Slick 60's

Working on my 63 has really got me hooked on slicks. Ive always leaned to more 50s style stuff but I realized that I'm more of an early 60s kind of guy.
The F100XL is one of the coolest vehicles Ive ever seen.
This has made me take a closer look at my 64 parts truck. This truck is not as bad as I thought. The front clip is beat up but I have a replacemt. The floor is a little rusty but not bad.
My thouhts are to give it the XL treatment to a degree. Bucket seats console ect. Its a SWB flareside.
Power plant options.....
1. A 390 toploader 4 speed.
2. A 390 later F150 5 spd and hyrdolic clutch
3. A 390 3 speed
4. 302 with above options
5. 351 with above options
6. Auto??? C-6 AOD
I have a 90 5.0 with AOD and a 1984 351 with 1970 4 V heads fresh and ready to go. So I'm thinking 351 3 speed floor shift since I have those parts. An FE with 4 speed sure would be nice though.
What would ya'll suggest

You mean like Mayhem Bob!?



Everything old is new again

Not quite that hot.
I really want to make the truck have an early sixties look and feel. Falcon or Galaxie buckets with a console and a V/8 with a floor shift. A nice cruiser or weekend hot rod is what I'm after instead of an all out drag truck.
I really want a 406 3x2 engine with a heavy spline nascar toploader 4 speed.
But here in the real world looks like it will be a 351.
BTW thanks for the link. Great truck and apparently one fine gentleman.

Famous words in my house. "Babe, it's a parts truck."

Wife replies, "Then why did you make it run and how come you been driving it for two days."

Z

Well its not really a parts truck I said that for the sake of brievity,
It has a History.
My father worked for the L&N Railroad " this was before corporate greed destroyed the REAL railroads and all American industry for that matter" and was gone 2wks at a time in 1976. I went with my mother to pick it up from the used car lot in Center Point AL. I was three years old.
My brother came home fron the hospital in that truck.
A ride I never will forget October 1976.... I'll never forget that ride. Memory is dim now but I remember us Daddy, Momma, my infant brother in mommas arms and I loading up and driving real fast to Papaws house. In front of my grandparents house was a large pasture of about 8 acres. the road to their house was past this pasture. I remember riding in that truck as we topped the hill, Daddy drove off the road full speed and went straight through the pasture to my grandparents home. I can still hear that 223 and still remember us bouncing in that cab. The paramedics were there and my father rode the ambulance holding my grandfathers hand. He passed away of a heart attack, he was 49 I was 4.
I remember coon hunting with my father in that truck. It sure was an adventure bouncing up those washed out red clay logging roads the zinn zinn zinn bloom bloomm bloom fo that 223 as we bounced from rut to rut searching for a place to turn the dogs loose. I remember climbing in the back after letting the dogs out and laying on the wood bed between the cab and dogbox. My father hopped in too and reclined against the bedside. We both looked up at the bright dark blue and warm Alabama sky.
The smells, wooden bed, hay from the dogbox, wet hound, burnt mud on the pipes, a slight hint of gasoline and old Ford mingled with the sounds and sights of those Alabama woods. " Is that them Daddy?" Naw son thats a yard dog." "Zat dem" "Brissel's cold trailing.. They struck!!! ... get the light!!! " That place is a subdivision now. I was 7.
I remember helping-anoying my father as he worked replacing the wore out ignition switch with a toggle and push button and installing a floor shifter.
Someone tried to steal that truck while my father was squirrel hunting, a blonde headed boy. My father heard it crank up and heard the the gears grind the kid could not get it in gear. The kid bailed when Daddy came out of the woods with his shotgun. You see my father installed that floorshift backwards, only he could drive it. BTW my father was hunting so we could have some meat on the table. Those were hard times the year 1981 I was 9.
By junior high it was parked.
At 14 I stood in front of it looking at the rusty grille and beat up fenders and said out loud one day I'll fix you up.
When my brother was 12 he got it running, drove it in the pasture and then promptly sold the engine and transmission our crooked neighborfor 20 bucks. This was 1988. At 16 my interests were football, being jilted by varius chicks, 51 Chevys and my new 70 Chevelle Malibu.
Graduation, work, 54 GMC, My first Ford a 62 Galaxie, 72 Monte Carlo, 49 Ford Sedan, 50 Ford Coupe, true career, a couple of worthless girlfriends, true heart break, true sin, house purchase, true love,marridge, kids. As time went by the old truck remained parked next to the barn where my brother and I built many of our monsters and street queens. In 2002 my father mentioned hauling the 64 or simply the Green Truck off for scrap.
It soon there after made its way to my house.
I really do not know why we never worked on it. Maybe it just was not old enough. Maybe it was the trip to Papaws in 76. But all along I have been gathering slick parts even when I had no intention of working on it. Deep down maybe I did.
Seeing the 63 XL makes me think of my grandfather. He always wanted to build an early 60s Galaxie with an interceptor 390 with an over sized oil pan and radiator 4 speed and high speed rear end. A top end car. "They wont be able to catch you on the top and you can stay at there all day long." My grandfather was a racer and mechanic but he was too good a fellow to be a business man so he closed his shop and went back to factory work in 1963.
Sorry for the yarn but I think I've answered my question 390 it is.

That was a great story - don't apologize.

I'd sure keep that '64 - if not for you, for somebody else in the family. You can't buy memories like that.

Doug

.

I 2nd that


Z

I loved the story. thos kind of tales brings back lots of memories. But remember, today is the "good ole days" of tomorrow.

Well, there ya go.......................
http://www.svt-enthusiast.com/modules/g ... ine_filter

I like hearing about old truck still int he family. My old truck was passed down to me by my dad which he bought it in 1968. I have done several modificatios to it. Such as making into a short wheel base, doing some rattle can custom painting:) and most impsrtantly rebuilding the engine trans and rear end!!!:). If you want my opinion on a good power plant, my suggestion is either a high compression 390 or a stroker 390 like mine! I am running a 418 fe 390 w/428 crank..
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Lots of cool stuff to go Old School FE here.

http://www.holmanmoody.com/parts1.html

This would look cool too.

http://www.alsblowers.com/streetinduction.html

390 will be great..

I have the original 352 and am building a 396 or 416 ( .030 over 390/428 crank)

Did I just type "396" ????

Keep the truck if you can...

My 65 F-100 was bought by my Uncle new in 65, I have had it around 32 years and will never sell it.

My Grandson will inherit it..( I hope he wants it)


Richard.

416 thats the way to go!!..... I had mine balanced so it raps up nicely!! Mayhem Bob had a nice running truck. We talked alot just before he passed way RIP!!.. He was a great help when I was building my engine. I can tell you this. He made some 11's runs before he passed with his newer engine. I guess since most of you guys on here I see live around the Houston area. Ilive up close to Austin area. We need to meet up at the sealy track one weekend! I am just about done with the upgrades from the last time I ran my truck. New modified 950, MSD igntion, sway bar(hope to help it go straighter). Hoping to gain acouple tenths!!

Thanks for all replies.
Ive got a long way to go with the truck. The first order if business is to get in the garage and strip it down and start on the frame.
I want to set it up "gasser style".