I recently bought a '56 F-100 that had been parked for many years. I hooked the battery up backwards by accident. The ground wire bolted to the frame went to the hot side and the hot wire went to the ground post on the battery. After nothing happened when I turned the key on I hooked it up right and it started. Did I cause any damage by doing this?

 

Technically you should be safe. None of the electronics were properly charged. I don't know what you've done to the wiring if anything but if there was an aftermarket fuse panel installed you may see a few blown fuses in there. But if you ask me no harm was done...IMHO.

 

Check your lights, heater, fuel & temp gauge and your accessories one at a time. Oil pressure and charging should be OK (if they have warning lights not gauges). If the wiring is original there's a fuse on the back top of the headlight switch that might have blown.

 

Lights don't care about polarity (in this case), so you're safe there. The only concern would be to the coil and points (but not really), and the instruments (but not really, because they are a resistive load, and the ammeter would just read backwards). The only real concern would be if you changed the battery voltage.

 

I hooked mine up backwards about 55 years ago.......seems to be running OK