I read alot here dont post much.
My grandpa bought it brand new in 1979. It is a 1979 F250 4x4. It is my forever piece from my grandpa and grandma. I will forever have a piece of them here with me. I found all the original paperwork including the original title, purchase receipt PAID $7,140 for it brand new, and he bought an extended 3 year 36,000 mile warranty with it.

Many of you have visited me over the last 4 years it has taken my brother and I to do this restoration. I've told many the stories of me with this truck. We use to go in the bottom every Saturday through the fall and spring to make wood. It use to have cattle racks on it. We would pile it to the top of the racks and my brother and I would ride the pile back. It was better than piling in the cab with my 3 uncles and grandpa. Yes all 6 of us would pile in the cab. There were no seat belt laws back then. I always had to sit by the gear shifter and probably have an indent in left leg from it. LOL!!!

My brother Dennis and I have done a complete frame off restoration. Literally every nut and bolt has been replaced.

The engine is the original 351M now a 408 putting out 417HP, I rebuilt the 4spd tranny, transfer case, Dana 60 front and rear axles, put rear disc brakes on it and hyd brakes, (no more vacuum booster). all new wiring, stainless fuel and brake lines, all hardware is stainless as well, complete new suspension, We added factory A/C to it. After we tore it down my brother took over all the body work. He has just over 400 hrs in the paint and body. I have right at 600 hrs in the mechanicals and putting it back together. That is a total of roughly 1000hrs. there is some goofing of time in there of course but its still a mountain of time.

The icing on the cake will be next week end for mothers day I will have them out here and take pictures with it. My grandma and grandpa are both still here. The look and smile on his face will be worth every bit of the work.

THIS IS THE PRIDE OF MY CAREER THUS FAR. I'm sure my brother would say the same. I could not have done it without him.

Mike

 

 

 

we completely mocked the body up and drill all mounts so we had a perfect final install

 

literally every nut and bolt wqs removed and replced. used all stainless hardware. all the fuel and brake lines are all stainless as well

 

Tim Meyer built the original 351M. It is now 417hp with cast heads. I wanted to stay as close to original looking as possible



headers were jethotted inside and out good for 2300 degrees

 

many many NOS parts were used. the entire grill, mirrors door components,dash bezel are NOS

 

The truck is completely LED lighted inside and out as well

 

Spectacular. Great story. Thanks for sharing and please continue to do so.

 

Its getting a full 3" 304 stainless exhaust system. Just put some turn downs on so we could take pics

 

I cant wait to see grandpas face. Like a little kid waiting for Santa. and I'm 44 years old LOL!!!!

Thanks for looking hope its not to many pics

Mike

 

Very nice attention to detail. That color is very close to mine. Went thru a very similar restoration as you have. Great feeling of accomplishment when done. Check out the similar color.

 

Boy it is to... We were going to just do a nice rebuild and paint it black. BUT!!! when we started tearing into it wwe found all the original paper work in the glove box. Original receipt grandpa paid $7,140 in cash for her brand new. So that started what you see here as the finished truck. We had to put the factory air in and a couple other upgrades but it nice now

Mike

 

Wow! Very, very nice. On the same journey myself - and it looks like 600 hours will be the magic number on mine as well. I've restored 4 Oldsmobile Cutlasses, and no matter what the condition, they always seem to take about the same amount of time.

Where did you get your seat cover from? It looks awesome - did you install it or have a upholstery shop fo it?

 

I've been doing tractor repair and now restoration for the last 25 years. I have a local lady that does my seats. She is mids 60's ish. She does great work. We even podwer coated the seat frame while it was out. She wont pick the colors so I had to due that with little 2"x2" color squashes. Boy I was glad it looked good when done. She was even proud of it.
I don't know how any one could ever afford to pay someone to do this.