I bought a 56 F100 in Arvada a few years ago and the seller told me it was one of the original Bob Jones Skyland Ford Customs. I thought, "oh yeah", but recently I saw another reference to Bob Jones Skyland Ford Custom Trucks on e-bay.
Anybody old enough to provide any history on the dealership and what type customs he sold?

 

Hello,
I'm not old enough to remember skyland ford, however my
best friend is. He owns a 1957 thunderbird that is an original
Bob Jones custom. The hood was punched full of louvers along with the fender skirts.The taillights had headlight bezels added as well! I'm sure there were many more modifications that I'm not aware of. My friend may be of some help to you howver he is not an expert in the bob jones customs. His name is wayne Maddox
He can be reached at Maddox Vintage Auto in commerce city (303) 288-2682 0r E-mail him maddoxvintage(No Email Addresses In Posts!)

 

Ranger Pat,

Classic Trucks August 03 issue has a cool article on a 1953 Bob Jones truck restored to showroom new. WOW! It's owned by a guy named Jim McNaul out of Silverthorne, CO.

The website for the magazine is "www.classictrucksweb.com".

The article is titled "Time Travelin' F-100".

Hope this helps.

Spudco

 

I noticedyour post seeking information on Bob Jones Skyland Ford specials.

I am a native of Denver, Colorado and am 64 years old. I turned 16 in 1955 and have subscribed to Hot Rod magazine since I was 11 years old in 1950.

I remember the Bob Jones Specials well! The dealership was located at 23rd and Broadway in north/central Denver.

Bob Jones was also the predominant Ford heavy-duty dealer in Denver at that time. He sold quite a number of the big T-800 and T-850, T-700 and T-750 models at that time, mostly for dump trucks. Kenworth and Peterbilt were the "Gods" of the heavy truck industry then, and you probably have seen some of the "wild" paint and chrome schemes they employed in the '50s. (And still do today to some extent)

I think Bob Jones and some of his customers were Kenworth/Peterbilt wannabee's at that time.

Anyway Bob Jones started offering his heavy trucks with KW/Pete wannabee paint jobs.

About this time the '53 F-100 came out and was quite a styling success. Some of his customers began requesting that he paint a new pickup for them to match their new "big" truck.

I believe this is how it all started.

It later evolved year by year to where each salesman had a 'menu" of customizing options, each with an individual price, on what could be done to a new pickup. Vertical chrome stacks, dual chrome spotlights, tonneau covers, dropped axles, louvered hoods, scalloped and flamed paint jobs, fenders painted different colors from the body, etc, etc,

I am the owner of the Bob Jones Special featured in the August '03 issue of Classic Trucks. This unit is actually taken a little further that Bob Jones Specials had evolved in 1953, but is more like a lot of his "maxed-out" 56's

He contiuned this customizing at least into the early 60s including some Thunderbirds and Victoria's

e-mail me if you have any further questions.

JMcNaul3@netzero.com

 

Ranger Pat

There is also an article in Hot Rod magazine December of 1956 issue written by a goodfriend of mine, Jim McKindley, entitled "Truckin First Class" It documents the Bob Jones Special story. It also mentions that any type of performance improvement a customer might request was available.

I have seen a lot of them with T-bird valve covers, dual 4-barrel manifolds, dual exhaust, glasspack or "smitty" mufflers etc.

There is a story I have heard several times from diferent people that a wealthy cattle rancher from Wyoming came into the dealership and requested that a Cadillac V-8 engine be swapped into his NEW Bob Jones Special pickup. "No problem" they said. ;called the Cadillac dealer, got a price, got an adapter plate, and delivered the "Fordillac" right off the showroom floor. Cadillac engines were the 'hot ticket in '49 to about '57, before the small block Chevvy was 'discovered" This is the main reason I put a Cadillac in mine. I just kinda has a more '50's sound to it. I DO however have a "Flatheads Forever" plaque above the rear licence plates. I have a lot of fun going up the mountains of Colorado passing new pickups.

BobJonesSpecial

 

BobJonesSpecial, (Jim)

Please tell me you were NOT at the GoodGuys event last weekend in Colorado Springs! I talked myself out of going so I could get more work done on a renovation on the house.

If my son (He's 8 and thinks your '53 is just the livin' end!) and I missed seeing your truck, I'll kick myself.

Spudco

 

Spudco,

No I wasn't at Goodguys last weekend. I had it there last year, but this year elected to stay up in nice cool Silverthorne and go mountain climbing instead of standing in the hot sun at PPIR.

I'm glad your son likes it, and thanks for the compliments.

I have a grandson that is 5 and I built him a minature of my pickup, painted and upholstered exactly the same white and red. I even made a '53 Ford grille for it and put in working headlights.

It had a commercialy produced fibreglass non-descript no-brand pickup body on it with a 3.5 hp Briggs & Stratton engine.

He was a little too tall for it and hit a bump while driving it which caused his head to go forward and bump against the edge of the fibreglass requiring 3-stitches! So I sold it at the OCC swap meet. It made a great picture that I'll always cherish however. My grandson and I standing beside our 'matching" pickups.

The article in Classic Trucks said my pickup said my pickup was "for show". My A**! I drove it to Bonneville the last two years and drove it on the salt for a week each time. I've had it at the drag races twice and even entered it in an autocross slalom race last weekend. It's made about 10 trips from Denver to Silverthorne hauling a small load of furniture a couple of times.

I pulled the Georgetown to Silver Plume grade one time at 110 MPH with the air conditioning on and about a 90-degree day!

Show truck, my foot!

Jim McNaul
BobJonesSpecial

 

My dad worked at Skyland Ford and was real proud of those trucks and cars also he had a 59 skyliner with the Bob Jones treatment,he worked there from 55 till about 1960(not sure).from what I know Don Clark louvered the hoods(he's a local car customiser/race driver)and the scalloped flame paint job was origanally designed using a coffe can.
A few years back I saw one in a back yard,56 vintage and original condition,white w/purple flames and some rust

 

Dear Mr. Bob Jones,
Do you own the 1949 Ford F-2, 3/4 ton pickup ("Ol Betsy") originally bought by your dad in 1969 to use as a towing vehicle for his auto service business? If so, I would like to use the old before picture (of Betsy sitting behind the park bench and galvanized garbage can) for the front cover of my latest book "A Truck Load Of Hard Times." I would as well, like to use your name/home town as the owner when I talk about the front cover on the inside flap. I need the name of your home town and state.
I hope that Santa was good to you and that 2008 is your best year ever. I can be reached at: W. Isaac "Bill" Bishop, 3188 Townhouse Drive, Marianna, Fl 32446-6979, HP: 850-482-4320, MP: 850-209-2475, E-mail: billybobcommando@yahoo.com.

Respectfully,

Bill