This is a picture of my almost finished F-100 in 2018 except for one minor detail. It didn’t start out like this when I bought it in 2006 to haul lumber but after helping with that job the truck earned the right to be freshened up so follow along.
Here is what the truck looked like when I bought it. The truck was for sale in Fremont about 38 miles from where I lived. I drove down to see the truck and hear from the seller. I learned it was his father-in-law’s truck. It had been repainted. The 352 engine was blown up by the son-in-law in the 80’s and replaced with a 1972 360 FE. It ran rough. It was hard to keep running and you needed to feather the pedal at a stop to keep it from dying. Rust in the cab floor was extremely minor but had pine needles all over. In short it was perfect and I paid $1250 for it.
In order to get it I had to drive back home and then the following Saturday took BART down to Fremont and got a taxi over where I picked up the truck. Heading back up 680 I expected light traffic northbound at noon. Was I ever wrong about that. For some reason it was bumper to bumper from Fremont to Pleasanton where it cleared. I’m lucky I made it in one piece what with the iffy idle and manual brakes along the Sunol Grade. Reason being that one week later, after picking up some lumber, my brakes went out 1 1/2 miles from home. I drove home carefully aided by the fact that the rest of the way had a slight uphill grade to my driveway. With that the truck went up on jack stands.
The cause was not obvious since there was no visible fluid leak. However, the rear passenger side drum brake had no internal springs at all. Ok, let’s go through the brakes front to back. Trick was locating drums but had the help of my local part’s guy who was willing to explore for me. At the same time the rear axles were removed to replace bearings and seals. The drive line was removed and brought to a local shop for a new carrier bearing and balance. The engine had the Autolite 2150 dumped for one of my rebuilt 2100’s, along with a Pertronix I ignition, new wires and new plugs. Now I could drive the truck reliably. The job of moving old lumber away and new lumber in to build 100 feet of new fence was now able to be handled in 2007. Once that task was completed the F100 earned the right to be restored.
I had been collecting parts off of eBay when they showed up. The early years of eBay were great for old car parts which weren’t expensive at all. I am talking NOS parts. However, by the mid-teens sellers got wish and those parts weren’t cheap anymore. So the first step was to break down the cab since I was going to do the truck in two parts.
With all the exterior sheet metal off you can see what was done behind. Radiator support cleaned and painted along with frame and horns. The oil cooler was added for the transmission earlier. The fenders, have you ever seen a Slick, without a dented fender at the front top? I never have and wasn’t immune.
The process in some photos. Three coats, of Holly Green, as I knew I would do a little color sanding for debris removal, hardly any, and to moderate orange peel. I could easily make the surface mirror smooth using my Air Advantage and papers from 1000-5000 but that would be wrong for a circa 1965 Ford truck. My goal is to leave a little orange peel that would have been seen when new. Both sides were fully painted in color. Next, onto the hood.
Pretty clean? Well I had the hood, fenders, and doors soda blasted in my side yard. I no longer recommend doing that around neighbors. The white cloud hanging over the block was quite something. The only positive was that the alkali nature was excellent against the growth of weeds in the area.
The hood had a small crease from a garage door coming down on it. That is another thing I have always seen on out trucks. My spare hood also has a slight crease. Once that crease was dealt with the epoxy primer and Wimbledon White goes on. Now someone in Washington State, a member of my Ford Truck forum, sent me photos of how Ford did the junctions where the two colors met. That way I could duplicate what Ford did. The green line down the side went through the middle of the mounting holes for the spear trim. Under the front lip Ford actually taped off that small section with small pieces of tape and so did I. From their a little color sanding and the hood id finished. By the way I am using PPG Concept Single Stage Urethane. Unlike BC/CC which gives a wet look the SS gives a rich, creamy look. You need to see it in person. Next up are the doors.
First, take pictures of the doors so paint borders can be duplicated as the doors are almost split in half unlike the fenders and hood.
Now both doors had those Western mirrors installed on both sides. Granted the view is way better than Ford’s original mirrors but I am going original. That means I have to weld up 14 holes, grind them flat, and then coat with a little filler.
Doors now finished so onto the cab.
Correcting myself part of the cab was painted before the doors came off which is the section behind the fender. Almost at the bottom is a little drain hole under the lip to let water drain from the cowl. That is till it gets blocked by leaves or pine needles and it doesn’t take much. I was good down here and on the inside I cleaned it out and painted the metal with cold galvanizing paint.
First issue was dealing with the big hole from a CB antenna. Needed to cut out a patch of steel, weld it in, grind it down, and coat with some filler. Next was to remove all the old shriveled caulk along the drip rail. After painting it got self-leveling caulk. Fortunately I had zero rust in this area.
Pictures show before and after in the same locations that needed duplication. The entire cab was painted in one session. Both inside and outside. Jambs, dash, floor, overhead. All that was left were some of the attaching parts.
Those parts are the front bumper, the valence panel, and the Barden rear bumper. With that I can now reassemble the front clip.
I will leave things at this with the cab done. The bed will be part 2 since this could go on and on. Some notes. The windshield, which was de-laminating was replace. The rear window and side windows were fine. All weatherstrips were replaced. The seat was done in the correct fabric from SMS along with the correct embossed logo on the back. Forrest Steele, is my interior guy just 3 miles up the street. His father was Navy and so I have given Forrest ship tags from the old and gone Suisun Reserve Fleet. He also did my Polara. Door pockets I located on eBay. Two sets actually with one white and one green. The instrument panel is 1966 style with the extra two gauges unlike the 65. Now this was finished in 2008 and there was a lull until 2012 when I was able to attack the bed. Not that I didn’t do anything as I would get under and clean the under carriage and paint it in sections. The bed require the right location given it’s size.
Amazing work! Very cool attention to detail in regard to factory originality!
Wow! What a striking transformation. Absolutely gorgeous. All props on a terrific job!
Wow ~ this is a real sweetie .
At first glance I thought “shoulda left the original light blue” but then I see that glorious interior in green, you did the right thing here and it shows .
Are you a Body/dolly/paint man by trade ? .
The attention to the details is sweet .
-Nate
Are you a Body/dolly/paint man by trade ? .
No Doctor of Optometry going on 43 years.
Beautiful workmanship, you, sir, are an artist! A super nice truck that deserves that level of care. I’d almost hesitate to use one that nice, but that’s what they’re for, so go for it!
Very sharp right down to the factory markings on the rad support.
Excellent work! Looking forward to part 2.
You are in the perfect climate for finding old trucks; I can’t imagine finding a much cleaner example. Nice job on the two-tone paintwork, especially since you used a single-stage paint. The only problem is that I’d be afraid to use it for hauling any loads!
Did you keep the 360?
Did you keep the 360?
Funny you ask. After I was all finished in part 2 I had to, unexpectedly, pull the 360. Since it was out it was turned into a 9.5:1 390-2V.
Good call! Speaking of 390s, my garage plan next week is to pull the intake on my ’63 T-Bird to seal up some oil leaks from the driver’s rear corner. I’m not really looking forward to the heavy lifting.
Do you have an engine hoist? Yeah it seems like overkill but with a FE manifold that includes part of the head it is the way to go. It also makes it easier to get everything lined up and sat down w/o bumping the gaskets out of place.
Not a minor task there. Need to unbolt the rocker shafts in order to get the pushrods out of the way and then re-install for those who don’t know. In the past I have used a lift to remove such an intake. I have also used a 7 ft. long pipe with wife and son on either end with the intake suspended in the middle. They lower while I place.
Ha ha, I’ve been contemplating the job for about a year. It’s one of those things where I tried everything else before deciding to pull the intake. What a silly design – why would anyone possibly make a job that needlessly complex?
Anyway, I’ve been talking to the guys over at the FE Forum and reading through content on intake manifold sealing. I do have an engine hoist, but I think I’m going to pull the hood and stand on the spring towers to pull the manifold and use my engine lifting pad as a handle. We’ll see how it goes.
Braden bumper! That’s a name I haven’t seen in a long time. Very nice. I wish I had the motivation to do something like this. And the skills 😀. There are quite a few F100’s of this generation still running around town here, some as working trucks. I saw a straight but unrestored looking one just the other day that was sitting quite low … it may even have been one of those Panther chassis swaps discussed recently.
Outstanding! What great quality work, how the heck do you have time to do a job, maintain an aircraft carrier AND restore this truck?
I did consider having some parts soda blasted at home, from your description I’m glad I didn’t ..
I respect your choices and admire your craftsmanship, but I rather preferred the way it looked before, which was very nice for that vintage; definitely nicer than mine. And I prefer blue over green. I have a real thing about vehicles showing their true age. I’d be afraid to haul anything in a perfectly restored truck.
What’s the black semi-circle on the trim piece on the lower door?
Took me awhile to figure out what you were talking about. That semi-circle is actually a zipper. Custom Cabs, as an original option, could get plastic pockets placed into the doors once the panel cover is removed. Those are true OEM pockets in there as verified by the one and only NumberDummy on FTE. I have one white vinyl set and one green. The vinyl is stapled onto the plastic frame of the pocket. There are now reproductions but mine are the real McCoy.
Woo-Hoo!
That’s awesome.
Very glad and surprised that this was an option back in 1965.
Very cool!
What’s the black semi-circle on the trim piece on the lower door?
That really struck me as well. In production, those were a bare body-painted metal trim piece on the base vehicles and a bare body-painted metal trim piece covered in vinyl on the deluxe vehicles. Did someone craft a pocket with a zipper for those door pieces? That’s a bit of modernity that didn’t exist in 1965.
That said – it is a beautiful truck and a lot of love went into it. I’d be afraid to drive it. I find the the style of the interior and exterior remarkable, yet simple and strong. So different a perception compared to today’s “trucks” that look like inflated cartoon muscle suits filled with hot air, but cost pert-near six digits.
Always enjoy your tech articles. As stated by others, your attention to detail is impressive! I’m in the process of doing similar work on my ’71 Chevy longbed which I also bought for home improvement projects. I’m working on the bed first though and also painting it in pieces. What brand of self-leveling caulk did you use for the drip rails? I’m having trouble finding something comparable to the OEM product that will last.
I used Sikaflex self-leveling caulk. I have been using Sikalflex to caulk the new windows on the USS Hornet. The caulk for the car is just one tube at around $16. The stuff for the ship is three parts: cleaner, primer, and caulk. That tube costs $115 or $220 for all three parts which one needs.
Thanks for the info! I will look for that product.
Looks like was a very solid truck to start with! And what a job you did! This truck looks new. I also like the green color much better than light blue as light blue is not one of my favorite vehicle colors, on any vehicle. Engine-turned panel and chrome on the dash look very upscale! Good job!!
Great job on a nice looking truck. Makes me want to get started on my ’93 F-150. I love those whitewalls. I wouldn’t be afraid to haul anything with this truck … hang a utility trailer on a receiver hitch and you’re good to go! Looking forward to Part 2.
Beautiful work, and I really appreciate your many photos. Each is a learning experience/object to study in and of itself.
I don’t know what you’re going to do with the truck when it’s done. I doubt you’ll be hauling lumber in it. But it will be quite something to just look at and to drive to shows.
I did mention one minor detail and had to get a picture because the story being posted caught me by surprise. Briefly saw it in the morning but had to run and accomplish errands on my off day. There was electronic scrap from the Hornet that needed to be dropped off at the recycle center. There some young kid ran up to me and asked what the car was. It was the 91 Mazda 626 hatchback. Ok, that apparently made his day. Then took the Mazda for it’s every two year smog test. Fabulous on HC and CO but could have been better on NOx. Still passed and it wasn’t cheap.
Next pulled the Ambassador out as it needed a minor, but critical repair, in order to put more than 5 gallons of gas in the tank. Then went for a 35 mile drive on a quiet two lane highway. Pulled into Monument Auto for a few things and some of the staff came out to see the car as they saw it pull in. Drove home on city streets where two drivers pulled right out in front of me. I was right on top of them and it was if they didn’t see me. Slammed on my brakes. WTH! Now you know why I am reticent about driving my vintage cars. Now the truck with drums all around???
Oh, here is the minor detail that was corrected.
Great work on a handsome old truck. Of course I love the green color. Your paint job looks very professional. I have a soft spot for these old Fords.