This old 1970 F250 was bought used with low miles in the early 70's by my uncle. He bought it from a farmer out in the Dakotas somewhere, got a real good deal on it & couldn't figure out why it was so cheap until he started driving it home at highway speeds & he discovered a vibration in the engine at a certain RPM. he stayed below that RPM all the way home & eventually pulled the oil pan to take a look at the bottom end. It's a 360 FE & one of the main cap bolts had come out & was actually laying in the pan, he simply put the bolt back in & torqued it to spec. He drove that engine through a life of well over a hundred thousand miles, since then the engine has been out & rebuilt several times since the truck now has around 500,000 miles on it, truck has been everywhere. I remember that truck from when I was a kid, used to be really nice. I grew up around this truck & now it's mine. I'd like to restore it, the body, heck my uncle kept everything else in great shape. this old monster goes down the road like a dream, problem is it looks like a nightmere!!

should I just find a whole truck body & swap onto this chassis or should I try to salvage most of this body & replace panels as needed?

 

I'd fix what is worth fixing, but replace what is too far gone. Keep the sentimental things.

 

well, maybe I should look for a donor truck, try to fix the cab on this one & swap out pretty much everything else... doors, fenders inner & out... hood, grill, the whole box...

I guess if I keep the cab itself it would essentually feel like the same truck..

she needs springs all the way around to get the ride height back up too original height too, anybody know a good shop for re-arch?

 

outstanding story. dont ever sell that truck. doors, fenders, new hood, and a fresh bed should be a piece of cake. i agree about the cab. that and the frame are what makes it your truck. not to mention the great smell these cabs have.

 

forgot to mention, the truck is the same model year as I am, 1970 model, so me & the truck have been on this earth for the same amount of time.

time's just been a little tougher on the truck... I show wear too but jeesh, the ole truck has really lived hard

 

hey dave i live in socal i will scour the junk yard this weekend looking for some parts for my truck if you give me a list i could keep an eye out for your stuff too. where i live stuff fades but it's not a cancer inducing area so the part will need paint and mabey a little ding removal but that's it

 

but from your pictures it looks like the metal is in good shape mabey just slide your local bodyshop mechanic an extra case of beer (i don't know what you guys drink up there but around here it's bud light) but lmc's new catalog has some great parts for the grill really swanky like new.

 

hey carpenter, very nice of you.

unfortunatly, I am the body man!!

the body on the 70 is simply shot!! She's had a tough life.

I have my eyes on a couple of local 2wd farm trucks that have been parked for a very long time, these would make good donors for fenders, doors, bed, hood etc.

 

ok well around here most of the trucks in the boneyard don't run but look good so i could keep an eye out for you

 

Dave you are sending mixed signals. Buy another body and you have a different truck. I don't think you have ever seen the truck all slicked up as new and it wouldn't be the same.

My suggestion would be to make it as mechanically sound as possible and drive it as is, a tough ol hombre.


John

 

I have a picture of the truck from when I was a kid, as I remember the truck while growing up.

It actually was very nice, Always stock apperarance with the white steel wheels etc but it was a nice truck. Tough too, when I was a kid some of the guys in town would hook there trucks up back to back with a chain or a very large tow rope & drag each other around until someone gave up or broke... most of the time it meant for broken axles.

My uncle was a mechanic for as long as I can remember so he kept the truck in very good mechanical condition. Even to this day when I think about mechanical repairs that the truck may need, all I can think of is maybe new exhaust & I'd like to have the springs re-arched.

other than that it's just all sheetmetal work.

 

hey dave seriously right now i am laid off and rather displaced from my industry so i have time to look and around here you have ALOT OF THESE TRUCK AND THIER BODY'S lying around. send me a list pm me or e-mail me. I WILL find the body parts you need and counting shipping and buying them at my local pull your part i garentee that you will get what you need minux paint.

 

seriously right now i am in the works for buying a for around my year but it's an f 100 and i think it even has an fe in it all that is wrong with it externally is paint scraches and a few gouges and a little bit of trim. and this is common in my neck of the woods. btw i'm not trying to sell you nothing i am offering to scout the part buy the part ship the part and then be you pay back those prices heck i'll even send you the receipts from the above mentioned item just to show that i am not trying to take any taste at all.
i know it sounds crazy but i am crazy. just look at my other posts.
heck if your worried about quality i'll send you pictures of the items first.

 

I do appreciate that carpenter, really do.

but it's not quite time for this project to start yet. I have a 68 dodge coronet in my shop that I am way behind on. That was a total gut job, I'm working on a body on wheels, half of the sheetmetal on that one I had to replace & It's fairly close to primer now & the guy needs the car back this spring.

I work full time & do the restoration stuff in my "spare time" problem is there hasn't been any "spare time" lately

But as soon as his coronet is out of my shop I'm wheeling in one of my own projects because I'm tired of working on other peoples stuff. I've got projects galore & no time or money to build them all.

If I do a project for myself it's going to be a quick one with minimal investment because... well because I'm broke but I'm jonesin for a hot rod/coolness fix real bad.

I've got quite a few projects as stated, the old yellow 250 is not on the front of the list simply because I think I want to slowly collect the pieces I need for it then be able to set a time where I can dedicate the shop space to the truck for a while.

First on my list would probably be a 77 half ton 4x4 I also currently drive a little bit or one of my old cars.

Wouldn't be hard for me to build one of my old cars up to give me 20 mpg hwy, so I might go that route (all my car stuff is mid 60's or older)

I do truely appreciate the offer though & if it was time for me to start buying parts I'd probably take you up on it.

 

well pm or e-mail me when the time comes and i'll hit the junk yard and scout for you