My Hillbilly 63 Uni project

[Hillbilly63]

I bought this 1963 F100 Unibody short bed 5 years ago, got it home, stripped it down and gave up.



Pushed it out to the back field where it has been since.

I have so many personal vehicle projects and great ideas but rarely do they get finished. The last project I completed was over 2 years ago a 2001 Roush Mustang, I still have three 68-69 Dodge Darts, four 2001-04 Mustangs, 89 Vette, 06 HHR, 1935 Chevy Standard 3 window coupe to build. If that wasn't bad enough, three months ago when I got the bug to finally build a F100 shop truck I went looking for another truck. I now have a 61 F100 uni long bed, 65 Merc M100 long bed, 66 Merc M250 long bed and found a 61 F100 uni short bed for my son to build. I even bought a 04 Crown Vic in case one of us wants to use the suspension and motor. My wife thinks I have a vehicle hoarding problem or something

So after all the stress and fuss I have decided to continue with the 63 Uni, I grabbed the tractor and pushed it in the shop (almost 5 years later to the date). Got it up on the hoist and cut all the body bolts off, removed the steering box and column and everything else holding the body down.





Back outside the body was lifted off and placed aside. Next the engine and trans was removed and all misc brackets, bolts, ect. were cut off, it's now ready for media blasting.

[ironminer]

no hoarding problem here Looks like a good truck to start with! hope you have fun with it!

[slickmainer]

it even had a tailgate!

[foodstick]

Man you are living most of our DREAMs hahahahah

but yeah you have a full plate.. I am more and more into solid drivers that will run forever than anything else.. it just makes sense to me and costs less, I hope you can get whatever you seek out of your build,,, and soon !

[Hillbilly63]

Sorry guys for the large photo's, wasn't thinking when I posted last night.

Don't mind the junk in the background, we own a home base snowmobile / motorcycle salvage shop, but also do some auto salvage as well. My Son runs his business here too, he wrecks import tuner cars like right hand drive Skyline's, RX7's and the like. We have 10 acres and been at it since 1992. Just finishing up installing a used paint booth in the shop that I started assembling last summer (what a pile of work to build by yourself)

Anyway, my goal is to have it roughed in and running for a local 3 day cruise-in sometime in Aug. and drive it around for the rest of the summer. I'll deal with the paint and interior over the winter.

As far as drivetrain and suspension mods I'm undecided at this point. We have lots of options to work with, but after reading so many threads of other builds it's hard to make a decision. I know one thing for sure, I won't be spending $2-3000 on a IFS, so some type of OEM IFS will be used just haven't made up my mind.

I want the 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern and rack and pinion steering. The CV IFS looks good and I have one, but I'm on the fence on regards to the track width and I can't fit my 15" wheels due to the 13 disc's. I also have a Aerostar IFS that I'm leaning toward, but have concerns with the rack rotation and oil pan clearance. The Volare clip is another option, my 61 Uni long box has one installed, these are hard to find around here as most have been crushed.

Just got the frame back from media blasting, will post photo later

[390fastback]

I 100% agree with you on the cost thing, my build is all about low buck too. And by the looks of your body, even though there is a bit of rust, I wish mine was that solid when I started!

[Hillbilly63]

Well it's official... Project Hillbilly63 is dead

Had the frame sand blasted, turned out ok other than it being bent. After stripping down the rest of the body things didn't look good. The truck just sat to long and rusted out. It needs a full bed, torque box, box side, both doors, one fender, not to mention all the normal floor pan / mount issues. Just not worth spending any further time or money. Already donated a few parts to my Son who is building the 61 f100 short bed uni on here.

I did start another truck ... will start a new build thread soon

[totten]

LIKE THE 61 UNI RED AND WHITE color. Looks like a 65 grille