Ford¨Pick up 1948 - 1951 custom & mild custom

1951 custom ford pick up

1949 Ford F-1 Pickup Truck owned and restyled by body man Chuck Porter of Chuck Porter's Body Shop in Hollywood, California. Chuck chopped the truck 5 inches, sectioned it another 5 inches, before he channeled it down over the frame. In addition to this, the frame was also C'd and the rear springs relocated on the side rails to account for another 7 inches. After Chuck had worked his magic, the total height of the truck had decreased by a total of 22 inches. It was decided to be easier to make both the section and channel cuts at the same time, so the full ten inches were taken out of the firewall, and the same amount off the rear of the cab. As a result of this, only five inches had to be sectioned out of the door, since the other five inch difference extends down over the frame. In order to compensate for the alterations in the cab, Chuck also had to section the hood 5 inches. On top of the hood Chuck placed a nine-inch wide hood scoop before a total of 90 louvers were also stamped into the hood.


To maintain rear vision, only three inches of the five were taken out of the rear window. Due to the extreme overhang on the truck body, Chuck decided to shift the cab and fenders back six inches on the frame, changing all of the body mounts. New fender wheel openings were in order and the bottoms of the fenders were trimmed at this time to compensate for the previous five-inch drop. After moving the entire cab backward, the stock bed was out of the question. A new bed was made out of aluminum by Koch and Dunbar's Hollywood sheet metal shop. The new bed was five inches shallower and ten inches shorter than the original one. On the new bed, taillights from a 1940 Chevrolet were used. Behind the bed, Chuck mounted a bumper from a 1940 Ford. Because of the shortened bed, the rear fenders also had to be repositioned. The wheelwell cutouts were moved back 5 1/2 inches, and 3 inches trimmed of the bottoms. The custom grille was made from flat aluminum that was welded to a frame.


A lot of modifications were done to the body, the driveline was shortened 24 inches, and Chuck replaced the front axle with a standard single spring 1939 Ford tubular member. The new axle reduced the weight and gained a five inch drop in the front. A 1953 Cadillac V8 motor was used as powerplant in the truck. A 1937 LaSalle gearbox was then hooked to the motor.



Chuck later sold his car to John Robinson of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The car was then sold to Herb Glock of Liberty, Missouri, and the car appeared in the small magazines while Herb owned it. According to the magazines, Herb had built the car himself. This is not quite accurate. By then the car had been repainted with 16 hand-rubbed coats of Buick Seminole red lacquer. The paint job was done by Ray Farhner of Farhner Custom Shop in Kansas City, Missouri.


When Herb owned the truck it was powered by completely reworked 365 cubic inch 1956 Cadillac Eldorado engine. The bottom end was balanced and the heads ported. The car also ran on 640 x 15 tires up front, and 800 x 20 eight-inch Englewood slicks on the back. Inside, the car featured a black and white rolled and pleated Naugahyde upholstery, swinging pedals, and 10 Stewart-Warner gauges. The dash was filled and finished in Pearlescent White. The car also featured a Cragar steering wheel and a column from a 1958 Ford. Herb later sold the car to Jim Mickle of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jim owned the car for a while before he sold it to Larry Stansbury of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Chuck Porter's truck at the 1955 Los Angeles Motorama. Photo from the GT350LADY Collection

After Chuck passed away, his daughter Debby Porter began searching for her father's old shop truck. She advertised for it on multiple car sites and everywhere else she could think of. One friday night in 2006, while attending a "car night" at Bob's Big Boy, in Toluca Lake, California she placed a poster in the window of her El Camino with pictures asking "Has Anybody Seen This Truck?" A guy walked up and said "I know that truck", and took her phone number. He left Bob's. 15 minutes later, Debby was talking to the owner of her dad's pickup. She went to see the truck, and burst into tears immediately when she saw it. The owner said he would sell it, but he wanted a lot of money for it. Debby did not have the funds by the time and asked him to give her the first right of refusal when he went to sell it. Meanwhile, she got engaged to another autophile, and sold her house.[2]

Chuck's Pickup at the 1957 NHRA Nats in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, after he had sold it. Photo by Marty McDonough.
October 1, 2006 Debby Porter was able to buy back her dad's old truck. The car had gone through many alterations during the years, but it was still driveable featuring a reworked 1956 Cadillac Eldorado engine. The tailgate was filled with louvers, the 1940 Ford bumpers were missing, so were the running boards. Debby's plan was to restore the car back to its first Goldenrod Yellow version. Number one the list was to repair the brakes. Debby found a repair shop which was familiar with the mechanical workings of the 1950s and brought the car to the shop. Not long after Debby picked up the truck with brand new brakes, she fired up the dual-quad Cadillac engine and headed towards Friday night cruise at Bob's Big Boy. Smack-dab in the middle of rush-hour traffic behind a swarm of trendy Volvos and Lexuses screeching up to a red light, the old truck came to a stop stuffed halfway into an Audi trunk. Luckily the Ford made it pretty well, the grille was intact, but the right front fender suffered a lot of damage. After the accident, Debby had the brakes upgraded to todays standard with a full set of disc-brakes.[3] Next, Mike Fennel Restorations in Saugus, California was chosen to transform the car back to its former glory. All the modifications made by the other owners were redone by Mike like the way Chuck built the truck. By August 2010, all the modifications were done and it only needs a paint job the get finished.[4]

The restored version of Chuck's old truck at the 2012 Grand National Roadster Show. Photo by Robert A. Radcliffe III.

I January 2012, the newly restored version of the truck made its debut at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.


The restored version of Chuck's old truck at the 2012 Grand National Roadster Show. Photo by Robert A. Radcliffe III.

Article original:
http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Chuck_Porter%27s_1949_Ford

This 1952 Ford F1 has the right "Kustom Kulture Look” The body is straight and solid shot in Red with a light pearl effect. This truck starts, drives and stops very well, and gets a lot of attention every where it goes. The body is not perfect but is good for a driver. The suspension feels like a stock truck and goes down the road straight. It has a low mileage Buick V8 Crate Engine with a side draft 2 barrel Holley carburetor, great on gas. The 350 Automatic Transmission shifts well. New aluminum Radiator and 12V wiring functions well.
Purrs like a kitten, runs like a cheetah, and stays cool like Fonzi.

The top was chopped 2 inches with leaning the back window forward slightly to make up for the shorting of the roof. There is no overlaid metal and everything is completely welded. This Custom is a lowered ride with the 9” axle swapped to top of spring in the back, and a dropped tube axle swapped to top of spring in the front. Big and little BF Goodrich Long travel Wide White Wall Tires on 16” Black Steelies with original trim rings and smooth rippled Ford hubcaps. The door glass is not installed but the passenger side is cut. All the other glass is there, wing windows back and front. One wing has a small crack and the rest of the glass is chip and crack free. New dual exhaust all the way back.

This "One of a Kind" Pickup Truck has many new and upgraded parts, well over 15K invested!

The interior is very comfortable, new black naugahyde wraps the plush seat, the rest is pretty bare bones, stock dash and metal with a rubber floor mat.

The body and running boards have no visible rust. It has new wood and tunnel over notch in the bed.

Many Kustom pieces and touches including extra teeth added to the grille, 1950 Packard taillights, shaved bumpers and badges

                

The truck was built by me (and friends) in the last year, and built to be a daily driver, which it has been as well as car show cruiser. The f-1 does highway speeds (75mph) with the A/C on and radio blasting. The new dolphin gauges keep an eye on everything with out looking out of place, since the dolphin gauges are a factory fit, as is the stereo. The body is fairly straight, especially for the age of the truck, but not perfect (it is a driver after all, has some chips, scratches and runs). The paint comes alive in the sun as the pearl catches light in the Hot Rod Flatz blue Daytona pearl. With the large air bags in the back and drop axle in front the truck drives nice and straight, quietly on radial Coker wide white walls.


1951 Ford F-1

Body:
The body is mostly stock with the exception of the hood has been shaved and nosed, and the fuel fill neck has been shaved.
Hot Rod Flatz Daytona Blue Pearl Urethane Paint
Stock F-1 grille with 2 additional teeth
Grille is stone white with Metal Flake gold tooth
White dash with blue pearl and pinstriped
Front frame horns have been removed and lower valence has been roll panned
Rear bumper removed and roll panned
Bed floor is ¾” plywood that is stepped up with a removable box to accommodate the c-notch
The tailgate does close, but is somewhat loose. It is held closed with chains and bed cover though and does not rattle.
3” stainless peep mirrors, factory mirror hole was welded up and shaved





Electrical:
Completely new 14 circuit KeepItClean harness
Custom Audio head unit with IPod connector in the ashtray, 300w per am/fm iPod, RCA’s
Sony 6.5” speakers in the front, Blaupunkt 6.5” slim component speaker
Dolphin programmable gauges, oil pressure, temperature, voltage meter, fuel, and speedometer all digital sending units
Universal under dash air condition/heating unit with new Sanden compressor, drier and condenser. Adjustable temperature and 3 speed blower wit h4 adjustable vents (blows cold and strong, heater blows HOT!, I have that disconnected because it felt like the heat was warming the A/C but hoses are still in place and simple to hook back up)
Tail lights are reproduction 1951 ford stainless housing lights with glass lenses, with stainless reproduction license plate bracket that illuminates the plate (comes with registered 1951 TX plates)
A/C unit, Air ride compressor and electric fan for condenser are all on 30amp relays
Turn signal and high beam indicator LEDs in the speedometer cluster all work
All gauges, sending units and even courtesy light work great



Interior:
The entire cab has been sprayed with Spray dead and Fat mat rubber butyl insulation stacked on-top.
The carpet is a factory cut re-production ACC Loop carpet with Jute pad under the entire carpet.
All glass is brand new tempered glass all from LMC (except the passenger side it is laminate ), new rubber seals; windows have new regulators with one piece windows (removed the wing windows)
Door handles, window handles are new chrome from LMC truck
Blue metal flake 16” wheel from mooneyes with Grant adapter
Universal blinker switch with hazards
Seat is White Marine Vinyl ,tuck and roll, there is a small burn on the driver side front ( see pictures, I burned the burlap while welding the frame) but seat has new burlap, foam and vinyl.
Headliner is Mexican Serape blanket over Fat-Mat insulation, Bed cover matches but is sewn is over black canvas bed cover with snap buttons.
Windows need tracks installed and inner door rubbers (tracks included, also includes new door and cowl rubbers)
Dash is factory with retro-fit gauges and radio, painted white with blue pearl and pinstriped
Tachometer installed on the colum



Suspension:
Front axle is 3” drop axle from Nostalgia Sid, new king pins, and rod end drops
Front disk brakes are slotted and cross-drilled with ceramic pads, from mid-fifty brakes
Rear axle has been flipped over leaf spring (mono-leafed) with Dominator 8” 2600lb air bags
3 gallon tank with single compressor (145lb pressure switch) all DOT 3/8 lines and brass fittings
All new fuel and brake lines, brakes are fed from gm master cylinder, gm proportioning valve, 7” corvette booster and new pedal assembly
New Monroe shocks in the front and one in the rear (the driver side broke while removing for air bags )
Frame has been c-notched over the rear axle and was intentionally oversized to allow the truck to lay frame if the front was bagged in the future.
Original bump steer and manual steering box.
Front spring pack has been reduced to 2 leaf springs

Drivetrain:
Built ford tough with Chevy stuff…
SBC 350 / TH350 combo from a 1976 Chevrolet van Approx ~60k miles, New Melling oil pump and gaskets. Oil pressure is very strong, engine runs great and does 75mph around 2500 RPM
Finned valve covers, polished aluminum intake, 1406 Edelbrock carburetor with electric choke with finned air cleaner
Rear end is a dana 44 new gears are  2.72 for a 1986 jeep grand wagoneer,  all new bearings, races and seals. Finned Aluminum Differential cover
Gas Tank has been relocated from behind the seat and replaced with 16 gallon stainless rear mounted tank ( from Classic Performance Products ), with Dolphin sending unit
New 3 core radiator with flex fan and electric fan back up
New 2.5” exhaust professionally run from the exhaust manifolds out to the roll pan, true duel exhaust with thrush mufflers, including all new hangers and mounts
MSD HEI distributor, accel 8mm sparks plug wires
New rear wheel cylinders and u joints, brake lines and hoses (fronts are stainless braided)
Shifter is factory in column but has Lokar shifter linkage and adjustable arm



Wheels:
Painted Steel rally wheels,
New Coker 225/75 R-15 tires with 2.75” White Walls from Summit Racing
1955 pontiac 15” hubcaps with Kustom chrome bullets added
Front axle is 15x4.5” and the rear is 15x5.5”  all rims are 7” wide

Rocky Burris' 1950 Ford radical custom pickup glows like Kryptonite in the winter sunlight. The truck is finished in a custom suede green with darker scallops by Ron Pinkston and fits in the category Burris refers to as "modern nostalgia," with a current drivetrain but all the right old-school styling cues





Power is supplied by 350 Chevy V-8 mated to a 350 Turbo automatic transmission. Color-keyed Cal Custom finned valve covers and a Caddy-style air cleaner keep things stylistically correct under the hood.



The right-hand side of the vintage Olds dash looks correct in the truck. Approximately 10 inches had to be trimmed out of the piece to make it fit in the narrow Ford cab.




A closer look at the Haneline multi-instrument cluster shows what a perfect fit it is in the original Oldsmobile bezel. Burris blanked out the former rectangular instrument windows above the all-in-one gauge pod.



Inside, a cut-down '55 Olds dash houses a 6-inch Haneline instrument cluster, while a Grant steering wheel mounts to a straight, non-tilting aftermarket column. Burris built the tall shifter with a beer tap knob, with a green genie on one side and a Rat Fink on the other, courtesy of son Rocky Jr. Burris upholstered the Ford Courier seat and transmission hump himself.



Burris came up with his own custom design for the upholstery pattern; door panels will get the same treatment.

The "suicide" doors are smooth, without external hardware. So how do you open them? See the frenched-in antenna near the spotlight? Just give it a smart tug upward and the door pops open.







Rolling stock consists of wide whitewalls mounted on 15-inch wheels dressed up with mid-'50s Buick hubcaps with bullets added to the flipper bars.


The lakes pipes routed along the running boards emerge from the front fenders in what Burris describes as `torpedo tubes,' inspired by a Dave Stuckey-built Studebaker truck. `I picked a lot of the old customizers' brains for ideas,' Burris said.



Son Rocky Burris Jr. handled the pinstriping details, including his dad's shrunken head logo on the tail end of the truck. The 11-gallon Moon tank will eventually be hidden under a rolled-and-pleated tonneau cover.



The previous owner had already started on the rear fins, but Burris decided they needed to be higher and swoopier. He is especially proud of the unusual cross-mounted '59 Cadillac taillights, with his turned aluminum center sections





Sporting a 5-inch top chop and a pancaked hood, the truck recalls the radical show trucks of the early 1960s. Canted quad '59 Thunderbird headlights and a trapezoidal grille opening filled with gold mesh and row after row of chrome drawer pulls completes the look.

The truck is officially nicknamed "Two Kool," but Burris refers to it as "The Fin." One look at the rear end reveals why. "I tell people it looks like Batman's utility vehicle," Burris says, chuckling.