I got the 1965 f100 given to me from my uncle for helping him out with some clean up around his house. The truck as it came to me had a 289 with a c4. Ran, but need the whole brake system redone. The tranny worked when my uncle parked the truck in 1997, but won't hold tranny fluid at this point. Truck is straight, very few dent, but has some rust.
Like most people who get a new project, the first thing I did was cleaned up the truck inside and out to see what I had to work with. Since running new brake lines was going to be one of the project, I figured I would clean and paint the frame first. Well off came the bed to make life easier. The bed also had enough rust in it, and I like the look without the bed, that i was thinking heavily on making it a flatbed.
I got married in July and moved into a duplex with a garage and a carport. The landlord just needed a month or so to get the garage cleaned out. Towed the 65 to the new place in October and put into the carport. Do not have the garage yet. The carport got tarped in for the winter and I slowly started in on the truck. I don't like working in the cold, not to mention its hard to get paint to cure properly. I spent the winter cleaning up emblems, looking at parts catalogs.
As spring has come and the weather is warmer, I have gotten most of the parts that can unbolt off the rear of the frame. Got tires off the wheels, found this forum, and got a lot of plans and ideas.
I've worked in a restoration shop for the last 7 years on English car, and have gotten really burnt out on customers buying new everything and not reusing anything. Then they drive there cars maybe 500 miles a year. Wast of money in my opinion. I plan on cleaning up, restoring, and reusing as much as I can on the truck. What is not able to be reused, I plan to find good used parts first. The only things that I plan on new is body rubber and upholstery and mechanical like brakes.
Now back to the can of worms I opened this weekend. I plan on sending my wheels in to be powder coated and figured that I should send my front bumper and grill in at the same time, so everything matches, and you usually get a better price with more pieces. Bumper came off easy. I'm on day 3 for the grill. I'm fitting rust. cage nut braking loose, bolt heads to rusted to but a wrench on, not to mention someone has been there before me. While under the truck I could see that the core support is really rotten and as much of a pain for everything come in apart, I want to put it back together right. So time for complete tear down.
The truck is going to be a daily driver. I hope to have my own small restoration shop in the near future as well and then it would be my shop truck. The plan is to repaint the truck the original marlin blue with a white roof. Run the 289, pull the auto out and put in top loader 4 spd. The truck was originally a 6 with a 3 on the tree, so the clutch pedal id still there. Going to build a flat bed and run 12 inch wide rubber in the back and stock tires in the front. Run stock wheels and hub caps in front and found a pair of 10 inch wide steel wheels for the back which I have already drilled and pinned so I can run stock hub caps. Read a little to much about the rangers and needed to do something different with my seat anyway... so buckets it is. Previous owner put a bench seat out of a 75 in it, which bolts right in, but you have to have both doors open to hinge the seat forward because its too wide to clear the arm rests.
Was planning on putting in a wood grained steering. Mine was cracked really bad and I like the look of the wood. I read the post on redoing your steering wheel and figured I had to try. Its turning out really nice, not quite finished with it. Have more time into it then I want to think about. Was at a wrecking yard a found a nice deluxe horn ring for it too.
As I make progress and take photos I will update. My wife says this forum is good for me. Since I have be come a member, my computer skills have gotten 100% better. A very cool wife, since I don't have the garage yet, I have been redoing the steering wheel on a card table in the living room. She also said I could hang the grill above the couch when its done and looking pretty!
