Home
Hi Folks,
No offense intended here to all you rednecks out there... I live in SE Ohio along the Ohio River and we are in Appalachia even though this is Ohio. We are up to our asses in Rednecks here. To some degree we are all Redneck by right of birth. However I don't have a Black Belt in the ways of the true Redneck. Living here does exert an influence on the most resistant of us though. Being a life long gear head from this neck of the woods, I have certain ideas about what I want my truck to be, which I know are influenced by by surroundings. That is why I refer to my project truck as a Redneck Ride.
I had always had a kind of liking for the '53 through '55 Ford F series light pick ups. I don't know why for sure but the '56s just don't do it for me. Funny thing is, I didn't know I had this attraction until I started looking for something old to put on an Exlorer chassis. I bought a '91 4WD Explorer to put something old on. One thing led to another and I decided that the old '91 was too valuable as an old yard mule to strip down. About a year later my son who lives down by Atlanta found a '53 Ford truck. In his search he found another one so I bought it. Then we both hade one, and recently I bought another one which was mainly for the glass and title. Go to www.Darkside53.info for pictures of the trucks as well as a description of current plans.
Right now I am stripping down the old red '53. There are a lot of little things in it I can use and/or sell to those who are in to the purist restoration thing. the Truck will someday live on but with very few of the original parts. there might be a couple of fenders and a windshield left.
Back to my original point of this post... My plan for my first truck is to build up what looks like a '53 but with a sort of attitude that probably relects a lot of Redneck traits. It will be 4WD with a 351-W, manual 4sp. tranny and a manual transfer case. There will be no extensive apparent body modifications that show. I am going to use a '99 Explorer rolling chassis with the original suspension and diffs. It is just right for tracking width and wheelbase. With a little minor boxing and reinforcement work the frame will be tougher and far superior to the old chassis. I plan on using the Explorer's floor pan and firewall which will be grafted into the '53 cab. This will allow me to use the complete Explorer heat and air system as well as the complete dash and steering column. I plan on making the interior really nice but still servicable in a utilitarian sense. Exterior mods will be minor. Aside from a custom built bed which will resemble the stock bed in many ways, there will be a chrome roll bar with lights, and dual chrome stacks coming out of the running boards and up the back side of the cab. I also plan on modifying the doors to have a single window glass and integrate remote controlled mirrors built in somewhat like the ones in my '03 F-350. There will be a special bumber with a nice electric winch on the front. Although I like the '53 I don't like the grille piece. I would rather have a '54 in it or something custom. I'm not sure what I'll do there. I want to paint it with the same colors and scheme as my '03 F-350, sonic blue over silver. The '53 is the 50th. anniversary edition and my '03 is the 100th. anniversary model. I sort of like the idea of them matching because of that. This 50 year span is in my lifetime. These trucks will probably both go to my only son who is also a gerahead. He is Frankentruck on this forum.
I plan on doing a rebuild of the 351-W I have from an '83 F-150. Nothing radical, just a Holley single plane aluminum intake, a 650 CFM double pumper. Duraspark ignition with an MSD unit and a Crane RV cam. I plan on using this thing and I don't want something very radical, just respectable. I will probably set it up to pull a trailer but nothing very heavy or large.
OK that's about all I have for now... You can look at my junk on www.Darkside53.info. When I start actually doing something I will post pics here as it progresses which will make this thread my build site.
Later Folks...
Darkside Dave
No offense intended here to all you rednecks out there... I live in SE Ohio along the Ohio River and we are in Appalachia even though this is Ohio. We are up to our asses in Rednecks here. To some degree we are all Redneck by right of birth. However I don't have a Black Belt in the ways of the true Redneck. Living here does exert an influence on the most resistant of us though. Being a life long gear head from this neck of the woods, I have certain ideas about what I want my truck to be, which I know are influenced by by surroundings. That is why I refer to my project truck as a Redneck Ride.
I had always had a kind of liking for the '53 through '55 Ford F series light pick ups. I don't know why for sure but the '56s just don't do it for me. Funny thing is, I didn't know I had this attraction until I started looking for something old to put on an Exlorer chassis. I bought a '91 4WD Explorer to put something old on. One thing led to another and I decided that the old '91 was too valuable as an old yard mule to strip down. About a year later my son who lives down by Atlanta found a '53 Ford truck. In his search he found another one so I bought it. Then we both hade one, and recently I bought another one which was mainly for the glass and title. Go to www.Darkside53.info for pictures of the trucks as well as a description of current plans.
Right now I am stripping down the old red '53. There are a lot of little things in it I can use and/or sell to those who are in to the purist restoration thing. the Truck will someday live on but with very few of the original parts. there might be a couple of fenders and a windshield left.
Back to my original point of this post... My plan for my first truck is to build up what looks like a '53 but with a sort of attitude that probably relects a lot of Redneck traits. It will be 4WD with a 351-W, manual 4sp. tranny and a manual transfer case. There will be no extensive apparent body modifications that show. I am going to use a '99 Explorer rolling chassis with the original suspension and diffs. It is just right for tracking width and wheelbase. With a little minor boxing and reinforcement work the frame will be tougher and far superior to the old chassis. I plan on using the Explorer's floor pan and firewall which will be grafted into the '53 cab. This will allow me to use the complete Explorer heat and air system as well as the complete dash and steering column. I plan on making the interior really nice but still servicable in a utilitarian sense. Exterior mods will be minor. Aside from a custom built bed which will resemble the stock bed in many ways, there will be a chrome roll bar with lights, and dual chrome stacks coming out of the running boards and up the back side of the cab. I also plan on modifying the doors to have a single window glass and integrate remote controlled mirrors built in somewhat like the ones in my '03 F-350. There will be a special bumber with a nice electric winch on the front. Although I like the '53 I don't like the grille piece. I would rather have a '54 in it or something custom. I'm not sure what I'll do there. I want to paint it with the same colors and scheme as my '03 F-350, sonic blue over silver. The '53 is the 50th. anniversary edition and my '03 is the 100th. anniversary model. I sort of like the idea of them matching because of that. This 50 year span is in my lifetime. These trucks will probably both go to my only son who is also a gerahead. He is Frankentruck on this forum.
I plan on doing a rebuild of the 351-W I have from an '83 F-150. Nothing radical, just a Holley single plane aluminum intake, a 650 CFM double pumper. Duraspark ignition with an MSD unit and a Crane RV cam. I plan on using this thing and I don't want something very radical, just respectable. I will probably set it up to pull a trailer but nothing very heavy or large.
OK that's about all I have for now... You can look at my junk on www.Darkside53.info. When I start actually doing something I will post pics here as it progresses which will make this thread my build site.
Later Folks...
Darkside Dave
