The truck was purchased in 1971 by my parents and used my mom’s first car, a 1963 Falcon as a down payment. It was used in its early years to haul construction materials and scaffolding all over the Southeast while my dad worked construction. Later on in its life it became the family hunting truck and then passed on to me at 15 as my driver throughout school. While the old Ford truck was not as popular as all the C10’s in the parking lot, my dad, my brothers, and I made it into a pretty nice little hotrod. I bought and sold a lot of cars and trucks over the years but this old truck was never an option to be sold. As I got older and life became busy, I parked the truck in my parent’s backyard and it began to rust away.
In 2014, my dad was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis. His questions of “what are you going to do with that old truck?” began to take on a little more weight. I knew he didn’t like to see the truck suffering from neglect. So my wife and I decided to make a push to fix up the truck as he might have with today’s technologies in hopes it would be completed in time for him to enjoy it. Once again my brothers and I got together and started stripped everything to bare metal. The parts and pieces were taken to Brad Shadburn at The Hot Rod Syndicate in Buford, Georgia to do the metal work and put back together. The inspirational old steelies and mudders the truck lived with for years were honored with a set of painted 18 and 20-inch wheels from Detroit Steel, fitted with a round of modified ’48 Ford caps. Since the bed floor was too damaged to repair, and the only panels available are patches, it was replaced with one from a 1994 Chevy CK1500. The bed floor was raised and the wheel tubs were widened to accommodate the new stance. The color was something had always talked about and how it was the best looking shade or red when he bought it. I searched every dealership from every manufacturer for miles around, but there was not a red that seemed to be fitting. So, we took a chance and decided on the original 1968 Candy Apple Red mixture.
During the truck’s construction my dad’s health took a turn for a worse. He suffered an infection from a lung transplant and even spent time in a coma at Duke hospital. Throughout the ordeal, the truck was a welcomed source of conversation for all of us and a welcomed distraction. Progress pictures were brought in, options were discussed, and it gave everyone something to focus on during that difficult time. This put the build in overdrive for everyone involved, we knew it had to be completed and soon. This is also when we made a few changes to the original plan that became more of a tribute to family and memories.
We finished up the truck and my dad was able to sit behind the wheel once again. Now the old truck is able to make memories for my wife and girls just like it did for me when I was younger. We enjoy the time it brings us together at shows and my wife and I enjoy seeing their young minds being interested in hot rods.