78 Ford F100

So my wife's uncle gave me a 78 Ford F100 2wd pickup last year. I was gonna fix it up and use it as a work truck. I tore it down to just about the frame. Come to find out the fenders, hood, and doors are in good shape. The cab though, is pretty rough. The floor and rockers are gone. The cab corners and mounts are rotted. The drip edge it rotted through on the driver side. And the back passenger side of the cab is smashed in. So I decided not to go that route.Has a 351m big block with a truck 4 speed. Runs good. Frame is pretty solid. So anyways......my question to you guys is has anyone rat rodded one of these? I would like to but I am not sure how it would look seeing as the cab is quite big. I thought about cutting the cab in half and narrowing it and leaving the whole front clip off. Then make a bed for the back after I shorten the frame.....any ideas or suggestions would be great. I still am mostly working on the new garage and corvair but I would like to get some idea of where I want to go with this one. Thanks!!!!

Here are a few pics..

wow !!! I saw a 69 Saturday that was rat -ed ,, it grew on ya the more you looked at it .... he double z the frame and moved the engine and cab back about 2 foot the fan blade ended up on top of the cross member .. It looked kinda like this


he had a wood flat bed on it too . like I said it grew on ya the more you looked at it .

I like the drawing! That's not a bad idea moving everything back.

as far as the rust on the cab .. I have took trucks to the scrap yard that wasnt that bad .... I feel sorry for y'all that live in these areas that eats your stuff away ( I am guessing salt from the ice and snow ???)

I didnt say this to hurt your feelings either .. I come from Ohio , so I know stuff dont last if you use it in the winter time ..

supersmitty said:

I like the drawing! That's not a bad idea moving everything back.

Click to expand...

thinking back on it I wish I would have taken a picture of it, by moving it back it makes the wheels in front of the engine and he cleaned his up pretty good to .. its not like a chevy , it didnt have the sway bar or tourqe bar in the way on the front of the frame .

Yankee Transplant said:

as far as the rust on the cab .. I have took trucks to the scrap yard that wasnt that bad .... I feel sorry for y'all that live in these areas that eats your stuff away ( I am guessing salt from the ice and snow ???)

Click to expand...

Yea salt in the winter, plus now they are using calcium which is really doing a job on everything!!! I worked on a 08 F350 recently that was so rotted the truck was almost not safe for the road. The worst part is the guy still had 2 years to pay on it!

Most of my family still lives in Ohio, ... they wash there stuff down and it still dont last.

You could rat rod almost anything,up to you.But I would just use the running gear+ find a old body or cab.Just my 2 cents worth.

Country Misfit im with you on what I would take time to rat ... because it does take a lot of time .... Me , myself I do like 54 and back to rat on trucks and older than that say in the mid 30s and back on the cars ,, I just like the looks , but thats just me and I dont care what kind on running gear it has ..

supersmitty said:

I thought about cutting the cab in half and narrowing it and leaving the whole front clip off.

Click to expand...

I wonder... how do you narrow a curved windshield?

I've seen some newer trucks turned into "roadster tubs'' (which eliminates the windshield issue) but haven't seen one that looks good.

I don't mean to crap in your hat, but I'd look for something less... uhhh, challenging.

.

crap in your hat [cl[cl[cl

Dr Crankenstein said:

I wonder... how do you narrow a curved windshield?

I've seen some newer trucks turned into "roadster tubs'' (which eliminates the windshield issue) but haven't seen one that looks good.

I don't mean to crap in your hat, but I'd look for something less... uhhh, challenging.

.

Click to expand...

Cut it in the middle and make a split windshield. Kinda sounds like a buttload of work to end up with something nobody else would want to buy when you're tired of it. But then, that's how I got 90% f my good experience.[

Find a donner with the same curve, make a pattern and cut it out of the like a cooky cutter.

This from a guy who has trouble making one shorter [S
[P

Thanks for the input. I agree I haven't seen anyone make one of these late model truck cabs look good as a rat rod. Just was curious if any had. For now I am gonna work on getting it into a roller. I will take some pics soon. Thanks again.