well my story is a lot different, i got married at the first of the year, and not only gained a wife but a daughter as well. at the first of the summer i asked my daughter what kind of car she wanted, seeing as she would be turning 16 soon.

her answer kinda shocked me, she said a truck, an old truck, so i offered up the 66 chevy her grandpa has in his back yard, and was told now dad, an OLD truck, so i went to searching, and low and behold a 55 ford.

my wife asked me a very interesting question after we got the beast home, "what happens when shelby gets tired of that old truck" well i said, i guess i will have to drive it, aw shucks

 

Dad always had some kind of hot rod, one of my favorites was a 56 f100. I was probably about 5 but I still remember riding in it and wanting one of the old ford trucks. I remember waking up one morning to it burning down from an engine fire. He also had a 55 chevy drag car that he bought but never finished. I always said I would have one or the other someday and finish it with my kids. Well, I came across a 53 f100 on craigslist and couldn't get it out of my head... even though it was barely a shell of a truck. Wife went to visit her family in Ohio so I brought it home and thought of a plan to ask for forgiveness later! Slowly been reading these threads and gathering parts for her for the last year. Glad there is a place like this to educate a rookie builder like me. I hope I can get this truck together and share good memories with my kids too.

 

I had made the biggest auto related mistake of my life, selling my 40 Ford tudor ground up street rod build. I never realized that I was selling something I could not replace, having touched each and every part of that 40. Regretted it as I watched it drive away, and still do. Anyway, I thought I had to sell it to build a 40 coupe. However I could not find one and wanted something to work on. Heard about a cheap 53 F100 that had been somewhat refurbished with 302/C4, then parked after trans developed problems. Intended to throw together a "beater" to sell, but it started to grow on me and had some frame twist problems, so I dug in and pulled it all apart. Of course as soon as I did I found the 40 coupe to build. Now I feel the same about my "Effie" as I did about my tudor and plan to keep it untill I'm gone, or one of my son's or grandsons wants it. Coupe should be on the road by next spring. Oh, and I recently bought another 40 tudor for a retirement project.

 

Let's take the Way-Back machine back to '73... The Arab oil embargo days. Just past the Free Love, acid-dropping days of the '60's, but still rockin'. I was in college at the University of Illinois (Champaign). I'd been driving various rust-bucket British cars for a couple years, and wanted something more reliable, but cheap, and "hip". I bought a '53 F-100, 223-6, for $250 in what nowadays would be considered cherry shape. Back then it was cool to have something anti-establishment and what's better than pulling up in suburbia in an old farm truck, smoking a pipe, with a beard and long hair?! I think it had about 60,000 miles on it, all it needed was a kingpin job, new tires, and I splurged on a vinyl upholstery job for the bench. I drove it for two or three years, but after graduation I wanted something more mainstream, so I bought a '66 MGB roadster. I sold the 53 to a college chum "Rudy" who ummm... had issues... he took the truck apart and couldn't figure out how to put it together. It's up in Wisconsin somewhere, probably in boxes still.

I've missed the simplicity of that truck ever since, so after almost 30 yrs of modern project cars, I bought my '52.

 

While growing up Father had his '60 F-100 that I learned to drive in & Uncle Dan (fathers great uncle) had his '58 Mercury M-100 that I just had a blast driving when ever we visited him @ his small ranch in Riverside County for 40 years.
I purchased some years ago a '58 F-350 & had the 292 Y-Block self-destruct on me, had it re-built, I recieved some injures which made it difficult to drive the olde girl, so Father suggested we swap trucks, his '58 M-100 that would be easier to drive, that he had inherited from Uncle Dan, for my '58 F-350.

 

My first ride was in Dad`s 53 F350, it was also the first vehicle I ever drove. I`ve had quite afew 53 F100`s through out the years among lots of Mustangs, other Fords cars and trucks
The ones I now have are going to be around me for a long time.

 

I grew up on a farm and my Dad (a tank mechanic in the Army) was always working on something with wheels. When I was 15 we rebuilt a 1947 Ford Tractor. That time with my Dad remains some of my fondest memories. My Dad went into a nursing home in 1997 following a series of strokes and passed away in 2003.

On a side note, I now have the 47 tractor sitting in the barn waiting it's turn for rebuild again.

Reflecting back and looking at my 14 year old son who didn't know which end of the screw driver to stick in the slot. I thought it was time to fix that.

We started going to some car shows and he fell in love with the old Ford pickups (maybe after some urging from Dad) and I dropped the idea about restoring one. He loved the idea, he picked the year and we went truck looking. We spent hours together planning and working on the truck. He had almost as much fun and I did.

Now he is a senior in HS and he repairs all his buddies cars. We are basically best friends. He has a truck that he will cherish for ever. I guy tried to buy it at a car show and my Son told them it would never be for sale. The guy said, Oh Yeah, how about $40,000 ............My son thought for a minute and said, my Dad and I restored this truck together, it is not for sale. Mission accomplished!

 

I've been interested in antiques and hot rods since before I could drive. Most of my earlier projects were cars. My first Ford truck was a 1936 with MII front suspension and 283 Chevy/turbo 350 that I owned in the mid-90s. My current 48 F-3 is only the second Ford truck I have owned but I am having a great time with it. My dad owned several salvage yards in Florida and I grew up working/playing in them. I suppose that's where I got my interest in old cars and trucks...

 

Since I got my driver's license at 16 I was a hotrodder and street racer from the get go. All my friends were into hot rods also. Later in life, my wife got me interested in Harley's and I began customizing them. My favorite was my 88 FXLR, raked and had duel carbs with nitrous oxide. Anyways, I got married, had twin boys and discovered that people in CA don't know how to drive and a few close friends seriously injured riding their Harleys. Taking my wifes advice (heard about it everyday) I decided to sell the Harley. I still had my 66 Mustang which belonged to my dad (original condition). After a few years without any projects, my wife called me a work and said someone is selling a 56 on the next street over. I told her I'm not interested in an old truck like that, but since I love her I'll stop by and check it out. The truck was a beater to say the least. The body was straight but that was it. The guy wanted $8500 for it which was a joke. I told my wife it had potentional but way more work than I wanted to get into. I called the guy and told him forget it. My wife then started telling me about her father having a white 56 that he loved. OK, so now my brain juices kicked in. I started thinking what I could do with the truck. Dropping it, blown engine and the like. I did have the money from the Harley and maybe it would be cool to have an old truck. After a couple of days I went back to the owner and negotiated a lower price $6500. I had him drive to my house because I was a little nervous if it would make it or not. Parked it on the side of the house for a while and the rest is history.

 

It started with me when i was in high school in the early to mid sixty's. I had a 59 anglia sedan with a four cylinder flat head with a bad rear end. Paid a hundred dollars for it and put a hundred dollar paint job on it. 49 ford truck blue i think was the color. Me and a buddy of mine would try to pop wheelies in it. I would stop on a hill and pop the clutch and lean back real hard and hope for a wheelie. I think we actually did it. At my graduation party we trid to see how many girls we could stuff inside with me in the drivers seat. If i remember we had a total of 18 people inside and sitting on the roof trunk and the hood. After that i bought a 1966 corvair. That was a cool car i thought. I traded that in on a 1969 Torino Cobra with a 428 motor. It's a wonder i didn't kill myself in that car. It would go 130 mph on 80 mph tires and drum brakes. That thing was so fast it as scarry. My dad borrowed it he first day i had it and put the thing sideways at about 40 mph. Scarred the heck out of him. After that i got married had a couple of kids so i could not afford anything but family transportation. Even had a pinto station wagon for about 4 years than upgraded to a granada. That was probably the lowest point of car ownership that i had. Fast forward to 1996 i started going to some local car shows with a guy i worked with and started seeing all these old pickup trucks and i started thinking that would be a cool thing to have. Christmas 4 years ago my wife wanted to buy me 48 which is the only year i wanted. Same age as me and the first year for the F-series. She could not find one but i took that as a greenlight and started looking. I found the one i bought in Dover Ohio which is only 2 hours from home. It was also red which is the color i wanted. Went to look at it liked it and said i would take it. The beat money i have ever spent. My wife of 35 years of marriage and two sons has really stepped up to the plate with me on this. She is not or never has been a car person but she goes with me to every car cruise picked out the interior colors and even talked me into the chrome steering column. Gotta love that.

I hope this is not too long of a reply but it did bring back some memories.

Terry

 

It was 1959 - my dad owned a gas station and the shop truck was a 37 Ford half-ton with a flathead V8. Painted white with a brush, but I was hooked by the wide swoopy fenders and stories of his '35 3 window. I was born in '53 and dad always called me the "last of the flatheads". Could never have guessed how prophetic that was.

Then I grew up, married, had three kids and drove a bunch of boring grocery-getters. When the kids left home I had time and a little money. Found the 48 F1 at a garage sale about the same time I got internet service......and here we are.

 

I have spent the last 32 yrs raising my kids. My son is the last one. He's a senior in high school this yr. I just thought it was my turn to be a kid again. So I bought me a truck. 1950 F1 My day is finally here.

 

I'm still waiting for 4tl8ford to tell his story??

 

Just like everything else, you see someone else (usually somebody who is waaay cool) with something and you decide that you can be just as cool if you had what they have. That's why I have a 50 Merc sled and a few early F100's...now if I could just figure out how to get that pack of Lucky Strikes to stay rolled up in my t-shirt sleeve!

 

Charlie,

I quit smoking 26 years ago when I was 30 but I smoked Camels. If I bummed a smoke with a filter, I would tear the filter off......... Lucky's were always a good second choice...... Pall Malls also.... Glad I quit but I didn't get away clean..... Some Lung Issues in my later life.....