What would your dad say about your dent?
 

I lost my dad to a heart attack back in 1998. In 1989, we built his 1977 F100 after some guys decided to build a 302 to race and then got drunk and wrapped it around a tree. He got the race truck for what it cost to bail the guys out, and then we put the 302, transmission, and slap shift in his 77. I spent countless hours with my dad when we built his truck. It was originally metallic green. He painted it emron red with a white top. He kept huge mud tires on the back. He replaced quite a few flywheels spinning those huge tires.

His truck:

when it was green with the 351 Windsor:

https://i193.photobucket.com/albums/...uck/img363.jpg

Red & white w/modded 302:

https://i193.photobucket.com/albums/...uck/img356.jpg

https://i193.photobucket.com/albums/...uck/img358.jpg

https://i193.photobucket.com/albums/...uck/img362.jpg

https://i193.photobucket.com/albums/...uck/img359.jpg

The pictures don't really do the truck justice.

So, last March, I drove from Louisiana to Kentucky to go fetch my 1978 F250 400M with a C6. I got it home to find that the truck was pretty much all original, all the way down to the transmission filter screen. I've tinkered with my F250 off and on throughout the past year. I've changed a few parts, but have tried to keep the original parts by either keeping them in the truck or storing them in the shop.

Well, I rarely dream... and very rarely do I dream of my dad. I had a dream a couple of weeks ago... right about the time that I had the dash apart, trying to get an original radio to work, but the radio just refused. I ended up putting an aftermarket radio in, but put the original radio up in the shop.

In the dream, dad was working on the truck with me. We had the dash apart. The radio wouldn't work. He got a little frustrated with me insisting on trying to use original parts. He said, "Hope, you have a real nice truck here. That's good you're trying to keep it nice. But it is just a waste of time to try to keep everything original. You need to keep it nice and stop wasting your time trying to keep 30 year old parts. If you find something newer that works better, use it."

I didn't want to wake up because I wanted to see how my truck would turn out with my dad working on it. It seemed that before the dream was over that my entire dash was red.

So, I guess the dream left an impression on me because it does sound like something that my dad would have said. He basically said, "why fight with 30 year old http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...letterword.gif when something new will work better?"

I'm graduating with my BA in sociology in May. There are a lot of things I have put off until I graduate. While I am proud of my F250, I feel a little ashamed that my dad's red truck is right down the road rotting. I've vowed that if I can get a job closer to home after I get a degree, dad's 77 is coming home. I'm going to make an offer to my cousin and get the 77 under the carport next to my F250. If I can ever get it back to the way he had it, but using newer parts that work better, it will be my daily driver and my F250 will be my hauler and grass cutting truck. I am very emotional about my dad's old truck. When I drive my F250, I can't help but to think about the time we shared building my dad's 77.

I really feel like what he said in my dream is what he would say if he was here today.

What would your dad say about your dent?

Sorry about your dad. be glad you did spend the time that you did with him.
My mom passed away with Cancer in '92. One of my uncles told me then. " if you think you miss them now, just wait, you come to miss them more as time goes by." He was right. Losing a parent never gets better with time. Now I'm 41 and have 3 beautiful kids that never got to know their Grandma. But I tell em all the time how grandma used to drive a Dent.

Now on another note:
My dad would say "Now that you fixed it up for me, Give it Back!"

My dad hates Fords and won't have anything to do with them - Never have found out why he feels that way... He and I aren't exactly on good speaking terms at the moment...

My dad gave me the '76 that I drive. I had to put a different engine shortly after he gave it to me. He smiles whenever i go visit him and sees the truck. I told him one day when the truck is fully restored that I'd give it back to him. "deal!" he says!

He doesn't say much about it, but he's glad I was able to get it running again. Whenever i upgrade or do something to the truck I tell him, he gets excited.

I hope to one day be able to take my dad on a fishing and hunting trip in the truck, just the two of us. Love that old truck!

If my dad were still around Im sure he would tell me I need to put smaller tires and a quieter muffler on it and to slow down !

Mine is still living parents got a divorce when I was little but he never liked Fords. He has 2 brothers & a sister him an 1 of the brothers only drive GM products. So when they found out I was looking for a truck an it had to be a Ford they said it was like there uncle Jack who only drove Fords. My grandpa on the other hand on my mom's side had a 74 Ford F100 regular cab long bed for a few years before he passed in 99. He loved that old truck an if he was here now an saw this old 74 Ford F250 crewcab I have it would disappear he would be out driving it an taking it everywere an leave his parked an take mine an brag bout it that I got a good ol American Ford truck an not one of these foreign piece of crap. That that is whats wrong with this country no pride everybody drive foreign an then wonders why there are no jobs. I joke around all the time that it would be good if he was here with his 74 Ford F100 regular cab parked along side my 74 F250 crewcab. His was brown an mine is white if it would have been the same color it would have been wierd. But my dad dont say nothing bout it its a Ford not a GM. Just sometimes look at it an see that old brown 74 sitting beside it with him grinning ear to ear loving it.

my old man would not pass down his 77 f100 to me. I begged him for years but he refused.

Hahaha my dad tells me everyday... when u putting that damn truck back together im tired of trippin over parts! ahahah

my dad still has his 78 f150 4x4. currently in NC. but with mine, he tells me not to be mudding it or lifting it, making louder etc. but when we see the ones that are jacked up and loud, he says thats a bada$$ truck haha. so idk what his deal is with mine, but he likes it just as much as his(although his truck is "way better" than mine, bc i have the girly box and his is the long bed) lmao

I am also sorry to hear about your Father. My Dad started my love of these old trucks, I was there to watch his 77 being unloaded fron the car trailer whenis was brand new and he still has it today in new condition. I bought my first dentside when I was 17 and have had at least 1 ever since. He doesn't like my wide tires the exhaust and my Texas drop rear bumper and he HATES the fact mines a Lariat and his is an XLT.

Sorry to hear about your dad, my dad had a heart attack way back in 1982, and has had angioplasty and stints put in since then.

My dad loves my truck, he should since it used to be his! LOL He loves the changes I've done to it. He borrows it sometimes when he needs it.

The dent I have IS the one he bought so I guess he would say I WANT IT BACK! But me and my father aren't real close and did not spend time together doing anything as a kid. Everything in life I have learned on my own or taken after my grandpa, but that is fine by me. I'm not saying he was a bad father just wasn't really there as a father. But make no mistake I am different and my kids are better off for it.

WOW all that may have been too personal, but what the hell, now you know me a little more.

i don't have it anymore, but if i did i bet my dad would say something along the lines of "well, at least that piece of chit ain't in my driveway anymore." he likes my other ford's that i've owned, just not that first junky dent i had when i was 16.

my dad drives a toyota nuff said

My dad would be "Do a burnout!"

Then he would be like "I hear a cop!"

Then he would yell at me for wasting good tires.

My dad had a 1973 F100 brand new (he also had a brand new 71 Maverick and my mom drove a Pinto!), the truck got totalled around 82 I think. He got a brand new 1984 F150 flareside, but sold that for a POS Jeep Cherokee around 1990.

He now has a 2004 Hemi Dodge Ram. On his second transmission. He doesn't like to talk about that.

A month ago he bought my step-mom a Chevy Trailblazer...

maybe my dad has Alzheimers or something.

Josh

On July 7, 1991 my brother and I were camping along the creek as we usually did on weekends at that time. My dad showed up in his 77 F150 Custom Explorer, and set and talked with us for a while. I offered him a beer but he declined. (now I wish we would have that one last beer together)

I figured he had enough the night before when he was hittin the ol'man clubs as he usually did on the weekends. He then decided he was going home to make one of his favorite dishes, and rest up because he had to go to work the next day.

We said our goodbyes and he drove off as I set and watched him drive up a slight incline through some S turns, and cross over the turnpike bridge and off into the senset he went. We went on and put some food on the grill so we had less to tote back home, then we left.

The next day, Monday July 8, 1991 which is my Mothers birthday, I recieved a call at work that my dad suddenly passed away in the early morning hours in his sleep. He was in perfect health as far as we knew, then three days later on my birthday he was buried. (fate can be cruel)

It was strange, the other day I realized the last time I saw him alive, he was driving off into the sunset in his F150 Custom Explorer,.............

If he was here today, he would be 74, and I know he would have gotten the biggest kick out of seeing me getting a truck as close to his as possible. I know he would have been here helping all along the way.

He was a Ford mechanic all of his life. He would have bitched about every tool in my box if it wasn't a Snap on, Mac, or SK. He would say, "That wasn't even worth carring out of the store, you might as well taken the money out of your pocket and threw it in the trash!"

Several times while working on my truck I would have problems, I would ask for his help, and I would take a break, and come back and figure it all out.

This July will be 19 years, and there is not a single day that I don't think of him. Who ever said you miss them more as time goes on is SO right.

Dad's dent winter of 1989
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...10071548PM.jpg

My dent, the Pa plate on the bumper is the one he had on his 73 F100 Explorer, and 77 Explorer, but its hard to make out in the above picture. Those plates were real popular around here in the early 70's with 1976 approaching
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...DSCF0025-1.jpg

PS: Dad's motto; "They should melt down chevys to level out the road for a Ford to drive over."

Dad and his dent fall 1985,..
http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...074255PM-1.jpg

WWJD
 

don't know about my dad, but i just ask myself, what would jesus drive?

Probably one of the following:

"Should have never given it to you"
"Remember that time when you were a kid...."
"What did you need THAT one for?"
"Don't you think you should finish one project before you start another one?"

and the one that constantly haunts me....

"Don't forget where that 390 came from!"

my dad would ask why im wasting my time fooling with {that old rusty clunker} hes not really into cars or trucks ,more of a basic transport kinda guy. he still cant believe i tore it domn to the frame!!!!LOL

Mine would say, "You're gonna spend more on that thing than it's worth!" Daddy usually was right. LOL

WOW.
I like this thread. :)
Not sure what my dad would say.
I just know 2 years ago, when we last drove the '76 he said "This old damn thing is faster than a mother f####r!"
He's Right :D

I seem to remember when my dad walked by the Bronco after I put the rockwells and silver paint on, he didn't say much if anything. My mother has never said anything either.

"And just what the hell do you need that for?"

It was the "bank of dad" that helped me buy my truck.
A few years after i moved to the city, i began tearing my truck down for the rebuild, at the same time my dad had some health issues.
The first time he saw it after the rebuild was at it's first show. He simply smiled and said "looks good" (which was better than any trophy). A few months after that he past away.
If he were still hear, he would be in the passenger seat, quietly smiling. That is untill we got a little out of control, which would recieve a stern "behave" while trying not to piss himself laughing.

This is a great thread, and would have made a great father's day salute thread to all of our dads, past and present. Anyhow, I was over near my dad's old place today, so I stopped by and took a picture of my dent in his driveway. The weather was perfect today, low humidity, and the temps were in the 80's

So first is the pictures of his dent in front of the house back in the winter of 1989, and my dent today 21 years later.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...10071548PM.jpg

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...DSCF0001-7.jpg

:-X22

Tees I like that pic of both trucks taken from the same spot but over 20 years later, that's was pretty cool. I can't figure out how to load pics onto the forum page, I can put them on my frile but not on a topic, anybody anle to help with that??

My dad comes out from Mont. and stays with us from time to time, he is 72, when he does he drives my 78 F25 supercab 4x4. Why not, if he hits someone or rubs a curb or 2 it doesn't bother me. He loves it.

My dad actually helped me find my truck....

I had been searching for the right truck for some time, and I had a 78 F250 Camper Special, but it was a two wheel drive, and a standard cab. I didn't really want to make a project out of that (albeit a good truck), so I sold it to a friend of mine, who loaned it out and it got destroyed (that pissed me off).

Anyway, I get a call from dad one day who asks, "You said you were looking for a 78 or 79?"
Me: "Yeah"
Dad: "Supercab"?
Me: "Yeah"
Dad: "4x4"?
Me: "Yeah" (I'm so eloquent)
Dad: "There's one here for sale in Spokane."
Me: "No, there isn't...I've been looking for months"
Dad: "Yup, there is"
Me: "I'm on my way"

So, I rented a car, drove to Spokane, and picked Buford up for entirely too much money (the guy was nuts on his price, but I wanted it), and I drove it back over to Olympia. Since that time, Buford has become an exercise in proving that I may need serious psychological help.

Dad has seen it in its current stage, which is getting closer to complete, and he usually has a few things to say about it. "You've lost your mind, you know that, right?" I usually respond that that's true. He might also go with "Shouldn't you get rid of all this garbage and get a real truck?", which he only says because he's trying to give me an aneurysm.

His last visit to my house, though, was a different story. I've got the engine in the cradle, and have put most of the accessories on, but still have to do the interior, plumb it, wire it, install the overdrive, and assemble the front clip....but he came and gave it a thorough once over and said, "This thing is going to be one damned nice truck". I actually had to shake my head as he doesn't say things to me like that very often. It's a rare circumstance where he openly says anything nice to me directly. He's more than willing to say nice things to other people about me or my truck, but almost never to my face.

That being the case, and since he's showing a side I've never seen before, I've put myself into overdrive, and am trying to get Buford road ready by mid-summer, so I can take him out in it at least once. His health isn't as good as it used to be, and he's even said, "Hope you finish this thing before I croak!", and I know he's not actually completely kidding. So, since it's my 25th high school reunion this summer, I set that date as my goal to have Buford running. Hopefully I'll be able to make that happen, and take dad to a show or two this year.

Dad passed away in 72 but probably would have said, " Get rid of that ugly, rusty thing and buy a newer one." He died two months after getting his new 72 swiss aqua 1/2 ton.

iam 16 and my dads 55 but my dad loves my truck, hes got one himself...

but every time something goes wrong with my dad he gets pissed.. i just tell him that "you wanted me to get this truck not me" haha its true. at first he wanted me to have it and i really didnt but whatever.. i was into vw bugs and minitrucks before.. one truck got into a minitruckin magazine..

No more humorous dad quotes?

you spent how much fixing that damn thing? those tires cost how much...are you crazy?? glad to see one of us is making money that you can throw away...

everytime my dad see's my truck he tells me about a truck he had in high school or for work

to begin.. thank you for the photos on the first page showing the one ford wearing a red and white paint job, that really brough back the memories, because my first ford had the similar type of paint scheme. until i was dumb in my younger days and spray bombed it flat black.
there is not much left of the old ford now a days.. my dad still wants it gone. he had wanted it retired for the last 20 plus years.. But now, since i recently lost my mother to cancer, i'm gonna step up my effort in restoring it back to the day when they first bought it in september of 1976.
i know with a good part of the truck will end up being reproduction parts of parts for another year, that will in turn make it a copy of the original truck. i still want to do it as a rolling tribute to my parents.. plus, the truck is litterally a member of the family.
now what my dad says about my 72 f-250.. well i can not write that..

my dad helped build mine and he is the one that got me hocked on them he had dents when i was little and i loved them

Hehe as soon as I told my dad what I bought he said I was stupid shouldn't have bought because I am going to pour money in it and sell it. As usual dad was right but it's ok when he isn't looking I'm buying another one to throw money in to and then keep.

My dad is the one who got me interested in dents when I was a little kid riding around in his 76 F-150 4x4. I learned to drive in that truck and my brother and I completely thrashed it during highschool (it was a farm truck). Now my dad says that my '75 highboy is too high, the tires are too tall, and my engine makes too much power/gets bad mileage.

Usually what I hear when I go home is "when will you have time to work on mine?" , "when will yours be finished?" , and "can I take your truck to town?" :)

My dad has been very supportive of my Ford truck infatuation and has donated more than enough parts to my projects. One day I hope to restore his '76 for him back to the way he had it set up in the late '70s.

Here is a quote from my dad from a couple weeks ago when I picked up another dentside, "You sure buy the ugliest trucks around." Which he followed up with "Can I borrow it? Its a pretty nice truck" He wants to borrow it to drive from Wisconsin to Southern Missouri to drag back some rust free parts he found.I love my dentsides but for a trip like that i would sure prefer my '99 Superduty crewcab. I will probably never understand him..............

that sounds about like my dad. he is also constantly telling how it is too tall...

my bronco on the other hand, my dad wants me back home so we can finish it so he can take it out for a spin...

although he does constantly ask me why i buy parts that cost more than what i paid for the vehicle (which applies to pretty much all of them)

My dad always says the same thing about my trucks "GET THAT PIECE OF $#!7 OUT OF HERE OR I'M CALLING A WRECKER"

He doesn't believe in fullsize trucks and believes that everything he owns is far superior to anything anyone else could ever own.