More projects... I'm good and starting those. So, aside from my 53' and my 54' Chevys, we have a few other classics in the family. My dad is restoring his 53' Ford F-100 for the second time (he used it after the first restoration, so now it needs another). He bought a "parts truck" mainly for sheet metal, however when all is said and done, it'll still be a decent core to work with. Probably would make for a hard "restoration" but a custom would be more feasible. My brother has been restoring his 59' Chevy Apache since 1996. Most of the work stopped around 2000 and it's been in storage since. I plan to help him finish it as soon as I get a place with a decent garage to work out of. He's keeping the body and trim fairly original but underneath is a more modern chassis and small block V8. Once we get the body mounts set and all the spacing finalized, his old chassis and 235 6 will be orphaned. So... With my OCD way of thinking, trying to get the best use out of the junk we have, I'm considering doing something with all these scraps. The parts truck f-100's chassis was a bit hacked and modified. I'm not sure how pretty it was when the previous owner built it but it's kinda nasty in my eyes. I'm thinking We take the cab and front end of the f-100 and mate them the the 59' Apache chassis. The f-100 bed is a bit mangled so I'm thinking leaving it off altogether (the Apache's longer anyway of course) and build a flat bed out of it. The end goal is to build a small hauler. I probably won't put much effort into paint and body at first, but in time it'll be built properly (IMO that's what separates builds like this from "rat-rods") The Apache frame seems to be considerably beefier than the F-100 and being a GM guy, I'd be thrilled to keep the old Thriftmaster in the works. I'd like to build in tool-box's, an air compressor, and all that utility into this thing, but I still want it to look classy. I'm sure a franken-truck like this would annoy Chevy and Ford purists alike. What do you guys think? (I'll get some pics up as they come)
Yep, towing would be a must. Having this truck as a flatbed would set the bed higher than originally, but we have a 14' flatbed trailer to get the low-n-heavy stuff. We may take the f-100 bed and build a trailer out of it. It wont be pretty but it would be functional and go well with the hauler. Actually, does anyone know the original towing capacity of a 59' Apache with the 235? It has the original 4 speed floor shift. A lift gate would be awsome... wonder how hard it would be to make one?
not much power, you won't go very fast if you're hauling weight. You didn't mention what model truck it is. 1/2 or 3/4 ton? one ton? 1.5 ton?
Just an update: We ended up selling the 53 f-100 parts truck. I still like the idea of buiding a long flatbed work truck one day, I'll just have to wait for another body to come along.
Those 235 engines moved some heavy loads in the ton and a half bob trucks back in the day. Actually they should out pull a modern 250 because of the longer stroke and heavier internal mass crankshaft and heavier flywheel. I have a 64 3/4 ton that I rigged up for a wrecker. it had the 250 six. and I moved school buses with it. The front end was light but it pulled just fine. It would pull my tilt top trailer with a 5,000 pound M farmall tractor just great. Your old apachie chassis could have anything from 390 to 538 rear gears. 456,s where pretty common.
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