Yeah, I think I may have a picture in an old book. To be honest, they have that late '70s Dodge "Little Red Express" look...or maybe just '70s cars in general...CB radios...Cragars and N50-15s sticking out 6" past the fender...foot-long shackles and air shocks...but that's only my opinion. I'll see if I can dig the picture up tomorrow.
I'm NOT going for the Little Red Express look. That is one stupid looking wanabe truck! My '55 F100 has the stock spare tire on the side, stock steelies, and will be lowered with the original red paint/patina from 1955. The idea for the stacks is purely for the nostalgic, old workin' truck look. I like being different. Tired of all the cookie cutter F100s out there.
There are several pictures from the 50's in the Kustom car post by Rikster. It's a long post to search through.
I took these pics in the late '50's ,,the Pee Cup was sittin' in front of the Barris Shop ,,always loved the pipes going up and along side the bed rails ,,the F-100 was painted many shades of Candy Green and was on the cover of Hot Rod in '60 or '61 ,,
When I was a kid in the late 70's, a friend of my Dad had a son who had a neat red 53 F-100 with stacks. It ran a STOUT 383 magnum motor, and STACKS. Straight up behind the cab. It sounded cool. I remember he used to put coffee cans over the ends of them at night to keep stuff/rain from getting in them.
,,,,back in the '60's, a Buddy built '38 Chev' with a worked over later stovebolt, Packard trans with just 2 levers up through the floor, & straight stack's, split manifold of course, sweet sound. PU's with stacks were pretty common in the NE then,,easy to do with step side boxes.
It looks pretty cheesy, if you want to know what I really think. Do the under the bed rail thing, that's classy. Brian
There used to be a flat purple F100 that cruised SoCal around Downey in the late 90's that had mini-stacks, probably made out of lake pipes... they ended with a gentle turn/cut between the bed front wall and the back window. It was a mild custom pickup, and those stacks looked right at home. No pics, but you can picture it, no?
Used to be a few Speed Shops /Parts Houses selling those "Under the Bed Rail" chrome pipes ,,Honest Charley ,,J C Whitney,,to name a couple ,,,might check with some of the older Shops ,,might have a set hangin' in their attics ,,werth a shot ,,
I've considered running a single exhaust stack on my 4x4 Willys pickup. I've been told quite a few 4x4's back in the day ran a stack because they kept ripping off exhaust systems while off roading to get to a job site. On a 2 wheel drive work truck, you don't really have a "reason" to run a stack like some of the 4x4s... BUT I think it would look good if it was utilitarian looking. Not some chrome shop mafia 6 inch stack with huge shield on it. But I'm sure you already know that! I'm going to try digging up a pic of an old truck with a stack that was taken back in the day... hang on... -Chris
I always liked the "belly burners" ( under the rails ) look. I have seen some F-100s with short stacks that looked OK. I am assuming your not talking about 5" stacks with flappers. lol
I bought my '55 F100 from a recovery yard (theft recovery) in 1971. Truck was a mild custom, chrome grille, bumpers, steering column, and everything inside cab. I got it very reasonably, no rust, nice metallic blue paint, full tuck & roll...no engine/trans. When I got it home, I was cleaning it up and while sanding the running boards, found a pair of 2" holes that had been welded up. The former owner said his uncle had bought the truck new, and Babe's mufflers (San Jose, CA) had installed the stacks the first week he had it! I'm not gonna put stacks on it, however...I like my scavengers under the rear axle...
They look cool, but I can think of a good reason not to run them...they don't call them belly burners for nuthin'!
Here ya go Daddyo. As you can see it was on a work truck with a flat bed. It's pretty short but it looks kinda cool if you stare at it long enough. I would've gone with a B series Mack look. A little higher up the cab, slightly larger pipe, paint the exhaust flat black with a straight cut on the top. I bet that little pipe sounded good with that old straight six pumpin' air out of it! Very fun. Enjoy, -Chris
Our little parts chaser 1950 Ford F1 ran two stacks behind the cab in the fifties. You can call them cheesy, stupid, and all the other snotty little names, but they were definitely part of the scene back then.
I agree with you 100%. They weren't always the hot ticket with guys who had hotrods or customs (which I know this site is about), but they were on trucks back in the day and were quite common from what my grandfather has told me. A lot of flat bed trucks got stacks from F100's to the "Big Jobs". I think they look cool if ***properly*** executed. I think most people think of the gawdy junk from the 70's when they think of stacks on trucks, as opposed to stacks from the 40's-50's.
Well, I made up the exhaust system yesterday. 2" pipe from the manifold to the front of the passenger side back tire. No stack. As much as I loved the idea of being controversial, (and MAN did this one stir it up!), I steered away from it for practical reasons. Some day my year old grandson might climb up on that running board and reach for something to hold on to. That thought kept coming back to me the entire time I was workin' my way back from the engine compartment. It just didn't seem worth takin' the chance. Heck, I KNEW I was going to burn my dumbass on it! But it ain't all about me. Not today.
I like the looks of the turquoise truck but Daddyo, you probably made the right choice. Grandkids are precious and it would break my heart if one of mine got hurt because of decision I made. Enjoy that young'un.
Bingo: I've seen more people and especially kids get burned on stacks or side pipes. One of my own even got burned on the exhaust tip in my 51 Merc that stuck out a couple of inches further then it needed to. Most of the stacks I used to see on trucks around here were on trucks that belonged to truck drivers in the 50's or 60's and it seemed to be the thing to do for them. And many of them were probably direct sources for some of Foxworthy's joke collection.
yea, what he said. had a 56 back in the day, bought it that way. always thought they were bitchun'...another Brian
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