Great article on "Classic TRUCKS" magazine. Beautifully done Custom F-157 and a Beater F100 worktruck.



It's about time that someone gave luv and respect. Maybe the aftermarket companies will open-up within the next 2-5 years.

 

Man, how can we get respect with such ugly trucks? People should not try to change this body style into something it is not. If you like something lowered and streamlined, why not start with a fat fender one?

Our trucks stand proud and rear their heads up - not that pinched off and squeized together look.

I know that everyone has the right to modify their truck to suit their taste, and the owner likely thinks he has something special.

IMHO, he had a off day when he decided to alter his truck like this.

 

I like the "beater" a lot better. The one in the front looks like they left it in the oven too long and it melted. One thing I love about our trucks is the nice high hood. That '57s hood has been cut way down and it ruins the look.

 

I like them both and yes i feel my truck is the red haired daughter, the black sheep, the square peg in the round hole. But that is why i bought it........dare to be different.

 

Talk about Totally screwing up a Great Looking '57, what a Maroooon & I couldn't agree more, If someone wishes to Mod a Truck like that, do it to a '56 & earlier.
Our "Orphan Years Trucks" are a Class unto themselves & do not deserve to be Butchered is such a Fashion.

 

FordThunder,

Thanks for bringing this article to my attention. Personally, this kind of coverage is bittersweet. I would love to see the reproduction market offer more 57-60 specific items and articles like this might draw enough attention to expand the market for our trucks. But, IMHO, the '57 body redesign was a milepost in pickup development that doesn't come over well with the chopped, slammed and big wheel look now in vogue.

The tall hood and forward chanted cab lines speak of an era. We had the first supersonic jet yet still used oil bath air cleaners. We made nuclear weapons but couldn't offer a truck with an alternator. We had the new interstate highway system yet our truck gearing topped us out at 65 mph. Our post war booming economy was just beginning to slam headlong into a recession, and the 57-60 body was one of Ford's answers to maintain profits.

For my taste the red truck on the cover is just too slick, too contemporary, too removed from context; like Marilyn Monroe with a pierced lip and a tatoo. No, for me, my 1958 F-100 with it's original body lines reflects an era of awkward juxtapositions, of emerging tensions, dissatisfactions and naivety. I'll update my mechanicals and add safety features to keep me safe but the body line of my truck will remain true to the original.

Dave

 

You guys are missing the coolest part...
...Didn't anyone notice that the beater truck has Cadillac power???

MWAH HAHAHAHA MWAAAAHHHHHH HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

(oops sorry, got a little excited there)
Bobby

 

Oh, one more thing. Looking at the chopped hood on the red truck; now I know where the ugly '61s came from!

BTW have you noticed how the fenders on the new Nissan SUV look like those on the 57-60 F-100s?

Dave

 

Thanks, Dave, you said it so much better than I did. I hope people understand - there is so much more to custom body work than making yesterday's trucks look like today's.

Each era had its own style, and staying true to that style is the essence of a custom design that works.

 

"Man, how can we get respect with such ugly trucks? People should not try to change this body style into something it is not. If you like something lowered and streamlined, why not start with a fat fender one?"

I guess the question needs to be asked. "Why would you want to change the body style by stretching the doors out of proporation by 6 inches" and why is it all right to change one model (48/52 & 53/56)but not the other (57/60).

By the way I like both trucks as they were done.

Chuck

 

Cover up your toes guys!!! That red truck is mega-bitchin, hats off to somebody with enough kahoonies to take on that project and pull it off. WELL DONE!!!!!!

 

Style, Chuck, Style. It does not change the style (basic shape) of the truck to stretch the cab, but the chopped and lowered hood does. The 48/56 already has a rounded shape, making it more rounded does not alter the basic style.

The 57/79 style is a shoebox or brick that aggressively says "I am truck" - 56 and older has an aerodynamic shape, more like a car. One is a cave man with a club, the other is a Latin lover. Form follows function on one, the other puts form first.

Either one is pleasing to the eye, it is the marriage of the two that is an abortion.

Perhaps Dave said it best, take Marilyn Monroe and give her short black hair, tattoos, and lip rings - the style that is popular today. Would she still be Marilyn, the blond bombshell of our youth? No, but take her and give a even smaller waist and bigger chest, with long windblown blond hair and bedroom eyes - she would be even better looking than we remember her!

The fact that Tim likes the truck tells us that it is technically well executed, and style remains an individual choice - but this is not a truck I would pick as a winner, or even want parked in my driveway.

 

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! I'd be proud to have either one of them in my driveway...

Vern

 

One, the classic lines that makes her what she is has changed which makes her look Horrid & the other is no longer FoMoCo because w/o Engine, Power-train & Differential she can't be driven & just sits & rots. So w/o a Heart & Soul what's the point?????????
Shakespear got it correct about Beauty & what someone has a taste for is individual, but Not everyones taste is in their Mouths.

 

Although the modifications are not to my taste it at least brings to light these style of trucks in a major magazine. Featured articles for 57-60 trucks are about as hard to find as the NOS sector shaft I was looking for to use in my 60 4x4.Who knows it might interest some manufactures to offer more 57-60 reproduction parts.