Have you ever had a crazy idea and actually tried to make it come to life. This is one of those. Ford never made a suburban style truck until the 70's or 80's. I'm trying to make a suburban ( Expedition ) out of a 48 Ford panel truck. The first pic is the truck I started with....not the cherry by any means. The idea was to build a truck that could really be used. It's for my wifes uncle and they plan on using it almost daily. There's an extra door added to the passenger side to make getting in and out of the back seat easy. It took 6 doors not counting the ones already on the truck to make it work. I used the door tops to make the window openings. Trying to make it look like Ford would have. The roof is a 57 Ford station wagon roof. It helped get rid of the high crown the panel truck had. It looks chopped a good bit but it's only chopped 2 inches. Clark
Here's some pics of the extra door and the new jamb for it. I still have to skin it. It's a lot easier to make the guts with the skin out of the way. Clark
Damn nice work! When I first started reading, I couldn't see it working in my head. Now that I scrolled down to the pics, it looks dead on. Looks like it could have come from the factory that way.
VERY NICE METAL WORK! Very impressed with some work that people can do out there. I know alot of people that could be dangerous builders but just dont have all the fancy tools and machines to do it. Looks like you have it all. Great idea and great build, will be checking for updates. Thanks for sharing.....
Brilliant, creative and original. Just wait to see how many people come up to you at the car shows, "I had one just like it". Congratulations on a really innovative build.
Ralfs...the roof is partly 57 Ford station wagon. It took 2 times to get it right. I was hoping the curve front to back would work....didn't! I had to roll 1x2 tubing to the correct curve and gut the wagon roof so I could recurve it to match the body. Clark
Ratpack...the tool that has helped me the most is the shrinker stretcher....nothing too fancy. I had to make the tool to roll the 1x2. Clark
You just made magic. I love those early Ford panels, but they are so top heavy visually. You nailed it. This is one of those things where execution is everything. Details will set it apart from a "coulda been cool". It looks like you are on the right track.
Past what I have done here the rest of the truck will be simple. It's gonna be an ice blue flattened with a medium blue on the wheels and accent color. Wheels are 15" solids with Ford caps and whitewall tires. One of my big hang ups now is the running board area. Not sure what to do there. I have several ideas but nothing is firm yet. I did cut the flare off the body cause with the extra door on the passenger side it doesn't work. Clark
very cool ! not bad mouthing your work but it looks so much cleaner on the side with 2 doors than the drivers side ! why only the one door ? structural issues ? again outstanding work and not saying anything negative both sides look great just prefer the 2 door look on the pass side a little more !
dirtbag...yeh maybe it shoulda been a 4 door. Just thought the 3 door would be cool and confuse people. Plus i'm in over my head as it is. This thing has been a ton of work. The only difference between the sides is the door gap. Windows are the same. Clark
Just when the popularity of big SUVs are on the down slide you HAD to go and do this. Wonder how many Ford panels will end up getting altered to mimic your example. Sure looks better than the origional. Frank
I like the three-door idea. Same as the '67 - '72 'Burbs. Practical and stylish, since passengers are not exiting from the street side. Looks great! Building a DOOR and opening from scratch - impressive! Wait till you get that to the shows --- "My Dad had a three-door Ford panel just like this one!" "It was a factory prototype, ya know! " "Ford built about 25 of these, but they destroyed all of them...a designer snuck this one out in the middle of the night from the styling studio and saved it from the crusher!"
You are an entirely different breed of individual.....lol......I love it and can't wait to see the finished results