This 1968 F-100 Prerunner Is Ready to Take on Any Desert

Serious Hardware

Taking old trucks and transforming them into prerunners is all the rage these days and for good reason. There's nothing more fun than blasting through the desert at high speed, jumping dunes, and generally just ripping it up in the sand, after all. But while some prerunners are built just for looks, this wicked 1968 Ford F-100 owned by Michael Gehres has been built to the hilt with some serious hardware.

Photos: Michael Gehres

Old and New

On the outside, this classic F-100 looks pretty much like a regular, run of the mill F-100 with some larger wheels and tires. But underneath the surface, it's much, much more than that. The build features a host of serious suspension goodies including 3.5/3.0 Fox bypass coilovers with Eibach springs coupled with an I-beam front suspension and four-link setup in the rear.

Photos: Michael Gehres

>>Join the conversation on this F-100 Prerunner right here in the Ford Trucks Forum!

Evil Swap

As is the case with many of these prerunner builds, this one runs GM's LS family of engines - in this case, an LS2 with LS3 heads, an LSX Fitech ECU, and a ton of coolers to keep temperatures under control. Power flows to all four wheels through a built 4L80e that the driver controls via paddle shifters.

Photos: Michael Gehres

>>Join the conversation on this F-100 Prerunner right here in the Ford Trucks Forum!

Full Race

The interior of this F-100 is all business as well, with nothing more than what you'd need to actually run a race in the desert. That includes a full race intercom with headsets so that driver and navigator can communicate effectively, along with a GPS system and loads of gauges to help stay on track and keep an eye on the truck's vitals.

Photos: Michael Gehres

>>Join the conversation on this F-100 Prerunner right here in the Ford Trucks Forum!

Other Bits and Pieces

The truck rolls on a set of 17-inch Raceline Monster beadlock wheels wrapped with 37-inch Toyo Open Country M/T rubber, which gives it plenty of traction. A set of Baja Design lights helps illuminate the desert in the dark, while a 45-gallon fuel cell provides enough juice to complete a pretty grueling race.

Photos: Michael Gehres

>>Join the conversation on this F-100 Prerunner right here in the Ford Trucks Forum!

Desert Eater

Put it all together, and you've got one seriously cool prerunner that would be at home on the sand or on the street, where it both looks cool and performs like the proper desert-eating beast that it was built to be.

Photos: Michael Gehres

>>Join the conversation on this F-100 Prerunner right here in the Ford Trucks Forum!

For help keeping your truck in great shape, check out the how to section of Ford-Trucks.com