I have done it now. I got my 71 Bronco project to the point I wanted it and was happy with it....so I needed a new project. I was torn between 2 options either a factory 5 cobra kit, or a 53-56 F100. since I am here, I obviously decided to go with the truck. I just thought these were cool looking trucks, but I didn't know anything about them. I had been scanning facebook marketplace and I found this 55 as an abandoned project. the guy who owned it had big plans for it, but the shop doing the work basically abandoned him, he got the truck back, but it never went any further. it is a nice starting place, but I have a lot to learn here. I have worked on my Bronco, some mustangs, and jeeps in the past, but this is a whole new world for me. I am starting this build thread to start figuring some of those things out. I just bought it, I haven't even been able to get it out of my car trailer yet because I have to make some room in my garage. but this is my new project I will call 55 card pickup because I am starting in the middle of this project lol. it has a lot of good stuff done, I have a photo album that came with it that documents the work that was done, and it looks like quality work. all the body work on the cab was done. new panels welded in. all the rest of the sheetmetal appears to be rust free. the frame has been blasted and painted. it has a 302 engine with a c-4 and 9 inch in it. it was apparently running before they dropped it in this truck, but has not run since (13 years apparently) it has a mustang II front end, and a cantilever hood. the bed of the truck is new steel. there are a lot of parts that come with it, so now I have to sort through everything I have, and figure out how I want to start on it. unfortunately I am going to have to take it slow to build up some funds now lol. kind of shot my wad in getting the truck. but that's ok I 'm not in a big hurry. I know it has a 56 grille. the grill is not attached, it is just sitting on there in the pictures. I have done a little looking and so far, I have not found any where to get a proper 55 grille, so I may have to just go with it as is for now.

 

Welcome to the '48-'56 forum!

Looks like that could become a nice ride. Most abandoned projects come in a pile of parts and boxes.

Have fun!

ETA: We'd love to see some pictures of the Bronco.

 

Welcome to the forum! I see a lot of potential in that '55. Looks in good shape, ready for you to take to the next level you have in mind. I like the big job hood scoop.

 

Thanks. been a member here for a long time, but this is my first early truck. unfortunately it turns out that the guy sold the big job scoop before I got to the truck and hadn't taken a new picture to post. I assumed the scoop was in the boxes in back, but it isn't. anyway I am happy with the truck and I think it was worth what I paid for it. I still haven't gotten it out of the trailer, but I did go around and check it out a bit, it has good clean ATF in the transmission, surprisingly the engine oil looks fresh, and there are no spots under it where it was leaking so that is nice. it has a 67 barracuda bench seat in it which fits nicely. and a bunch of little parts in the back. they narrowed the running boards a bit, I am not sure if I like that or not. there are some good stock ones in the back that I may decide to put back to original. it has an interesting pop open gas cap. not sure about that yet, those things tend to leak a lot of vapor. I may have to figure something out there.
it has a an early cadilac steering wheel. it looks good, and makes seeing the gauge area nice, but I can't see leaving a Cadillac emblem looking out at me every time I drive it so I will probably replace it. I will definitely be swapping to a tilt column. it comes with an upgraded stock style wiring harness. I am going to have to check into that a bit more, there are only about 8 fuses in the fuse block, I may go with an AAW harness I have used those on my other projects. I never knew these trucks did not have a key lock in the driver door, that is interesting. I will probably do remote door locks for it. keep the key lock in the passenger door for emergencies.

I have to figure out what to do with the fresh air vent on the interior of the passenger side. I don't know if I have any of that hardware, and I don't know what it is supposed to look like. any body have any pictures of that area?

 

well, I have a ton of bronco pics. here are a few.

if you have any interest, here is the build thread on classic bronco forum. https://classicbroncos.com/forums/th...thread.289385/


that is my 65 mustang next to the bronco. I have had it for 40 years.

408 stroker, dual sniper fuel injection, 5 speed manual transmission.



shop supervisor napping on the job.

 

Mccance, welcome to the 48-56 forum.

The vent on passenger side is not for cabin fresh air. It provides fresh air to the deluxe Fresh Air heater. There is a block off plate for trucks that had no heater or had a recirculating heater.

 

Very cool and nicely done! Now that is a truck that you can probably get your investment back out of or more right now. Well done ones are going for crazy money as I am sure you know.

My wife won't let our dogs anywhere near the garage. Would be nice to have a shop supervisor!

 

My wife won't let the dogs in the house, so I live in the garage.

 

well I learned something else yesterday. For some reason the previous owner built the truck with a steel bed like a late model truck. It is my understanding all these trucks came with a wood bed. I like the wood bed. I don't know yet how it is built, if I can just remove the steel and add a wood bed, or if I should just do like a retroliner wood bed over the steel. It is still in my enclosed car trailer. I am currently in the middle of putting an ididit tilt column in my daughters 67 mustang. I started the job before I bought the 55 with my son in law, unfortunately I found I needed to order a different u-joint and floor mount so we couldn't finish it. He wants to help me finish it so I have to wait until he can come back. I am also in the middle of putting an electric fireplace and recessing the tv mount in my family room which he also wants to help with. but they live in Omaha so they don't get back to visit very often. I got the mudding and taping done last night so I need to do some more sanding and stuff this week. hopefully paint by the weekend. I am not used to waiting on other people, I have done everything myself for so long. but he is a good kid and wants to learn so I will try to be patient lol.

 

son in law still hasn't been able to come back to help me so I pushed the 67 mustang to the side for a while. I did finish the fireplace install, and I got the truck in the garage. I have started doing a few things to it, I got it up on a lift and looked it over pretty thoroughly, and the underside looks pretty good. the frame has been blasted and painted. the master cylinder looks like it has been leaking, but the engine shows no leaks. I am pretty sure thats because it hasn't turned over in alot of years. it has a drive shaft in place, and all the brake lines look new. the first thing I did was to pull the spark plugs and look at the cylinders with a borescope. they all look clean, with no rust, and sign of significant damage that I could see. I shot some marvel mystery oil in them and was able to easily turn the engine over with just pulling on the fan, I plan to do a compression check on it at some point, but it looks like I may be able to at least get the truck running and moving with this engine. the next thing I did was to pull the wheels off and measure for new wheels and tires. when I did that I discovered that when they did the mustang ii swap they left the front hubs as 5 x 4.5 and the rear axle is a 5 x 5.5 so I considered my options. the rear drums look pretty good, they have been turned and it has new shoes, the front has new pads, but the rotors were rusted badly and they were a bit thin on the inside so I decided that rather than swap the rear axles I would swap the front hubs. I found a nice kit from restomod supply and upgraded the disks to slotted and crossdrilled with new calipers.

 

I had a nice chrome power booster and master cylinder that I bought when I was working on my 65 mustang but decided not to use. It was just sitting in a box on my shelf so I decided I might as well use it here. it took a small amount of work to get it to bolt in, but it looks like it is going to work. I will need to get some help to bleed the brakes one of these days since I don't see gravity bleeding being all that effective with the master cylinder being below the calipers and wheel cylinders lol.

 

I decided I didn't like the narrowed running boards so I bought a set of stock running boards from dennis carpenter, they are just held in place with a few bolts for now while I continue mocking things up. I also got my wheels ordered. I found this nice set of 18 x 9 5 on 5.5 wheels from bb wheels. I used a wheel measuring tool to make sure everything would fit, and it looks like they are going to work ok. now I just have to get the tires and have them mounted.

 

then I was able to find a good 55 grill from a guy on facebook. it was in pretty good condition. so I stripped it to bare metal. then painted it with eastwood rust encapsulator, then I painted it with some textured dark argent paint. I had to buy all new headlight buckets and trim rings for it as well. then I learned that the 56 style wind deflectors that were on it are different than the 55 style, so I got a set of those and installed them. I had to pretty much dissassemble the whole front end to do it. but I got it done.

 

Nice shop, and a nice truck to go with it.
The 55 is my favorite. The 56 usually are more collectible, since they are a one year only design. I prefer the look of the slanted back door post (A pillar) that is on the 53-55.

That Bronco looks like a real gem.

 

Thanks I enjoy my shop a lot, and the bronco is a great truck. I am currently having some issues with the sniper fuel injection so i am going to be shifting gears to work on it a while once I get the wheels back on the 55. I also prefer the 55. I especially like the slanted windshield frame. I know the 56 is popular because of the wrap around glass, but I think the slanted frame gives it a sportier look that I prefer. and I think the 55 grille is the best looking of the group. I think I will add the hockey stick trim at some point, but I suppose it depends on what I decide to do about paint. for now I just want to get all the rust stopped and get the bare metal into primer. there were several bare patches on the front fenders and a fair amount of flash rust already starting. the bed is all bare metal and has surface rust all over it. I am going to have to strip it completely down. either that or get a new bed in a box which I am considering since I really prefer the wood bed to the steel one that is in this truck.