1966 F100 Build-PROJECT DISRUPTIVE

Front clip now off Solid body right Solid body left  This section of the frame for the radiator support was very thin. I may have to cut it out and replace.  This section of the frame for the radiator support was very thin also. I may have to cut it out and replace too.  Right hand side of picture shows some thin metal around pillar lower Radiator support fixable but is really rusty Radiator support fixable but is really rusty Radiator support fixable but is really rusty Battery box is repairable Tank is removed. &7 Gallons of old smelly gas was removed. Looked like varnish. No wonder the old girl was choking and smoking  Body mount on passenger side seems solid as well as lower pillar Solid inner fenders Solid inner fenders Little rot in lower drivers pillar Little rot in lower drivers pillar Drivers floor Drivers floor Removed the dash,switches, radio, glove door etc ...

If color was the only thing to think about then life would be easy. The first thing people ask is "What color is it" or "What color is it going to be?" Though this is great in the scheme of things, this is not the main focus. Door alignment, hood alignment, soda blasting, sand blasting, priming, blocking, priming, blocking...Did I mention priming and blocking? With that rant out of the way , here are two colors that we are looking at.  This is a two tone local truck here in the Carolinas that has the following colors:  PPG Mercedes-Benz Brilliant Silver applied to the bottom half, PPG Honda Galapagos Green to the top half. Another one we found was this one. This is really what we are thinking. A two tone using a Lexus green pearl and  and Gold pearl paint. A far cry from the traditional blue and whites or green and white. This seems to be a classy look for a classic.

Removed the bed from the frame. Sounds easy enough. The hitch was welded to the bumper and the one section of the homemade hitch was welded to the frame. The bed itself was tack welded in several locations. Today after the bed was removed I pressure washed the cab and the rear frame which revealed some rusty cab corners which we knew was there. Bottom of the rear frame rail was cut for  the trailer hitch which weakened the rail resulting in a cracked frame.  Minor compared to what we could be facing. 

Well going into a project the first thing I always think about is color. Today though we have even more choices. We have patina to think about. Love to do this but the wife says that we need to do it right! But what is right?  Here is what we are leaning toward. Lexus provides great colors for a truck , especially two-tone concepts. Love the left choice. It resembles the chevy sedan built by Chip Foose.  

The dash board replacemment costs $500.00 so we are going to do what most guys do...remove and paint the dash. A utility knife and a little patience come in handy taking the dash pad off. The outer pad was suprisingly hard. Notice the speaker grill on this radio deleted truck. Yes that is a jeep radio. Hey, it worked. The forums say to take goo gone to get the glue off  but this stuff is cooked on.

The trip to Spartanburg SC was quite an event with the borrowed chevy truck and tri-axle car trailer borrowed from My bud Paul.  Truck was as described, straight with plenty of potential. The drive up  I -85 through Charlotte was to say the least challenging. So here is the truck when we took it off the trailer. Here she is straight and ready for some TLC