Featured Hot Rods a not-so new shop truck

I've posted pictures of this truck elsewhere in other threads but have been remiss in starting its own thread. So let's back up a couple years and start from the beginning.

I had been looking for a shop truck and was specifically looking for a 38/39 Ford. Large enough bed to carry some parts, small enough on the outside to not take up so much room in the shop. I looked at a few but never ran across the one. Then I made the mistake of looking at some pictures online of a 66 F100. Nice and solid, no rust where you normally find it. Here I am in Maryland and wasn't really ready for a trip to Oregon, but it was too nice for me to p*** up. Messaged the seller, exchanged phone numbers, and ended up talking for over an hour. My dad had a 66 when I was growing up, learned to drive on it. I guess he felt I was the right guy to be the next caretaker, and a deal was struck.








My next question for him after the initial agreement, "Can you get it ready to travel cross-country?" He wanted to know if I was crazy, I asked if he needed references, but we worked it out.

 

As a matter of insurance, I filled up a large flat rate box with tools and such and mailed it to my destination. Figured that would be a safer option than trusting them to checked baggage. For my carry-on, I had spare fuel hose, fuel filter, heater hose, radiator hoses, and fan belt. Along with a stack of Benjamins. This seemed it was going to be a definite bag search, but not today. July 3rd, 2024, I flew out of BWI about 8am with a layover in Denver. Then a connection up to Redmond Oregon. All of those frequent flyer miles for work paid off, sat up as close to the front as I could get without having to serve coffee.








The two guys I dealt with (selling it for the owner who didn't want to deal with the headache of selling), Robert and Chuck. The tires had plenty of tread but cracks to go with it, so Chuck was picking up new tires about the time I was landing in Redmond, and Robert picked me up from the airport. This was the view of the truck in Chuck's shop, he was about 10 minutes behind us with the new tires. The truck had a 352 with the NP435 granny gear 4 speed. Chuck had gone through most of the mechanicals in hopes that I had a rather uneventful journey.



We got everything checked out, got all the Benjamins counted, and got the new tires installed. Here's the first time I drove it, leaving Chuck's driveway on the way south to Bend. It's a big block Ford and 4 speed. What could go wrong?




.

 

It looked great at this year's Sully Father's Day car show!

Oops. Hope I didn't prematurely give away the ending.

 

And !!!!!!! Are you saying you made it all the way home with no problems ? Inquiring minds want to know

 

Love that truck, Robert. It's Creamy and Dreamy.

 

height difference

 

@Jalopy Joker are those step pockets so you can see into the utility bed?

 

Wow, it's really clean. They're good old trucks. I have a '66 F100 too, also with the 352/np435 combination. Mine has 3.25 rear gears so it drives nice on the highway. It's also the Custom Cab version so it's a little fancier.

I'm guessing you're already home by now, but one problem you may have is the foam in the seat deteriorates after 60 years. The seat in my truck is pretty lumpy and not very comfortable to sit on for long distances.

Irontrap Garage on YouTube recently swapped a ***mins engine into their '66 F100, if that's something you'd be interested in.

My truck:

 

@stuart in mn Nice truck! I've had all kind of powertrain suggestions but think I'm sticking with FE.

 

Leaving Chuck's place in Terrebonne, I drove south to Redmond and stopped at the local Walmart for some essentials. A cooler, drinks, ice, a fire extinguisher, and a suction cup phone mount for map navigation. With shopping done, by 4 PM we were heading east across Oregon towards Idaho. 4-65 AC in July.



I wanted to get past Boise the first day to get an early start around Salt Lake City the next day. 4th of July and had no clue what traffic was going to be like. So I drove halfway between Boise and the Utah border, stopping at a local rest stop. Just about had the whole place to myself. Set the alarm for about 4 in the morning, or about 3 hours sleep.






On to Utah...










Salt Lake City surprised me, it looked much closer on the map Biggest share of it was on the other side of the mountains, so traffic wasn't too hateful.

 

Nothing wrong with the 352, I think they suit these trucks perfectly (and you can tell people it's a 427 if they ask. )​

 

Wyoming. A lot of wide open, with mountains of all shapes and sizes. They even have some that look like someone's been playing Jenga on a grand scale, flat rocks with rounded edges stacked one on the other. The Great Pyramids have nothing on these Jenga mountains of Wyoming. They have plenty of exits off I-80, but most go nowhere. There are exits to put on tire chains, exits to take off tire chains, exits for trucks to park and sleep, and for the messy truck drivers, exits to park and sleep WITH dumpsters to clean out your trucks. Then the exits that go nowhere, but open up to the gravel wide open. Must be for all the outdoors camping folks.



Then there's the entertainment. It's a stock truck.... For someone that can't sing to myself, that's a lot of humming.





Chuck wasn't able to get all the electrical gremlins fixed, the dash lights didn't work so we made good use of GPS speedometer on the phone for night time driving. And then there's the gas gauge. He had installed a new VDO sending unit to no avail. Given the 18 gallon tank and an estimated 12 mpg, I should have a safe range of about 200 miles per tank without fear of running out. Just in case, Robert had fixed me up with a couple 5 gallon gas cans so I would have a reserve.






So at every fill-up, I would observe the mileage, bump it by 200, and note it down for reference when I needed fuel.







Knock on wood, this process served well, and I wasn't forced to use the back-up supply of fuel the entire trip. I checked the mileage the second tank and was getting about 12.5 per gallon. About what I expected with a 352 with 3.50 gears and a granny gear 4 speed.

I was chastised by my wife and daughter with the accommodations I was using, so Thursday evening I made it into Nebraska and found a motel for a shower and more comfy bed (over a 1966 front seat)

 

Incredible adventure, Robert. Thanks for the great images.

 

The truck was performing better than expected, but I was losing a touch of oil. Stop for gas, add oil. Travelling the interstates at ~70 mph, and given tire size and gearing, the old truck was revving an estimated 2850 rpms. Perhaps some oil loss was expected. The bell housing and upper transmission case did have some oil on the outside, so I suspected valve covers. A rear main seal was ruled out as there was no clutch slippage or drips at the front of the bell housing. We were in Nebraska and heading to Hastings. Scenery a bit flatter than the neighboring Wyoming.



3 has always been my lucky number, so I had to get a picture of this....



My stop in Hastings on Friday was at the World Headquarters of Imperial Wheeling Machines (I neglected to get pictures). My good friend Pat Brubaker, the owner, dug up a ratchet, extension, and socket so I could snug up the valve cover bolts. The rear bolt on the drivers side proved to be the (a) culprit, with a good two turns to snug up the bolt. Yeah, cork gaskets.... After talking shop with Pat, he suggested (as did others) that I stop at the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, NE. It proved to be quite a bit to take in...








I did find an engine that would fit just right in the shop truck....





....and what is likely the first ever ramp truck in existence.









Next we were headed into Iowa, and a visit that has been on the bucket list for quite some time...

 

Welcome to Perry Iowa, and Joe Unger's restored service station. If Sinclair made it, you will likely find it here.



Yes, those are original uniforms...










And the billboard on the back side of the building...




I could have stayed for a day or two, but didn't want to wear out Joe's hospitality. That, and there was a storm heading in and I wanted to stay in front of it..



Back on I-80, I headed to the more southerly route on I-74 to byp*** Chicago and head towards Cincinnati for our next shop tour, set up for Saturday morning. I drove into Indiana and found a rest stop. And set the alarm for 430.

 

WOW! Love the vintage Sinclair Station.

 

Wow, great truck! Great adventure, too! Speedway Motors Museum is something I think every car guy should put on their bucket list.

 

@MP&C Whatever you do. Please do not cut that dash. Thay are a bear to patch once butchered and if you must have tunes put it in the glove compartment, under the dash, or seat.

 

Did a very similar “adventure” in 2011. Drove a 69 D100 from Buckley WA to Rosemark TN. Pulling a same era horse trailer, with an Alaska plate that had expired in 1991.

First day back on here in years, and someone has a thread on my favorite “modern” trucks…

 

Saturday we had about a three hour drive to our next stop southeast of Cincinnati, at Cornfield Customs. Mike Wagner is a**** the premiere craftsmen in the country when it comes to metalshaping, it was nice to get to see his shop and some of the projects he has going on.



Mike's shop is a mix of both new and vintage equipment; here is an early Pettingell power hammer that came out of a local warehouse. If only it could tell stories of its past life...



One of the projects, an all aluminum fabricated hood for a Galaxie, complete with tear drop hood scoop. The bad*** is overflowing..



Before leaving I had to get a picture next to his 61 Unibody Salt Flats push truck.



Mike, thanks for the hospitality!! From there I had about a 9-1/2 hour ride home. Here's what 11 states worth of bugs looks like...



I had noticed that the fuel economy appeared to be getting better. Or more precisely, that it was taking less fuel to fill up at about the same mileage reading using the tape notation method. So I broke out the calculator again, the last tank was 14.1 mpg. That had to be going downhill from western MD. My driving started at about 4 pm in Oregon on Wednesday evening and I was home all safe and sound back in Maryland Saturday night at 9 pm. (3 days, 2 hours) Quite an adventure.

 

Gotta love a '66 Ford Custom Cab !

Mine is a year older 1965. HRP

 

What a great trip. Thanks for taking us along for the ride! Nice truck btw.

 

Got a nice shop truck and got to see some of the country a win win situation! Good luck with your new truck!

 

Thanks for letting me ride along on your adventure.

 

Thanks for sharing the trip with us. That’s a good looking truck! Keep the updates coming.

 

Man that’s fantastic trip! Could be a twin to @IronTrap ranch truck! Love it

 

Great trip and great write up!

 

Officially tagged in MD but I wanted some vintage plates.




Everyone pointed me to Allen Link in Greenwood DE for vintage plates, and he did not disappoint. He had multiple 66 tags to choose from, so I settled on some farm truck plates. I think he said he had between 7000 and 9000 vintage plates from all over. Good resource and fair prices. The day I travelled to Delaware to pick them up, he was also having a gentleman's yard sale, where everyone brought their car parts to sell. I also managed to pick up some 52 Ford stainless dog dish caps and trim rings to spruce up the plain jane truck a bit. I did have to m***age out some dings and repaint the letters, but again, very fair prices especially when compared to online sources.







One of the maintenance issues I wanted to tend to first, the carburetor had some weeping around the gaskets. Not a full-on leaking situation, but not far from it. The 2100 Autolite ran well, and the local NAPA still carried a rebuild kit for it.







The only clean thing on this engine right now. I think the engine needs its own help with weeping gaskets but getting that much into something a person may as well rebuild the (an) engine for it.

If the cross-country trip taught me anything, this drivetrain sure could use another gear. I was looking for a 5 speed and ran across this...





My rough calculations of 12 mpg divided by .59 for a 5th gear and this should put us near 18-20 mpg, which won't be too shabby for an FE powerplant. They are well known for low end torque, so it should be a good match. Made contact with the seller, who rebuilds transmissions, and he was willing to change out the tailshaft to an S10 version to put the shifter in front of the seat. Yeah, let's pull the trigger on this.

As received:




The other thing the truck sorely needed after 70+ mph for 3 days straight, a tach would come in handy. I've always been a Ford guy, so let's find a Ford tach. Research led me to Phil Severance in Twin Falls ID, who rebuilt the Rotunda tachs. Here's the picture he sent, a 6K rpm unit should be plenty for what engine I have... Completely rebuilt, with good used bucket and stainless bracket. Yup, send it...