PhilJohnson
Well-known member
A while ago my old faithful 77 F100 was hit by a Semi. That truck had done me well for the past 7 years but there is no fixing it now 
I had a 93 GMC Sonoma that I put on the road right after the 77 got hit. That truck was a real POS, the driver's side door was falling off and I am pretty sure the truck had been in a roll over due to the fact every panel was dented on it including the roof. Also it had no driver's side window. I tried using it to haul scrap but the suspension is so weak that just one engine was enough to have the tires rubbing on the wooden bed. After the truck started sputtering going down the road I knew the end was near.
So I sold a couple of projects and found me a 65 F100 stepside short box for the sum of 600 bucks. I drove a couple hours to look at it. It drove nice although the tires have a bit of weather checking. There was extensive rust repair but unfortunately it was not done to my standards. It is solid but I don't believe in welding new metal over old metal. Also the guy fixed the cab mounts by welding a big heavy chunk of angle steel on each side of the cab to the frame. While safe to drive I plan on doing some tear down this winter and fixing it how I'd do it (putting in cab mounts again, welding in thicker sheet metal and reinforcing it).
Truck has a 240 six and a three on the tree. It is geared pretty low and thus the gas mileage is pretty bad. Right now I use it as a daily driver since none of the other vehicles in my fleet are road worthy. The truck is an ex-military truck. Under the hood I can see the original olive drab paint and the interior is olive drab. There is a plate screwed into the dash proclaiming the truck is government property. All in all I think it is pretty neat and best of all I can haul scrap now with out bottoming out my suspension (just hauled some in today).
Not really a Rat Rod I suppose but it is old and doesn't look like anything else on the road near me.
I had a 93 GMC Sonoma that I put on the road right after the 77 got hit. That truck was a real POS, the driver's side door was falling off and I am pretty sure the truck had been in a roll over due to the fact every panel was dented on it including the roof. Also it had no driver's side window. I tried using it to haul scrap but the suspension is so weak that just one engine was enough to have the tires rubbing on the wooden bed. After the truck started sputtering going down the road I knew the end was near.
So I sold a couple of projects and found me a 65 F100 stepside short box for the sum of 600 bucks. I drove a couple hours to look at it. It drove nice although the tires have a bit of weather checking. There was extensive rust repair but unfortunately it was not done to my standards. It is solid but I don't believe in welding new metal over old metal. Also the guy fixed the cab mounts by welding a big heavy chunk of angle steel on each side of the cab to the frame. While safe to drive I plan on doing some tear down this winter and fixing it how I'd do it (putting in cab mounts again, welding in thicker sheet metal and reinforcing it).
Truck has a 240 six and a three on the tree. It is geared pretty low and thus the gas mileage is pretty bad. Right now I use it as a daily driver since none of the other vehicles in my fleet are road worthy. The truck is an ex-military truck. Under the hood I can see the original olive drab paint and the interior is olive drab. There is a plate screwed into the dash proclaiming the truck is government property. All in all I think it is pretty neat and best of all I can haul scrap now with out bottoming out my suspension (just hauled some in today).
Not really a Rat Rod I suppose but it is old and doesn't look like anything else on the road near me.
