Daily Slideshow: 76 F-100: Too Nice for a Winter Beater

The Plan

Jeff Huebner is from Belmont, Michigan. In the winter, Belmont gets pelted with snow on the regular—it's not a place where you'd want to drive say, a Mustang, year-round. Huebner had a Mustang, and since he recognized driving it through snow and sleet and salt wasn't ideal, he picked up a 1976 Ford F-100 for use as what people in the Midwest refer to as a "winter beater," a vehicle you don't care about that gives you something to drive while your "good" car spends the winter nice and protected in your garage. He bought the pickup for only a thousand bucks, and after driving it for a while, he decided he liked it better than the Mustang, so he sold the 'Stang and decided to fix up the F-100. 

New Old Pickup

As the base for a build, Huebner could have done worse than the F-100—it came with power steering and brakes, air conditioning, an automatic transmission, a 390 ci V8, and LSD. The truck wasn't in bad shape but it wasn't perfect either. So Huebner, who's a professional body tech., ordered a number of still-available components from Ford, including gas tanks, various sheet metal pieces, a selection of trim, and even new-old-stock door handles. When he happened to come across a completely clean cab and bed, he snapped those up too. He did all the work, save the engine and tranny, himself, shaving some emblems, spraying the body in DuPont Imron mint green paint, and installing a new-old-stock grille (with a 1973 insert) and mirrors from a '92 Ford. He also built a custom tonneau cover for the bed out of sheet aluminum, supported by a square tube aluminum frame, and covered in Haartz convertible top material.

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Inside Again

Now freshly repainted, Dynamat and Dynaliner insulation were laid down in the cab to cut noise. The XLT-appointed interior retains its chrome door panel accents, carpets, and dash trim. However, Huebner replaced the original cloth-with-vinyl-trim seats with more back-friendly units from a 1992 Ford, which he had covered in matching cloth.

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Green 390

Huebner sent the original 390 to Todd Hunt in Coopersville, Michigan to have the engine work done. Hunt bored the block 0.030 over, port-matched the heads, installed a Comp Cams camshaft and valves, and an Edelbrock intake manifold topped with a 600-cfm 4160 Holley carb. The engine uses a Ford Duraspark electronic ignition system, and the stock radiator was re-cored. The engine was finished in Mercury Outboard Green and fitted with a twin-inlet air cleaner and Dynomax headers emptying into a custom 2½-inch exhaust utilizing Flowmaster Delta Flow mufflers.

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Spirit of '76

Huebner had the F-100's column-shift C6 rebuilt by Grand Rapids, Michigan's George’s Transmission. George’s modified it by using a B&M shift kit and installing a TCI StreetFighter torque converter. The truck's driveshaft was painted in patriotic stars and bars, in honor of the pick-ups bicentennial heritage, and the workhorse 9-inch rear end is packed with 3.25:1 gears.

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Crouching Ford

To get the rake just right, Huebner lowered the stock frame by raising the mounting points for the front suspension, dropping the AIM Industries twin I-beam axles three inches. He also relieved the NAPA-sourced front springs of one-half coil each, and had the rear leafs de-arced and mounted on modified shackles to bring the pick-up a little closer to terra firma. Since he's not planning on racing the F-100 anytime soon, he went with NAPA shocks and the stock Ford drum breaks all around. Wheels are Billet Specialties (17×7 front, 18×9.5 rear) over Michelin tires (225/55R17 front, 255/55R18 rear)—no racing doesn't mean no nice rollers.

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Salted or Unsalted?

With a year and a half into the pickup, Huebner reports that it was time well spent, even logging a 3,600-mile journey with his dad as co-driver to the Bonneville Salt Flats for speed week and back. Although its winter days were a thing of the past, it seems as though the F-100 still saw salt. In any case, we can't wait to see what Huebner has in store as a winter beater for his winter beater.  

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