After deciding to retire from motocross racing after being pretty well beat up, i thought building a rod truck would be pretty cool. After a few months of searching I came across this 51 Ford F1. Just over a year later I have a finished product, let me know what you guys think!
Then I found out the frame was bent, and all the fun started, you can kinda see in the last few pics the bent rails, but a local had a nice straight frame that worked out great, needed a few patches, a paint job and turned out good
Starting the reassembly with alot of new parts. Bought a 302 with AOD off craigslist and on the first test drive thy both blew up on me, only to find a bolt in the engine..... said screw it had a buddy build me a brand new engine
So after a year long adventure here she sits, im pretty happy with the way it turned out, just a few little things to tinker with and it will be 100%
i used a 3" drop axle from speedway as well as the 2" drop springs for the front, little pricy but worth it, and i used an 8.8 rear end out of a 99 ford explorer and just flipped it on top of the stock springs, lowered everything really nice, just had to bend the steering arm down in the front a bit to avoid bump steer. I still wanted it to ride like a truck from the 50's, but it goes down the road tight and straight with that set up
...I like it, don't do much more to the body, that's my vote. What kind of wheels are those?...never seen em before.
Yep, bad ass! Aren't those Shelby wheels? I like the contrast with those new wheels and the "patina".
Thanks guys! Yeah the are Eleanor replicas from Gone in 60 Seconds, I really liked them at first but Im having mixed feelings on them now. As far as the body.... its all done, the truck has a lot of history, i just need a new driver side fender, its so bashed in i get a lot of rub on the tire and every time i bash it out it goes right back.
Yeah, please respond: Which power steering box is that??? I have a Toyota 4X4 box, don't like it, ratio is horribly 'low', many turns to change direction. My old F100 box was way better...but would prefer power.
The Jalopy Journal
