I've wanted to build an early '60's style 1940 Ford Pickup, and have collected some cool parts over the years. I've done most all of the work so far by myself, with some ***istance from my father, with the major exception of the upholstery, which is being done by my buddy Dominic Olson of Big O Fabrications. It has a .060 over 1960 283, that has Power Pack heads with slightly larger exhaust valves and some port and polish work done, and 097 Duntov Solid lifter cam. On top is a Man-A-Fre setup that was built by Tim Bowman, who worked for Man-A-Fre back in the day. It has a set of Fenton Black Widow headers that I built custom collectors for that go back into a stainless exhaust that I welded up, then smoothed and polished the welds. The mufflers are C1 Corvette "off-road" mufflers that I polished the aluminized coating. The engine is mounted in the ch***is with a vintage Hurst mount. It's all backed up by a 1962 T-10 4-speed, and a 1960 Chevy rear axle with a 3.55 posi center section. I drew up a custom mount for the Hurst shifter to move it up and forward on the trans, and had it machined by a Horizon Machine. I wanted to go with finned Buick drums on the front, but since they are hidden, and its a driver, there are disc brakes up front on the 4 inch drop Super Bell axle that's set in place with split wishbones and a Posies reverse eye spring. The rear is set up with a Posies parallel leaf kit and sway bar, and there are Bilstein shocks on all four corners. I ended up going with a new bed from Mack Hils that I ***embled myself on the original bed subframe. I made some hidden tailgate latches, and a custom aluminum tonneau cover with hidden latches that is being upholstered to match the interior and running boards. I mounted 1948 Buick taillights in the pan under the tailgate. Below all of that, I used a 1940 Ford car rear bumper and brackets with a Chevy overrider to frame the license plate. I then hand formed a rear pan to go from the bumper to the rear frame crossmember. Inside, I have a 1940 Ford Deluxe car dash with some vintage Stewart Warner gauges hanging below it. The steering column is 1940 Ford car as well that I modified to accept a C1 Corvette turn signal bell that mates up to a C1 Corvette steering wheel on a custom adapter that I came up with using an early ford wheel adapter and a C1 Corvette factory wheel mount that were machined to fit together, then welded solid. I used a third row seat out of a 1993 Suburban, and made my own mount, then reinforced the cab floor to be more sturdy underneath. I'm installing electric wipers as well as a mini Vintage Air heater/defroster hidden behind a modified 1941 Ford heater case. On the cab itself, I welded up 54 holes in the firewall, then made custom mounts for the the heater, gas pedal, and parking brake so no fasteners will show through the firewall. I also modified the drivers door with some original Ford parts to put a door lock on the driver's side. Someone had welded up the cowl vent in the past, but I was able to cut the welds and have a functioning cowl vent again. The transmission cover inside has been modified, as well as the floor for more room for the shifter, and better access to the trans. I know not everything is period on it, but I've been trying to keep anything that's readily visible of the era. I still have a lot of work to do, and I'll do my best to keep this updated as I progress. Enjoy!
More pictures. I had some vintage Badger air cleaners I wanted to use, but they all had different base sizes. I couldn't find enough matching original bases in the size I needed, so Justin Frensko was up to the task of making me new bases that looked like original ones to fit the 2G carbs. Amazing work!
Love the truck!, that is really gonna be a great ride, your gonna love that 283, the one in my 39 is basically the same, it rips all day long!
I love the white Running boards! did a similar treatment to my 39 sedan. My target year was also 1962
As I am in the middle of a similar truck build, I definitely will be following this! You do nice work! Thanks for sharing with us.
They are temporary tires with a weird whitewall on the back. They aren't narrow, but they aren't wide either. I'm probably going to end up with wide whites.
Once again, that is some nice work!i In the pic with the freshly chromed pieces, are those taillight bezels at the bottom 41 Studebaker, per chance? iIf you aren’t using them and want to p*** them on, PM me.
I'm sorry, those have already been sold. I had two complete sets of Stude lights, and I was going to use one of them, but changed my mind.
I like it a lot! 1962 was the first year the car companies went to narrow whitewalls, so they would be appropriate on your truck (***uming someone back then wanted to follow the latest trends.). The blue color you've chosen is nice but it would also look great painted gold to match the engine.
Th Thank you, I'm not sure how the narrow whitewalls will look with the rest of it, but that is an option. I do like the gold, but there are a few gold 40 PUs out there already, and I wanted to be a little different.
Man, I can't believe I missed this. That is perfect. I am collecting parts for a 36 pickup that same era. I love 59-62.
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