Hey guys, it's me again!! I'm just so curious as to how we all got so interested in these old trucks? I'll post some picts as soon as I can.Anyway, when I was 8 years old, my bro who is 8 years older than me had a 1954 F100.My dad is a great painter and body man, we also have an auto upholstery shop.Anyway he painted my bro's truck pearl white, with metallic blue flames, and did the interior in metallic blue vinyl.At the time I thought it was the sharpest truck ever!! Til I saw a 1956 F100, then I fell in love!! I knew I had to have one.Fast Forward a couple of decades, and my dream was to have a real nice 1956 F100 and hopefully get it slick enough or different enough to get it into a magazine! I originally told my 1st wife that I was goin to just get it up and goin and use it for a service truck.Yeah right, how many of you does that sound like? I had a reall rough truck to start with, and by the time I got all the right parts to replace what was bad on the original truck, well you know it kind of took a mind of it's own!!! I'm very proud to say, it has been in a magazine(5 to be exact) that I know of? anyway now I'm totally addicted to building F100's every one I can find I drag home(thus the 2nd wife) not really 1st had some other issues not with trucks, but faithfullnes! That's kind of a short story, but I'm gettin tired of typing, and youre tired of reading.I'm goin to try to post some more picts some of my bro's truck, and some of the before and the buildup of my truck.

 

When I was 14 we moved to this area. The guy who lived next door to us was building a 56 F-100 (hotrod) in his garage. I fell in love with the truck back then. We moved out of that house in the spring and I never saw the finished truck.

I wanted one (looked at many) as I was growing older. I just never had the money when a truck that was worth getting came along. Finally, at age 38, I went and got a loan and just bought one.

I waited long enough. It will never be a show truck. It is a driver. That is what it was built for originally and what it will always be (as long as I am alive).

The truck has no family history. The truck has not been in magazines. The truck has not won any trophies. It is a truck.

It does get lots of smilies, waves, and thumbsup on the road though. That is what it is all about. Just enjoying the drive.

 

I wanted a hot rod in high school. Never got one, though. Then college, marriage, kids, careers, etc. Years later, the kids are grown, the money is decent and I'm still pouring over hot rod magazines and drooling a lot.

One day, while I'm dreaming of a hot rod something, the wife says "why don't you get one?" I about fell out of my chair.

I started shopping around. My practical side said I couldn't justify a total toy, like a 32 roadster, or a 40 Ford, so I needed something more practical, like a pickup truck. Since the 56 Ford was one of my all-time favorites, I started looking for one of those. I found my truck on Classic Car Trader. It was in San Diego, 100 miles away. Bought it the day I saw it. The rest is history.

I did some engine, tranny and suspension work on friend's British SCCA racers in the early 70's (Midgets, Sprites, TR3's and TR4's), and worked the pits. But that did not include any practical experience in V8's, welding, bodywork or paint.

It has been a great learning experience and the best hobby of my life. Too bad I was 1-1/2 years into the truck before I found FTE, but since I did, the road has been a lot easier and more fun.

I figure as long as it took me to get my hot rod, I'm building it as a driver, so I can get the most out of the time I have it. I plan to drive the wheels off it!....and tow...and haul stuff...and look god doing it!

Thanks, folks!

 

Back when the earth was cooling, I blew the head on my little Dodge convertible and needed something to drive while it was being rebuilt as a part-time project. A guy at work had an old truck he was willing to part with for $200. I drove the truck for a couple of months and then parked it for about 6 months since it needed some work.

My younger brother was in an auto accident and we needed a physical project that he could work on to get some manual skills back... so my Dad, me, and the younger brother decided to rebuild the motor on my old truck. After the rebuild, I drove the truck for a few weeks to set the valves and rings, etc and see how it ran... and began pulling off aftermarket junk and replacing it with stock parts.

I got rid of the convertible and drove my truck as a daily driver for 10 years. My brother liked my truck enough that he bought a '49 F-1 and started a resto/mod on it.

That was a LOT of years and miles ago. I've been through a number of cars and trucks since then but I always kept the old truck. It turned out to be my favorite ride.

 

By accident, really. I've been driving 78/79 F150's/Broncos since I got my license 21 years ago. I've been a "mudder" since. Maintaining the breakage, gas prices, and life has made me stop. The "Unroadworthy" has been beat on pretty good, but I still kept it with intentions to fix it up. That and the 2 givens where I live are 1. Winter, and 2. Hitting deer, has told me a job in autobody repair would be sufficient. About the same time a friend bought the '48, stripped it down, sold it to a co-worker, who then gave it to me some years later. All the while my 78 f150 has sat, I got a different job than in a body shop, and I was getting interested in street rods(going back to my childhood and matchbox cars, models, etc...) and was looking for a 1940 Ford pickup. The '48 was free, so I figured "why not?" Looking at the calendar at work of a '48 F1 built by Jim Giroix of MI's Valenite Muscle Car show sealed the deal, and I took the '48 home. Been bit by the bug ever since.

 

My daily driver back in the '70s was a VW Squareback that was totaled. I had to have another driver 'cause my wife was driving our T'bird to work. A man and his son had 2 '56s and a '55 in his yard near my job. The '55 was a doll, but he wanted 1800 bucks for it.
One of the '56s had a 427 with a Detroit locker for 1400 bucks.

The one I bought was 850 bucks.
That was in Dec '76.
And so it goes.

 

Well it all started back in '68 I was 6 when my dad brought home a 54 ford, it's now mine. I started helping him work on it but as time would have it, it got disassembled for many years. Then when it was time to move to WA dad said " if I wanted the truck ever then i had to make it roadswothy". So at 15 yrs old I put it together so it could drive. Not bad for doing it myself. And thats the rest of the story. Kurt G. Y-blocks rule.

 

In the 80's my dad had a 55 that he drug home and I remember him and his buddy building a 312 and putting it in the truck in our garage. Dad died in an accident in 1986 when I was 16 and sadly Mom had to sell the truck to help make ends meet. So I vowed to get another one and build it.

 

I hung around my Dads shop at 14 and when i went to high school i started turning wrenches for him. My friends would bring their cars up for me to check out on the scope(remember them) and nobody else in the shop liked working on hot rods so i ended up working on all the muscle cars and such that came in. Long story short i got to know one of my customers that would fiddle with custom cars and trucks and every so often he would bring one of them up to be checked out. His regular driver was a 53F100 that looked like a well used parts truck but had a 390 in it and it ran like a raped ape. I really liked that 53 and always bugged him about selling it to me. I kept saying i'm gonna build me one one of these days, Low and behold 25 years later i'm building one.

 

Hey I knew this would be a good thread.I forgot to tell yall it was in 1978, that I was 8years old, and I got to ride in bro's truck.

 

I think that I have told this story before so here goes again. It was many moons ago that I saw this fellow driving a 56 f100 panel, I was 14 years young , man that was a long time ago. At that time I'm not really sure why I liked it so much, probably because it was so different and I had never seen one before. It, much like the one that I have now was a real rust bucket, difference being is that one actually run, it had a 223 cu in three on the tree. I had a cousin who worked for a sign company, so he made some patches that we had just pop riveted on, not the best body work, but remember I was young and proud of what was accomplished. The previous owner had gobbed on about a half gallon of bondo above each head light on the front fenders and hadn't even sanded any of it down, looked like two big cow paddy's, one on each corner. After smoothing these over I purchased a gallon of black paint, a roller and paint brush. When it was all dune and just before I turned 16 ready to get my drivers license my dad made me get rid of it, that was around 1970. Fast forward to 1999 I found another one in about the same shape only this one didn't run and now I'm shaking my head and beginning to think my dad was right after all. But I do love these old 56's and one day I might just prove myself wrong about never getting this old heap on the road. Please keep your fingers crossed.lol

 

I have had many 67-72 F100s over a period of years, but always wanted a mid-fifty, fat fendered Ford truck. After making my first appearance at the 02 Supernats, I started seriously looking for a truck. Didn't find one until 3 weeks before the 03 Nats, so I jumped on whatever I could find. Should have waited, because the parts truck that I bought later would have been a better candidate for a build, but it came along a little late. So, after a little over 4 years, "Someday" is starting to look like a truck again and I hopefully will make the maiden voyage out of the driveway sometime this winter.

 

I know how it is to have a so called parts truck that is better than the one youre building? Are we crazy or what? I also know how it is to be bitten by the bug at the Supernats.I first went in 1993 with a friend, and have been goin ever since!! It just affects you some how

 

I have been very crazy about vehicles since a more younger age more cars back in the day like muscle cars classics etc but in the past few years i fell in love with trucks especially fords i wanted one for a first vehicle i got one i still want a older one maybe one from each look that would cool

 

My Dad was a post WW2 Los Angeles Hot Rodder. I grew up in a '37 Business Coupe and '32 3-Window with full-race flatheads. When I was 11 he gave me a worn out 56 Ford 2 Dr Sedan for Christmas (so I'd leave his stuff alone). I pretty much disassembled the car and put it together again. Made lots of mistakes and learned from them.

I was just always in it. Several Muscle Cars. Fords, Chevys and Mopars. Lots of Drag Racing and a few years of serious Street Racing to pay the Bills......Met a guy back in 1980 who did frame-ups on Model As and F1s. Like 3 or 4 a year.

We became and still are, friends and I've always had some sort of old Ford Truck ever since.