Well according to Tinman52's measurements and looking at the pictures you posted. I would say the 51/52 F7/F8 Front fenders would probably be real close if not the right width for the 73 F500 chassis. Those little F7/F8 fenders show you just how narrow the early 50's cabs are and how much wider the newer F500/F600's are. It probably won't be real easy finding the F7/F8 Front clip. But it sure would save you a lot of hassle with the body swap!

For me the choice of rollbacks would be pretty clear. The 73 would be my choice. It's a heavier truck and it has the wheel lift! There's been a quite a few times where I passed up a good deal on multiple vehicles because I didn't want to make more then one long road trip to get them.

The down side to the 73 is, you are going to pay a lot more when it comes time to replace the tires and brakes. And I don't know if the F500 parts would be harder to find.

 

I was worried about finding parts for it as well. I know what you mean this f5 is 3 hours north of me and the f350 is 2.5hours west of me. The 52 is about 30 but still in another state. Im going to spend all week driving around lol.

 

So went and looked at the 73 f5 today. The tread to tread measurment is 80" on this as well. The cab is alot more rough than I thought it was, acclerator pump was leaking fuel onto the intake mani and it had a small exhaust leak, but it started right up and ran good, and everything worked as it was supposed to. Real heavy duty truck. I am worried about getting it home and not getting snagged by any dot guys or state troopers.