Well, I think we could get a good thread rolling here. I'm curious as to what you guys like best about our older trucks. What interests you in these old trucks? What is your most favorite modification you have done?

To me, I have always liked the looks of the '53-'56 trucks. Them bulging fenders and that look they have when they are lowered. I think my favorite modifications I have done is the remote controlled door openers, my door panels and smoothed out dash.

So, what do you guys like?

 

I like how the older trucks they have a personality all their own, beautiful lines,and can do anything to it I want to it and not have to worry about smogging it. I gotta 57' big window SB. When I first got it I only really liked the grill, but since lowering it and making it my own it's really grown on me. check out my gallery.

 

When I was 14 (owned a buick...eek!) my neighbor was building/modifying a 56 ford f-100 in his garage. I didn't know much about vehicles, but I fell in love with the body lines. I have wanted one ever since. I was 38 when I finally was able to buy mine.

The 53-55s are great, but they were not what the neighbor had.

I guess you could say the body is my main interest. Until I bought mine, I had never heard of a Y-block. Mine will remain mostly stock. I do like the halogen sealed beam headlights though.

 

I love the fat fenders and all the round corners of the cab on my 49 F-1.

 

My first vehicle after a motorcycle was a '59 stepside I got from my dad. Had lots of fun in it. Didn't like the 292 it had. Went through a couple of them with oiling problems. Traded it for a '66 Mustang conv. A few years later, I got a chance to trade my motorcycle for my current '60 CC SS SB. Went through a couple 302s with that until I built a 289. Just like the style.

 

I like 48-56 trucks because I like to be different and not everybody has one. My favorite modifications are improving the dependability, ride, and performance without altering the classic look...

Vern

 

I've liked my 1950 F-1 since the 1970's when my friend's father drove one to work every day. I now own that truck and hope to finish restoring it. They're cool trucks and you definitely get stares from people when you drive it. The 48-50 has the best styling of the 48-52's in my opinion. ( don't want to start a debate on that one!! )

Barry

50 F-1

 

The best part is the time I spend with my son working on it.

I love that they are steel and restorable.

My favorite mods are the ones that make it more comfortable to drive; power steering, and power brakes.

 

I get nostalgic about it all, back in the days when a gas station was just that, and diners were diners...not starbucks.
Back in a day when trucks were trucks, and those who drove them used them as trucks. This was all before my time, but growing up riding in the muscle car-meets-gas crunch, I have grown to want something old to drive, but muscle cars are getting too expensive. So when the 48 F1 was offered for free, I couldn't refuse. Pretty hard not to love the big fenders on all those old trucks.

 

1. It's the same age I am.
2. It's big, brutish, cranky, slow to start, slow to get up to speed, and slow on the highway, kinda good looking in a homely sort of way and makes a fair bit of noise and smell, all other things we have in common.
3. What the other guys said about personality and looks.
4. It sure turns heads and makes people smile.
5. I can fix practically anything on it that stops working. Some things even before they stop working.
6. It's like a Timex - takes a licking and.........
7. It can handle a sheet of plywood with the tailgate up.
8. Also a full yard of topsoil or mulch. And will dump it where I need it.
9. Practically no one I know can start it or shift it (double clutching is absolutely necessary), so no one asks to borrow it.
10. I get to participate with a bunch of neat guys (and gals?) on this board.

 

i got my 59 f100 when i saw it a field and had been looking for a first vehicle to get cheap and restore and the guy gave it to me. at first i wasn't to sure about the style but after i pulled her apart put 4wd under her i absolutly love the stance and the lines and everything about now i just have to finish the year of work i still need to do.

 

When I was in High School, I always wanted a hot rod and envied the guys who had one. 50+ years later, with the kids grown and out of the house, I bought my 56. I only wound up with a pickup because my hot rod still had to have some practical purpose (and who doesn't need a truck once in a while?).

I picked the 56 because I always liked the style of it, especially the "eyebrow" over the windshield and the fat fendered look of the front. There was nothing particulary cool about the bed, which is why it was the first area I had to modify. The 56 is a unique body style and the last year before evrything went boxy (although my second choice was a 57).

I bought a driver because I didn't think I could do a frame-up build. It had been too long since I wrenched on stuff and knew nothing about body work, or really anything about the mechanicals of this vehicle.

Today, my favorite part of having it is the working on it. It is absolutely the most satisfying hobby I have ever had. I have learned everything about the truck by doing the work. When I'm done with it, I will be able to say I did just about all of it. And, it will be the hot rod I always wanted.

One thing that stands out about this hobby is the people I meet. Very cool real people who share a passion for old iron. This forum certainly has been a boon and a hoot, too.

My favorite mod is everything I have done: Bed, tonneau, engine, flip hood, shaved doors, running boards, suspension, etc. My current work is serious cab mods, which will really customize the look.

My low budget dictates a long wait for final paint, but driving it in primer is OK with me. It's just "too cool, man."

 

When I was in college in '73, I was mostly into British sports cars. Tiny cars. During the Oil Embargo I was a popular guy, because I had a Sunbeam Imp at the time, a 900cc car that got an honest 30 mpg. When that was over I realized that I was going to need something larger to move all my crap off campus when I graduated, so I started looking for a larger vehicle. I had never even noticed pickup trucks before that, and was not even considering one, but in the local paper I saw a '53 F-100 for $250. I bought it and drive it for 2 yrs, living thru a thrown rod (no oil pressure) and a kingpin replacement. Even back then it was considered a funky vehicle.

So now when I wanted something to tinker on, I thought again of an early truck, and the 52 popped up. I didn't think about it very rationally, but it's what I ended up with, and I like it. It's pure nostalgia, not a rational thing at all.

 

well... i am 14 and ever since i was little i always loved old cars and trucks and it has always benn the blue oval. nothing but FORD. ya and about a year ago i was jsut looking through the "WANT AD" and i saw 1948 ford f-1 hot rod and i went to look at it and then right then and there i bought it. 3 grand. so ya i really love the old look. the rounded curves the sound and the sweet smell of old engine as a classic rolls by.

 

I have a lot of history with my '49 F-2. My dad bought it in 1968 to use to pull cars for his auto repair shop. I spent every day off of school for the next five years with my dad in that old truck, sub-zero temperature in the middle of winter to blazing hot 100+ in the summer. I was about seven years old at the time and we worked late nights and there was nothing better than driving home late at night falling asleep to the sound of the flat six and non-syncro transmission. I would struggle like hell not to fall asleep because my dad would constantly wake me up telling me not to fall asleep and not lean against the door because he didn't want me to fall out.

I can remember the day my dad bought the truck. He looked at dozen trucks of every make. Then one day we went to look at another. As I waited out in the car for him to come out I looked over at the multicolor primered truck with rust holes and thought "what a piece of junk." A few minutes later my dad came back and announced he bought the truck. I thought he was nuts. He patched up the body and rattle can painted it black. I fell in love with the piece of "junk".

My dad went out of business and left the truck rot on the side of the driveway. I did a ametuer restoration when I got out of high school and another full frame up about seven or eight years ago.

What I like about the truck is it still sounds the same as when I was a kid. Now I am the one nudging my kid not to fall asleep. I am too busy double clutching and armstronging around corners to fall asleep. My dad died before I could restore it correctly the second time but I can still feel him inside.

I also like getting the stares and the thumbs up whenever I drive it. I like the design of the '48-50 the best that's why I got a '48 panel and am switching '48 sheetmetal onto my '51 chassis.