My version of the Shelby 2 car hauler Ford COE.

Not sure where to put this so here it goes. I have spent 2.5 years to make my own version of what Ford used back in the day to haul around the GT40's, Cobra Coupes, and Daytona Coupes. Not sure how many of these were made or where they are today so I set out to make my own with a twist.

Starting with a 1957 Ford C-750 Custom Cab combined with a 1978 Ford C-7000, a bunch of modern heavy duty truck parts a sheet ton of money, some help from AI and this is what we got!

Whole project can be seen here: https://shlbhlr.com

 

WOW! That is outstanding! What a project! Everything is large scale. Will it be at any events in the upcoming season? I would enjoy seeing it in person.

 

It was supposed to be completed and unveiled at the Woodward Dream Cruise, then SEMA, now.... will see what happens in the spring. Its being built in MI and depending on when its done will determine where it will go. At a minimum it will go from Grand Rapids to Green Bay then one route or another to home in San Diego.

 

Wow! I saw your post in the slot car thread and wondered what was going with your avatar. Amazing!

 

Impressive!

 

Damn, that's cool! And I'm not even a Ford guy.

 

Impressive on a grandiose scale.

 

Awesome! I felt stressed just looking at the progress pics on your website! Will the cars fit, will the lift work, will the air ride work, etc. etc. etc. I’m in!

 

I sure hope so!!! Everything was planned out without ever having touched one of these trucks using dimensions provided by Ford from a 1950's brochure, vehicle weights and dimensions provided by Ford for the 2 cars, an extensive spreadsheet where every weight, dimension, power requirement, and system interface was laid out. From there I made a ton of estimates, did some CAD work, purchased trucks, parts, visited salvage yards, and the magic started happening. Most things were pretty straight forward but having forward facing rear seats with the bigger ***mins engine added some complexity to the cab interior.

 

Quite a project. I'm sure you are glad to see completion. The logistics of that in a shop are expansive. Looks great from here.

 

Freaking love it.

 

WOW very cool . Lots of amazing building skills. Thank you for sharing your project

 

Chad,
Can you share (more pics) what you had to do to get the cab to clear the ***mins? I am ***uming you are running either a B or a C series ***mins, correct? Obviously the 4 door stretch changes everything, but I am still curious since my next project is a 1960 Ford C700 roll-off car hauler. I have an IH DT-466 sitting in the corner that will power my build, and I have already been starting to plan out modifications that will be needed to clear the big Corn Binder 6. Ford never put inlines in these trucks, although they did shoe horn in many 3208 CAT's and 534 Super Duty's, but I know some cutting and possibly removal of the middle seat will be required.

Keep up the good work.

 

I finally took the time to look through your build log. OMG, what a project! That thing is going to be the absolute bomb when finished! It will draw people's attention like nothing else and I'm sure it will be a dream to transport toys with. Keep us up to date.

 

There is a guy near me that put a ***mins 8.3 ISC in his from a motorhome with no modifications other than auto trans cooler and some other cooler that he put both in the rear side locker. I am using a 6CTA with a custom radiator/charge air cooler with electric fans. The truck started with a CAT 3208 NA. If you look at my website there are a bunch of pictures but the biggest work that had to be done was because I used a manual transmission and because of the recaro bucket seats I used. These are the photos from the truck near me with the ISC. You can see more photos of my build on my website, link is in the original post!

 

Anyone looking at this post should absolutely go check out his website. Amazing undertaking and more amazing transformation.

 

Not sure how I missed the link to website in the first post, getting old I guess.

Awesome build, and thanks for the images of one with an 8.3 stuffed into it. That was exactly what I was planning too, leave the charge air cooler up front and relocate the radiator and AC condensor to under the bed. It gives me hope that I can fit the DT into mine without cutting the cab up much. I am also planning on keeping a manual trans in it. Looking at a Eaton Fuller 6 speed instead of a 10, just have to figure out the shift linkage.

 

The shift linkage is a huge problem with these trucks. I was able to find a right or left angle drive unit for the top of my 10sp and then used and modified the linkages out of a CL9000. I am not using any of the stock shifting linkages found in the front p***enger side of the cab.

 

Any updates?

 

I wish I had some.... the truck which started Feb 2024 was supposed to be completed May 2025 with an estimate of 132k for labor and materials I provided all the parts, then in April 2025 it was pushed to Aug 2025 for Woodward Dream Cruise with a 52k budget "add on" making the total 183K. . In July 2025 they said they dont know how long it will take or how much it will cost but their goal is still to be done in time for SEMA in Nov 2025 so their burn rate for labor will go up. which I contested. In mid October shop said it wasn't going to be done in time for SEMA, all of a sudden has billed me 308K and said I need to tell them how much money I have so they know how much more to charge me to finish it..... Truck is no further along than previously shown here and they haven't provided me any photo updates and removed my access to the shared album.

 

Ouch!

 

How much money do you have so they can charge that much.
Sounds like you signed up to get screwed.

 

Yeah, the work shown is top notch and I can understand mission creep and overruns, but that's supposed to be communicated as you go.

Not this

 

After having done several builds of much smaller vehicles, I cannot imagine how many hours it would take to build a vehicle like this. If you are a builder, you only accept this job one way - time and materials. If you are the customer, you must accept it as a blank check. There is no other way.

Every change and every unanticipated obstacle add up the hours faster than you can imagine.

I sure hope this is finished. It's an incredible build,

 

Wow. That ****s. As a shop owner that pisses me off. As a customer that pisses me off. Unfortunately, it seems to be all too common these days. I hope you get it resolved and see it to completion. It’s a really cool project.

 

As a business owner that has taken on a few projects (nothing this big), I agree that it almost has to be based on time and materials. Its also a fact that the cost of materials is jumping really fast these days, and material shortages are another factor.

Any big, long term project I was ever involved with always had weekly, or at least monthly updates of the progress, where do***ented hourly billing and material purchase or wait times were discussed. There is no excuse for a shop to not have regular updates with in person or photograph proof of progress, for both hours billed and materials purchased. Costs can get out of control pretty fast, not keeping a customer informed on a consistent basis about where things stand is poor business standards.
Any time updates fail to arrive, but billing continues to rise, that action throws up a lot of red flags, especially in the current business clement.

If it was my money involved, given the amount of time since the last update and the increase in billing, I would be making a personal appearance at the business to be sure things were still above board. The days of fully trusting, even long existing, business have long p***ed. Way too many "sudden" failures. But its not my money nor my project.

 

Totally agree.

 

3X. When I used to do cars for living I'd give the customer an estimate based on what I could see or knew about the car. I got a basic amount of money to get me started and from then on it was stage payments. In the case in which unexpected work popped-up, it was tools down until I could ***ess what may be involved AND spoke to the customer to see whather he wanted me to continue or not. Now, after a few years I got pretty certain about my estimates so that I generally stayed within the envelope. I cannot see how the amount they now charge could double. To me it means they either have no clue about the work they should have expected to do or, as one says in the UK, they're "trying it on".

 

Nice big project for sure. Now looking at the worn yellow lines on the workfloor your project is taking up the space of three cars. Maybe they have three customers with regular easy-peasy projects lined up and on hold. Maybe you can have a "anonymous " person inform if they can take on a simple ( fill in ) $50000 project and when can they start. Wonder if they will settle with you for €150000 and you get the project out of there

 

Man, if I had a project that big and that involved, I wouldn't let a shop touch it unless there was an understanding that I would be stopping by the shop (in person) once a week to monitor progress and discuss issues as they come up. Pretty much an impossibility when you live in San Diego and the shop is in Michigan.

How the heck did you get directed to this shop in the first place?