are off. So, here's the best part. The original "FoMoCo" wires on the plugs (or replaced by Ford at some point). The original engine color is red, with the argent silver valve covers. This truck is absolutely unmolested, and purely intact. I love it. Every little step can be documented, and photographed as a real, hands on catalog of how they looked originally, and trucks like this, provide decades of information. It's awesome. So, bottoms of both doors are wasted, front cab corners are destroyed, severely. The left fender has a rot spot up on top, and two of the blots broke off. The inner fenders have heavy rust, and the grille has bad headlight housings. Both park light bodies are toast. It still has the original shocks absorbers up front, but they lack color.

 

joe, there's a guy here in town , gary dodd , the upholstery den , that somewhere, somehow came up with some material made in italy in a small amount that is the exact same thing as the original material in jack's { who owns a-z radiator here } 56 that was his grandpa's . it's scheduled to be done again , got a cheapo cover on it now till he found this , right after mine is done . i can give you his number if you want too see if he can find what you need for that if you want it . later !!! oh and sweet truck !!!!!!!!!