Hello,
Historically I have been a participant in the 48-56 forum. I have been much less active in recent years since I have been working on old Ford cars instead of old Ford trucks. However, recently I got back to fixing on my 63 F-100. The truck is not a rare or desirable combination in the way a 4x4 or Ranger is, but I like the combination of options and features the original owner selected and installed. This is a long post, as I tell the story of the truck as I know it.

The truck as built by Ford, and maintained over the years, is a Rangoon Red 1963 F-100 with:

• Stock 292 (with one rebuild over the years)
• long bed
• wide bed (wrong bed)
• custom cab, without side trim
• 16" wheels
• three speed overdrive

The accessories and add-ons from the original owner include:

• under dash air conditioning
• owner fabricated grill guard
• owner fabricated headache rack
• owner fabricated rear bumper (starting with a 30s or 40s truck bumper)
• second fuel tank
• power booster (the same type unit used in the early Thunderbirds)
• trailer brakes
• rain deflectors over the side windows
• 4-way flashers
• lots of added lights and switches

I am the third owner, with my dad being the second owner in order to complete paperwork while I moved. The truck was purchased new in San Antonio, Texas, and was the first new vehicle purchased by the original owner. He loved the truck. He specifically picked a V-8 overdrive equipped truck to purchase, then he added to the truck as he liked. I met him late in his life when he joined the San Antonio chapter of the Early Ford V8 Club. His family had a ranch south of San Antonio, and he told me that after he added the second fuel tank he could fill up in town, then drive to the ranch and back and not buy that expensive country gas. He owned the truck for the rest of his life, and told me about it on a couple club tours when I drove him and his son in my 53 Ford sedan.

I purchased the truck from his son after he passed away. The truck had effectively been off the road for several years by that time and was deteriorating. The exhaust was rotten, the tires ancient, the carburetor cranky, the a/c didn't work, the shifter sloppy, the paint flat, the seat tired, etc. The transmission was so worn out it would jump out of first gear on deceleration. But, the basics looked good and it was my type of truck. It was an old farm truck that never got in an accident, had little rust, the engine sounded mechanically healthy, and was equipped with factory overdrive.

There is a little sticker that got typed up years ago and stuck on the driver's side door jam that explains the wear. The sticker was added when the engine was rebuilt. The engine rebuild was performed in 1979, when the truck had 208,970 miles. The odometer now has 59k miles. The truck has more than a quarter million miles on it. It has held up surprisingly well. The hood opens and closes nicely. The doors close beautifully. The steering is not sloppy. The truck was cared for while it got used. Now it is my turn to care for the truck while I use it. I expect to describe the efforts on the truck since I purchased it in my next post. After that I will start asking advice on some details that need to be worked out.

I'll end this post with a couple pictures. First is the picture the first owner's son sent to the San Antonio car club members, asking if anyone wanted to purchase his dad's truck. Second is the sticker on the driver's door jam.

 

Nice story on your truck, and nice truck.

Interior and engine bay photos also appreciated!

 

After purchasing the truck it got parked in dad's barn while I first moved from San Antonio to Houston, then got married, bought a house, went through a flood, changed jobs, and generally experienced life. I'm happy to report the house eventually got fixed, we just celebrated 10 years of marriage, and I need a truck for occasional use. Luckily I have understanding friends.

The first friend in this story allowed me to rebuild a different overdrive transmission in his garage. I'm not a fan of the higher gearing in the factory V8 overdrive transmission, and generally wanted a beefier transmission than the factory T-86 / R10 unit installed by Ford. Conveniently I stockpiled some heavy duty overdrive transmission parts a couple decades back when I had three 1966 F-100s (a story for another time). I still had a passenger car T85 / R11 in great shape from a wrecked 1960 Starliner, and a couple gear sets from 66-71 Ford truck transmissions. I rebuilt the car transmission with the truck gear set. This friend also donated a pair of 7.00-16 tires and tubes.

The second friend in this story has use of a shop with a lift. He trailered the 63 to the shop and we set to work.

First we did the transmission swap, which had unanticipated complications but we worked through them. New u-joints got installed and the driveshaft bolted right back in.
Next was a brake job. I think the brakes hoses were original, they had no date codes on them. All hoses, wheel cylinders, and master cylinder were replaced. I went through the added booster with a kit, and reinstalled it. I deleted the old brake controller at that time, I don't trust the old controller unit with brake line pressure.

I purchased a new car type water pump and bought one of the adapters that converts it to truck dimensions. I purchased a correct carburetor that needed going through, then went through it. I purchased valve cover gaskets. I purchased a new fuel pump. I purchased hoses and a belt. I purchased a complete new exhaust system. I ended up purchasing a new radiator after the radiator shop we know and trust refused to touch the original. I purchased a new a/c condenser. I purchased two 7.00-16 mud grip tires for the back of the pickup.

Slowly, with the help of friends all these parts got installed. The new radiator turned out to have the flanges at the 6 cylinder locations so we made spacers out of 2 inch square tube and got the radiator back where it needs to be. The radiator also came polished aluminum, which I'm not having in any original old Ford, so it got scuffed and painted black. I combined a early 60s Galaxy overdrive dash bezel with a reproduction 4 way flasher switch and a reproduction wiper **** to make a manual on-off switch to shift into overdrive.

At this time most of the overdue maintenance has been accomplished. The engine runs well, the cooling system works possibly too well, and the overdrive works nicely. Shifting is still sloppy, but I think I have the parts to fix that, a NOS shift tube and a reproduction collar for the top of the steering column.

Here are a few pictures from the efforts to get the truck back on the road. The first picture is the old transmission removed from the truck, and the rebuilt transmission about to go in the truck. The second picture shows the Midland power brake booster after I put the kit in it, and was about to do the brake job. Next is the engine compartment with all the maintenance items replaced and a new radiator. I will end this post with a picture in the cab, including not only the overdrive switch but the original owner added oil pressure gauge and ammeter I forgot to mention in the first post.

 

Nice truck, great story, thanks for posting!

 

Welcome to the truck side of Ford Enthusiasts, looks like in the blue oval universe you might be a charter member. Nice list of rides, and clearly, you know how to get your hands dirty. I suspect that most of your questions will be about confirmation, and some of us might learn a thing or two from your posts, so please keep them coming.

As far as value, I would say priceless, as you have the distinction of the story to go with the truck and that is worth more than dollars in my opinion.

Second, please post some more photos, it is always nice to see and share in ones excitement and in the process. I am constantly leaning new stuff with every thread I read.

Third, post more photo's of the interior, the seat pattern looks like it might be original, but I am no expert of the early slicks, so hopefully someone else will chime in with better knowledge.

Lastly, overall, I would say that truck looks pretty amazing so congratulations would also be in order...Congratulations!

 

Great truck and story.

 

Thank you for the encouragement. I have not taken a ton of pictures of the truck, let me see what I have that shows parts of the truck not already pictured.

The seat cover is original, with the 1963 custom cab only material. I'm not sure where he got it, but the truck came with a small roll of the correct multi-color plaid fabric. I do not plan to use that, I like a vinyl cover on a work truck bench seat and have purchased a red seat cover that I plan to install over the original.

The floor mat is also original, in decent shape. I don't want to destroy the original mat while using the truck. I am looking for suggestions on good floor mats to use over the original to help preserve the original.

My current questions are mostly about the interior. I have seen pictures of interiors of several restored 63 Custom Cab trucks, but not good pictures of original 63 Custom Cab interiors.

1. Is the dashboard and door paint scheme what Ford painted? I know the outside of the truck got repainted at some time, but I'm not sure about the interior.
2. Did Ford paint the steering column black and the steering wheel white, or did the original owner change those things? A white steering wheel seems like a poor choice for a work truck, I will be a little surprised if Ford built it that way.
3. Does anyone make new inserts for the deluxe heater control *****?
4. What suggestions do you have on good floor mats for the driver and passenger side of a 63 Ford truck with a low transmission hump?

The truck is very much a work in progress, with both the interior and bed being used as storage for parts.

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Another example of “BUILT FORD TOUGH”.

 

The dash and door paint is factory correct for a Custom Cab - certainly for a 1961-62 it is, so I believe it is the same for '63.
You could buy a rubber floor mat from LMC (or Dennis Carpenter perhaps) to put over the top of the original mat you have. Depends on your budget I guess. I am amazed at how some of these original mats held up over time. The one in my '61 was in a similar condition to yours.
The white steering wheel is correct for a Custom Cab. Almost certain the black column is correct also, but Chad or someone else here may confirm this.

 

Yes, black column should be correct. Seat upholstery is also original and not in too bad of condition. SMS could probably stitch you up a correct replacement for that if you wanted to go that route. What's wrong with the floor mat? That's an original as you know. Outside mirror heads have been changed but everything below that looks factory. Arm, door brackets, carriage bolts and clamp, brace - not sure about the spot mirror down lower but it could pass for something they offered with that correct color. Sweet truck!

 

Thank you for the verification on the interior colors. I find it interesting that the interior paint on my truck matches the 1962 F100 brochure while the seat cover matches the 1963 F100 brochure. Using the information on the Fordification website my truck was built at the San Jose plant during November 1962. One of the things I find odd is that it wasn't a Dallas built truck since it was sold new in San Antonio; maybe the dealer had a hard time finding an overdrive equipped truck to sell?

I contacted SMS a couple years ago about seat cover material and at that time I was quoted right at $1,000 for a new seat cover. That is more than I want to spend on a seat cover, so I will put a new vinyl cover over the original. That should preserve what is left of the original, while giving me a better cover to use.

The spot mirror is clamped around the original mirror arm. It wouldn't surprise me if the original owner made up the clamp part and attached it to a mirror head he found. I haven't driven the truck enough to know if I want to retain that. The driver's side mirror head is floppy, and will not hold an angle anymore. I purchased new mirror heads that almost match what is on the truck now, but the attachment studs are too short. I will see if I can get coupling nuts and longer studs at the hardware store. I like the idea of the Ford accessory mirrors that can be angled out to see down a trailer, but I have yet to try moving them. The original owner liked them for trailer towing.

There is nothing wrong with the original floor mat, I simply want to preserve it. I know I and other passengers will occasionally get into the truck with gravel and / or mud stuck to our boots. I want to put another mat on top of the original to preserve the original. My experience in other vehicles is generic mats on top of the factory floor mat slide all around and offer as much frustration as they offer protection. I am hoping someone has a better idea.

The other thing that needs to be fixed is the dreaded roof rust. My roof isn't that bad, it is confined to the area above the drip rails. I am not a paint and body person. I'm not looking forward to fixing that. I think I will paint the roof white after the rust repair, in the area Ford used for two tone on these trucks.

 

This might be a dumb idea, but it doesn't look as if the original floor mat is screwed or glued down. What about ordering a replacement from someone like Carpenter or LMC, and then just carefully put yours into storage? Then if the replacement ever gets messed up, or you are going to a show, you can alway swap it out.

Otherwise, it sounds like you have a pretty good handle on what you need to do and want to do. Keep up the photo's and progress reports, it's a good read.

 

I have thought about removing the factory floor mat, but I expect it will tear if I tried to work it around the gas pedal.

Progress is slow since I don't have much time to work on the truck. I replaced the brake light switch, these die so often I keep several on hand for my old Fords.
Since the engine is now running nicely I changed the oil, including in the air cleaner. I cleaned up the air cleaner and put a new decal on it.


The plan is to install a small Sanden type compressor and make the air conditioning work, just in time for summer in Texas. I woke up early this morning so I spent some time looking at the 48-63 Ford Truck Parts Catalog. I had forgotten that Ford offered dealer installed air conditioning for trucks in 1963. I was surprised that the illustration showing the Ford compressor bracket and pulleys for a 292 V8 engine look almost identical to the setup on my engine. I doubt the original owner purchased new parts at Ford, instead I suspect the maker of the aftermarket A/C kit installed by the original owner copied the Ford brackets.

 

Nice find, the separate bed IMO is a big plus. The '63 model is rarely discussed in depth on this sub forum because of the other uni body sub forum. Early build '63 Custom Cabs followed the same pattern as pre '63 Custom Cabs with the white steering wheel and white tu tone dashes till the transition to black steering wheels and gray tu tone dashes depending on exterior colors, exception is the white exterior Custom Cabs had red tu tone dashes. Seat is correct candy stripe pattern one year only colors. Too bad more people, back in the day, set up their pickups with more options and accessories when it was a simple matter. I've seen many of these trucks over the years, and to be frank, IMO, it appears to be a lower mileage vehicle than you think. Tell tale signs are the seat upholstery and floor mat still in good condition, steering wheel has plenty of white paint still on it, body is still very straight and still has the original hubcaps would easily indicate about 100K less, 159K is much more believable for long distance runs when it was used regularly by a careful driver. The Texas sun did it's number on the original paint, it has been repainted.

 

Thank you for verification that the dash, doors, steering column, and steering wheel are painted as came from the factory. You are correct, the truck got repainted at some point, and I suspect the steering wheel got a repaint at that time.

The seat upholstery is worse than it looks in pictures, but the floor mat is good. The mechanical wear in both the transmission and shifting leads me to believe the sticker in the door is correct. I have driven lots of old Fords with between 125,000 and 175,000 miles and they had nowhere near the wear this one had. Of course I could be wrong, I didn't ask about milage from the original owner while he was alive since I wasn't expecting to purchase the truck.

Next question: can the shift tube be pulled and replaced with the steering column and shaft bolted in place in the truck? I found a NOS shift tube, and have purchased one of the new production shift collars. My usual era of Ford has the exposed shifting mechanism, this is the first time I will work a Ford with the shift mechanism hidden inside the steering column. I really want to make this truck shift well again, it is currently very sloppy.