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Tony (AZ...)
So it looks like this 66 truck has been repainted at least once per your observations. Could the FORD letter bars be painted black and the gravel guard be painted silver and the hood badge be changed to a V8. I assume all these could be done. Does that make it more original. Well maybe more correct?? They are only original once! I would not be trying to bring this truck back to stock original condition. It is far beyond that with all the current mods. Has it been molested? Maybe to some degree? Again thanks for pointing these features out to me. If I would have been standing there I would not have know those details. Now I do, that's why I come to these forums that's where the knowledge is! I appreciate your critique. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for your completely original truck? The original trucks are out there but don't show up often.
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl
Most things can be put back to the way they were. The few you mentioned are certainly among the easiest. If it were me I'd also do original wheels/caps and change the seat cover back to original. Then, no one would suspect anything until you look under the hood. But that's just me. I like original or when mods are necessary that they appear correct. Regardless, it's your truck, do what pleases you. Or rather what pleases your wife. I'd paint it purple with green spots if it would make her happy. Dementia sucks.
Paid 2k for my truck. A deal even back in 2016. Took abt a year to find and wanted something as original as possible. Lots had already been done to mine but no real mods that had to be un-done. That Comet is a sweet ride, but my budget only ever allows for buying something that needs to be completely redone. Probably better off that way since things usually get out of hand. Case in point, currently working on a 50 yr old Ford class C motorhome. Much like our Shasta, has been torn down to the frame and will be a total rebuild. Getting ready to cut the frame in half and stretch nearly 3ft. Link in my sig.
Good luck with your new truck. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Most importantly, I hope it makes your wife happy.
If you're still looking for transport, I used Auto Transport Services out of Wausau, Wisconsin. They contracted with Rikki Bobbi Transports out of Spokane. 700 bucks Spokane to south of Los Angeles in 2019. I was real happy with the service from the broker and the driver.
66F250 4x4, Folks,
Thanks for the recommendation. Our son works in logistics all day. He has several, probably brokers, that we may check with quotes from $750 to $1000 ish. May change every day with fuel prices? I ask for some additional pictures as it sets in KY.
Will be good to get his home soon. Its growing on me!
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl
Last edited by Effies 56; Mar 17, 2026 at 06:59 PM.
52 Merc, Ford truck folks,
I am getting ansy too. Ok I am not a 66 Ford truck guy. Not till now. The 52 reminds me your truck is the same age as me. Hope it looks better than me? I have been checking Facebook for more of these for sale or trade. Just curious and learning and doing price checks. It is true there is a new puppy every day. Some are prettier some are cheaper, some are more pricey, Some have 6 cyl with three on the tree some have been repowered with other Ford era V8s too. pretty much all over the map. The condition vary greatly also. I know this is not news to anyone on here. People will ask so why did you pick that one? Like the girl at the dance. Man that is a great question. Well I was coming off of a truck rejection. I had my little heart broken when my dream truck sold. Cash talks and bull **** walks. How many times have we heard that. Well it is true. The truck was a green on green 78 Ford. It was a very nice resto mod. Not perfect but very well cared for. There were lots of boxes checked. So I thought I was the only one interested so played it along for weeks hoping my son could go and see and drive it. A week prior to that drive a buyer showed up with more money and the owner sold it pretty simple. As he told me "that sir is the way trucks are bought and sold"! Got it!
Years ago as I cruised the net for trucks 79 preferred Cheryl would say "You know we had those when new!" She was right! I was trying to relive the nostalgia of our youth for sure! She cannot provide the guide rails anymore, and I run off into the weeds a lot now days. I have been "without adult supervision for about 6 years"!
So some friends that want to help us spend our money, said the 78-79 was too new! A friend has a nice 69 bump with a short bed that might have been for sale. It was close by and had fresh engine and transmission. It did need some work on the doors. In red it was a contender! Might need a repaint after door repair? Price was similar.
Then I remembered another red truck at a car show last year. I took a picture of the for sale sign in the window. Searched my phone, found the local number and called the very nice owner. He sent me lots of pictures an details. turns out it was a 66 slick with the short bed also! Truck was converted to a three speed on the floor. Newer 351 Cleveland engine. It did not have power drakes or disc brakes up front. It did not have power steering. It looked sharp! Another contender truck close buy too. I began to remember the 66 style I liked the fender shapes. It started the Facebook market place search. And here we are. This turquoise short bed checked most of the boxes from the pictures and description on facebook. Also I had very good discussions with the owner over the phone and texting. He provided all the things I asked for regarding the truck in a very timely manner. I made an unusual move, I said I would buy it. The owner said then its yours! So the die is cast! Sorry for the long post in the middle of the night.
Hope things are good in Ford Land!
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl
Last edited by Effies 56; Mar 14, 2026 at 11:55 PM.
52 I began to remember the 66 style I liked the fender shapes. It started the Facebook market place search. And here we are. This turquoise short bed checked most of the boxes from the pictures and description on facebook. Also I had very good discussions with the owner over the phone and texting. He provided all the things I asked for regarding the truck in a very timely manner. I made an unusual move, I said I would buy it. The owner said then it's yours! So the die is cast!.
My story is different, but not too different. I was doing a project in my home state of Virginia that was running for a few years, and while it was nice to be able to borrow a car from my brother, when that car started acting up, I thought it would be better to get myself my own set of wheels.
After months of searching and setting aside what I thought would be reasonable funds for a car to buy, and likely later sell, I bought a 2001 Range Rover on BaT. I had seen the truck in person, and the owner was a stand up guy, so I bid, won, and went to get the truck, only to have the air suspension go ***** thirty miles down the road. After several hours of working with the, now previous owner, too trouble shoot and make the truck drivable, the check engine light came on, and then the break warning light.... I said he was a stand up guy, and he suggested that I bring back the truck and would give me my money back. In Virgina, he had no responsibility to do so, but then again, he wasn't trying to cheat anyone and it was just bad luck that the suspension went ***** when it did. The other issues were likely related to idling the truck for two hours while we worked out the suspension issue, and needing an ounce of break fluid to top up the reservoir. That said, it had me not wanting anything with a computer or that required emissions.
So that put me into looking for something old, or older, and could still assist me with my work...a truck. I grew up learning to drive on a '70 F250 crew cab, and while finding one of those would have been cool, they are fetching numbers way beyond my budget, so I opened my search up to include the Slicks. I knew nothing about them, but the more I looked, the more I liked. The shape of the fenders, the way the roof and back of the cab have a slight spoiler like curve, but it was the notch or recess in the cab roof, that won me over. These trucks were designed by engineers and designers who loved what they were doing and were still allowed to go for both design and function...
So after months of extending my search and reaching out to sellers all over the United States, I found "Lucy" out in Oregon, and like you, after talking to the seller, bought the truck sight unseen. I did have a local shop do a PPI, but there were no surprises and I am happy and feel blessed to say the least. Naturally, now the idea of selling is painful, and it's not good sitting 6k miles way even if it is in a garage, but I hope that I won't have too sell any time soon and better yet, get the old girl shipped over to Germany.
I wish you and Cheryl all the best, and look forward to reading more about your new ride, that is one beautiful looking truck!!
Last edited by The Dassler; Mar 15, 2026 at 10:19 AM.
Dazzler, Mike and Skido, and FTE Folks,
The good or bad about me. I tend to write a lot sometimes told I am a little too "chatty" I Love to visit about almost anything except politics! Dazzler loved your story. Now I need to go look for the notch you talk about in the cab I assume the upper rear roof? I will pay more attention to that. Yes the little details said the designers were really thinking! I like the fake fender shapes on front and rear too! I am getting more excited every day to get in this Easter Egg! I talked to the owner and he surprises me with a new tidbit about the truck as he has built it. Like front wheels the white steelies are 7 inches wide, The rears are 10 inches wide tucked inside the fenders. I like that look, the kid thing in me! Now I may look for some polished alum wheels to make it more like what I want. Just reuse the specs he has and change the rims. I asked him about the new radio which he said was a am-fm. I said I might change it to a new bule tooth type He said it has some of those features already so that may be just what we need to blast some 66 tunes using my phone and Pandora?? He said he put a new speaker in the original spot. Perfect!
I may also look for a chrome rear bumper. I see a lot of them anyone want to suggest a particular brand?? The previous owner said the truck originally had white bumpers and for sure was a 6 cyl truck with three on the tree. When he got it it had a greasy 351W and auto. The engine was not good. With the second engine swap My guess is the truck may have 237,000 miles on it??
Anyway thanks for the positive comments. I need to learn morfe about "Slicks" too. I didn't even know they were called slick sides
We are back to cold 21 degrees and 3 inches of new snow and wind! Glad the Easter egg truck is not headed this way yet. Maybe next week?
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl
Funny you mention possibly getting aluminum wheels. I also have aluminum wheels that I run most of the time and the original steel wheels and caps. Here is a picture of the original 16 inch wheels with bis ply tires.
I call it a notch, but maybe it has another proper name. It's a slightly dipped recession running down the center of the roof from front to back. It's a design element that has shown up on lots of cars over the years including a plethora of supper cars. But frankly, I can't think of any vehicles that had the "notch" built before the Ford, and being a newbie, I can't even tell you if it is in the roofline of the earlier slicks (pre '65). It was just something I noticed and ended up being what had me narrow down my search. In my case, I also got lucky and bought an original "Ranger" optioned truck, but that is another story.
Personally, I am excited for you and Cheryl, I hope you enjoy your new truck as much as I ended up enjoying mine. I am not kidding when I write that it put miles of smiles on my face, and I truly enjoyed the extra time it took to go somewhere. My truck is in no way as clean and nice as what you have coming, and I pray that one day, I will be able to do a proper refurbishment and slight restomod with Lucy, but as all of us know, time is short, life is fleeting, and we all have to take it one day at a time.
Be well, stay warm, and keep the posts coming. Oh, by the way, I sometimes refer to myself as Chatty Matty, when I find I have been going on a bit, so never apologise to me about using too many words.
TA455HO, Folks,
Yes the owner said the dash pad was bad and he removed it and painted the steel dash to closely match the "B" code color and a off white lower color. Thanks for the Ford info/words.
Yes this is a resto mod type truck, with hopefully good bones! That's not unusual tto see mods like this, as some of us want a few safety items like improved steering and stopping action.
I hope this truck meets those expectations for us. At this point I am keeping my expectations rather low. having not crawled under it or touched it. I will probably find some things that are better and some worse!
We will contract with a shipper soon. Thanks for the possible carrier!@
See If I can find some additional pictures. These are pictures by/from the previous owner.
Back to the purist vs custom issue. I do like a vehicle to be near stock. It is much easier to research and work on it. I am going to be out of my comfort zone on the mods made to this truck.
Ok here we go taking this thread off in the weeds again. This is another of our toys. 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente. Cheryl bought me this car 3 years ago for Christmas:
I have rebuilt the front end steering components, new coil springs, shocks and converted to front disc brakes and dual master cylinder (LEED). New heavier front torsion bar. Also new rear leaf springs (EATON) and conventional shocks (QA1) to eliminate the air shocks. Also had new foam added to the front seats and made custom rails to move the seats back 3 inches. I was a little cramped prior to the seat work. This car had been painted at the factory and two additional times prior to us buying which was it 3 years ago. Its a driver and we do take it to shows and cruise in's. It performs ok with the original 289 and C4 automatic transmission. Runs down the road pretty good. Drives a lot like a 1965 Comet! It does have power steering. We drove "little red" 7000 miles last year. My wife has stage 6 dementia and the truck is for her. Man I hope she likes it!
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl
cool truck and the 65 comet.
I have a few 66 trucks floating around in various states of restoration. Only one is going total stock. I tend to always stick with stock colors but mixture of engines. As of late I do more late model engines vs original as in end the cost is less over a proper rebuild of stock engine.
I have this unrestored 1966 Cyclone a dream as young kid 60 yrs ago.
Matt, Boss9f100, Ford folks
That is a very nice Merc! The 66 two tone is awesome! Yes the miles add up. Someone took really good care of your truck! You can help me with any questions for sure!
The title for my 66 is in the mail to me today. The truck will be picked up March 23-24 or 25th. Then several travel days north to its new home. near Erie PA. An enclosed trailer will be used. Weather should be better too.
Have looked at some chrome steel wheels from Summit that I may go with? Also probably a new chrome rear bumper rather than the white one. These would add some personal touches. The fronts are 15 x 7.with 4.5 back spacing. The rear wheels are 15 x 10 with 4.5 inch back spacing. The plan would be to just swap rims out.
I have been checking Facebook for more of these for sale or trade. Just curious and learning and doing price checks. It is true there is a new puppy every day. Some are prettier some are cheaper, some are more pricey, Some have 6 cyl with three on the tree some have been repowered with other Ford era V8s too. pretty much all over the map. The condition vary greatly also. I know this is not news to anyone on here. People will ask so why did you pick that one? Like the girl at the dance. Man that is a great question. Well I was coming off of a truck rejection. I had my little heart broken when my dream truck sold. Cash talks and bull **** walks. How many times have we heard that. Well it is true. The truck was a green on green 78 Ford. It was a very nice resto mod. Not perfect but very well cared for. There were lots of boxes checked. So I thought I was the only one interested so played it along for weeks hoping my son could go and see and drive it. A week prior to that drive a buyer showed up with more money and the owner sold it pretty simple. As he told me "that sir is the way trucks are bought and sold"! Got it!
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