By Brett Hickman
Rarely are 46-year-old pickup trucks attractive, let alone worth writing about, especially those that have been used mainly as work trucks.
But Jeff Quack’s 1970 Ford F-100 Custom is an exception to the rule. His truck spent its first 16 years as a maintenance vehicle in Oklahoma. The truck, originally painted Boxwood Green with a white top, had a 360 V-8 two-barrel engine with a four-speed manual transmission.
Jeff bought the truck in the summer of 1986 when he was living in Dallas, shortly after the original owner moved there. Jeff drove it daily since he built houses.
In 1986 he moved back to Indianapolis, driving the truck loaded to the top of the cab with his possessions. Here in Indy it was also a daily work truck until the summer of 1992, when it was retired as a work pickup but still driven on a regular basis.
About six years ago Jeff and his father, John, started restoring it. They replaced the cab mounts and the entire front suspension before installing a reupholstered bench seat from a 1969 F-100. The original engine, which had 300,000 miles on it, was next.
In a labor of love, father and son rebuilt the engine, boring it out .030 while installing an oversized competition camshaft and Blackjack headers. Then the original Toploader transmission was rebuilt and installed.
As when it was new, the engine has only one belt to turn the radiator fan and power the alternator. It has manual steering and manual brakes, just as it did when it rolled out of the factory.
Despite its age and spending three-quarters of its life as a work-truck, the body is all original. The truck is still driven on a regular basis but only for pleasure.
They sure don’t make ’em like they use to.
Rarely are 46-year-old pickup trucks attractive, let alone worth writing about, especially those that have been used mainly as work trucks.
But Jeff Quack’s 1970 Ford F-100 Custom is an exception to the rule. His truck spent its first 16 years as a maintenance vehicle in Oklahoma. The truck, originally painted Boxwood Green with a white top, had a 360 V-8 two-barrel engine with a four-speed manual transmission.
Jeff bought the truck in the summer of 1986 when he was living in Dallas, shortly after the original owner moved there. Jeff drove it daily since he built houses.
In 1986 he moved back to Indianapolis, driving the truck loaded to the top of the cab with his possessions. Here in Indy it was also a daily work truck until the summer of 1992, when it was retired as a work pickup but still driven on a regular basis.
About six years ago Jeff and his father, John, started restoring it. They replaced the cab mounts and the entire front suspension before installing a reupholstered bench seat from a 1969 F-100. The original engine, which had 300,000 miles on it, was next.
In a labor of love, father and son rebuilt the engine, boring it out .030 while installing an oversized competition camshaft and Blackjack headers. Then the original Toploader transmission was rebuilt and installed.
As when it was new, the engine has only one belt to turn the radiator fan and power the alternator. It has manual steering and manual brakes, just as it did when it rolled out of the factory.
Despite its age and spending three-quarters of its life as a work-truck, the body is all original. The truck is still driven on a regular basis but only for pleasure.
They sure don’t make ’em like they use to.
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