By definition of Musclecar Review, a beater is is a vehicle that celebrates hard-earned patina on the outside, with mechanical excellence under the skin.

This describes the 51 F-1 I am currently putting together. Is anyone doing a similar project. I do not plan to paint my truck until I have driven it for some time and enjoyed it. I even recreated business decals on the door with a aged appearance.

 

i am not building it , just trying to fix some of it's issues and tweak the flatty a lil' bit ............ and one of these millenia get it back together and running again !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I guess you would say that is what I built my 53 to be

 

Your trucks are exactly what I am talking about....

 

Been driving mine since May 08. It has a little over 40K miles on it, around 15K with the trailer behind it

 

That's the way I'm building my COE......no shiny. Function will come first....

 

I love the function WAY before form look.
When I find mine s Beetle it will be

 

I know it's not a Ford, but getting it drivable, and a windshield, and I'm off and running.....as a shop truck. And add some red tractor paint to just get it one color.

 

Yep I am a turd polisher too...

 

building mine right now as kind of a beater. one thing about an old truck is it dont have to look sharp to be cool. i know ive hauled a few old beater rides on my trailer and been at a gas staion filling up and even though they are all beaters, it dont take long for a little crowd to gather askin what it is and whats the plan for it.
mechmagcn i love that camper. who is it made by?

 

Yep, I'm hoping my truck may someday rise to the level of "Beater!"

I never intended it to be that way though. In fact, when I bought my truck I had visions of shiny paint, chrome, airbags, giant mags, and electric/power everything. I knew it would be the envy of all who saw it. I might even have to build a new wing on the house to house all the show trophies.

...Then reality set in. The $$ was not there. The time wasn't available. Heck, I'm not even sure the things I had in mind were physically possible.

Now, I'm tackling it like I would eat an elephant (One bite at a time). I hope to get her running and safe to drive, so I can enjoy her.

I have regrouped...so to speak...and now I am not sure I don't find the idea of driving a "Beater" more favorable than my original iteration. I now embrace the idea of driving a 63 year old truck among the shiny Supercrews, Escalades, and Navigators of today's world. I bear the scars and lines I've acumulated throughout my 40+ years with pride, so why not do the same with MY truck?

Sorry this post is so long, but I got on a roll! Great thread...

 

Now that right there's FUNNY! I don't care who ya are!

Count me in on the beater parade. I eventually intend to go whole hog with the bodywork, paint, and pretty. But to start with, I'm going to tear it down and just go through the chassis and mechanicals so it's reliable and safe and then toss the body back on as-is with a brand new flat bed. 'Ole Harry's got character with his rusty dings and warts here and there. Besides, I plan to make him work for a living and I don't want to be too concerned about scuffing a flawless paint job.

 

I was thinking about it, As of now I have primered the cab,hood and fenders so it kinda cancelled that idea out but I found another 53 a few miles from my house that looked like it was getting ready for a paint job 15 years ago and for some reason sanded and left outside untouched and never spayed. It has the neatest surface rust. Not rust holes just a thick even layer over the whole truck.

I just talked my wife into letting me buy it yesterday!!! I still dont know what I will do with it either take the body off and put it on my frame or just save it for later build? But it would look cool on the boxed,bagged frame and 20'' foose wheels I'm getting close to having as a rolling frame.

 

scott who cares really what it is ??????????? chev or dodge or in your case a binder , it's old therefore KOOL( kind of weird hearing those words from me huh ? ) !!!!!!!!!!!!! find you a 345 or an amc motor and drop it in and go or better yet a ford !!!!!!!!! jeff , i knew with you spending the time in archies place the way you do you were probably adept at turd polishing and maintenance ..................... layed out beware of taking it down ! all that was really wrong with my 53 was wiring and bad valve springs .......... then i decided to replace the bent frame , get some more goodies for the engine , etc...... that was 2 years ago ................... now my 52 customline sitting next too it in the garage with a myriad of pain in the **** issues ...........

 

mine was supposed to be really nice i put cheap Internet paint on it. through the course of getting together and working out all the mechanical stuff that paint got beat to heck so yep its a beater but shes getting a new paint job this winter.