Let's see your backside (of your early 60's F100)

I'm trying to render a custom tailgate for a '63 Ford F100. Try as I might, I can't find a decent 3/4 photo of (stock) butt end of one of these little trucks.

I've found a couple dead-on rear views, but no 3/4 ones. Tryed the HAMB & Google with zippo results.

I've got an idea rolling around in my beady little brain of how to fix the clunky looking fanny on these trucks, that should be pretty easy.

Any help is (as always) very appreciated.

 

bump

 

Here's the gate that came on my 63



And here's the one from my 66 parts truck

 

Think I found a one. Good ole eBay. This is a '60 F100, but the bed was the same through '63, right?

 

Have you got a 3/4 photo taken from the rear of your '63?

 

Here's a shot of the back of the bed. The gates off, maybe you could put them together...

 

That's great. Thanks so much.

 

I'm by no means an expert, but from what I understand Ford used the earlier style bed from around 56 to 63. Seems like until they ran out. I've seen the later style beds on 63's (factory) to 66. The later style bed lines up to the body lines on the cab on the 63. Similar to the unibodys. A much better look from my point of view. Which is why I changed mine.

 

Nope,
Changed it in 6o or 61'.
I have a 61' and it is different than either of those.
Though, I dont know how to resize pictures for the web. Sorry.

 

Show us what you are trying to work out.

 

That's because you have a "Unibody". Read my comment. The Unibody's beds look different and are different. Different tail gate, tail lights, ect.

 

It was '57, but you are right. And yeah they do look better when you swap beds.

 

So bottom line is:

A.) The '60 bed shown here is also "correct" on a '63.
B.) Although '63 may have been a "transition" year, the first full year to use the newer bed style was '64.

Do I have this straight?

 

I've got an idea of how to clean up the rear end of these beds and tailgates. Now that I've got some photos to work with, I'll get the sketches posted soon.

Thanks

 

So what did you ever come up with?

 

here's mine ...58

 

After much delay and small anticipation ........here's my idea.

Jimmy Smith has nothing to worry about, but I think this might be pretty cool and not too tough to build. Just fab the frame for the tailgate out of square tubing, create the radius and lean the top edge in. The pie shape would need to be added between the tailgate and the bed side, but should be no big deal.

Also the taillights need to be dropped to the bottom of the bed sides as shown, but again, NBD.

So whatta-ya think guys?

 

I don't mind it at all. It's an acceptable solution to a awful factory design. I understand "trucks are for work, blah blah blah," but that design was absolutely an afterthought.

I like it. Your black and white rendering will come in handy when I start playing around with color choices for my '60. Show us some pictures when you put this idea into practice.

 

Thanks for the compliment, DirtyTace.

Anybody else have any thoughts?

 

I don't know...it looks OK but kinda depends on what you are doing with the rest of the truck....it almost makes me want to see the bedsides angled in some at the top so it follows the angle of the tailgate.

 

The rest of the truck would be pretty well stock. Drop the stance, shave the moldings, etc. I would paint mine flat black with a white roof and interior. The idea wasn't to create a custom, but address the ugly tailgate. In my opinion, the tailgate was the only aspect that the designers at ford took a nap on.

Look up a few posts and you'll see the photo I started with.

Thanks for the input.

Anybody else.

 

various '57-'65 off craigslist:

 

My truck is a 63 Unibody F100 long bed. The tailgate was missing and at the time I built this truck there were no aftermarket gates available and the stock ones are kinda ugly. So what I did was make a pattern and hand it off to a company here in town with a CNC press brake. They made me an inner and outer skin based on the templates I provided out of 14 gauge sheet metal. I welded them together with a hinge tube and side panels I fabbed myself. I use a pair of bear jaw latches on either side with a set of shifter cables run to a handle just above the licence plate to open it.

 

now thats sweet!

 

Maybe Chastin will post pics of his truck. That thing is bad ass.

 

Now that's beautiful! Love to see hand fabbed solutions like this. Thanks for sharing the photo, very cool.

 

I was actually thinking it was going to be something like ELpolacko's truck. Something that matched the bed's lines. Is there a pan on the back or does the 'gate roll under? Someone wanna do a photochop of Moonglow's idea so I can get a better idea?