About 5 maybe 6 years ago me & wife rented a cabin somewhere north of Truckee and in the woods sat a 55 F100 so after some negotiations he agreed to sell it to me. Being on vacation I couldn’t take it with me. The following weekend I went back got tires aired up & replaced two then pulled it out of the hole it called home a creek bed during snow melt. He agreed to move across the bridge for me by the time I returned with a trailer the next weekend , had stayed in touch by phone with him Bob. So I called to confirm the following Saturday on Thursday and Bob passed that morning. So now a few weeks go by , I call and speak with the son , he agrees to honor previous negotiations with Bob his father. Next Saturday I show up with trailer & $$$ , the truck was in the son name and he had pink slip & non op but he couldn’t find the keys , he even gave me a factory manual too. So loaded it and left , it had a total of 13 wasps nests in cab and under hood. So trying to off load was fun I had to be in the cab with the wildlife and only a parking brake. Trailer at a bad angle it didn’t want to roll off  , so I put floor Jack to raise trailer , got back in by now the wasps are not happy. It was like a horror movie , drivers door stuck enter & exit thru passenger door,let park brake go bam all the wasps came out , truck starts rolling drops off trailer hard more wasps come out it got dark in the cab thick with wasps. I push myself calmly against the seat and remain perfectly still my face and arms and legs are covering wasps , I would die with that many stings. I don’t move at all , dead still til they all went back to their nests , not one sting I couldn’t see thru my glasses I was covered but not one sting. If I were to swat at one all would attack. Never swat at a wasp! When I looked up the keys were hanging on the visor.  

Only part that made me want to start swinging was when one crawled in my nose , I almost lost it !

Well mine is not so sexy , a 99% original survivor , farm/ranch truck. The Chevy of the same years is very cool , however the shapes and lines of the Ford are unique and grabs my eyeballs. Iconic in the pick up world and for sure in mine.

This thing starts so fast for a 6 volt system. Cold starts after sitting a week, choke hit the button , lights off and idles run around listen to exhaust , hitting on all 8. Takes about about a half hour to get t stat to open. This 239 V8 fords first over head valve engine with a whopping 113.5 H/P has some valve clatter due to solid lifters , manual valve adjustment , hot and running , real fun job ! Have a some diff cyl temps , still knocking the rust off some valves , should stabilize in time. Overall starts and runs great after almost 20 years. Concrete under truck to cold for recreational wrenching , in the spring I’ll put the fuel tank in and repair 1 small oil leak. However I’ll repair/ replace ignition switch so it can be started from inside the truck. Yeah that’s right my yard art runs !

I am still working on putting my Studefrankenbaker project together.  I picked up the LS motor, the Ford 8.8" is on the way, and still wrestling with the trans choice.