1979 Ford F-150 Gets New Lease on Life After Career in Mud Racing
The owner of this 1979 Ford F-150 gave it a complete redo after his father used it for professional mud racing.
It isn’t uncommon to see older Ford trucks get passed down to the next generation. In fact, this is a pretty common occurrence here in the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums, as we routinely see pickups passed on to the owner’s kids and even their kid’s kids. But this 1979 Ford F-150, owned by Luke Klein and recently featured at Ford Trucks Daily, has a pretty unique past for a family heirloom.
Klein’s father purchased the 1979 Ford F-150 when he was merely 16-years-old. But it wasn’t his daily driver or even some ranch hand. Rather, Klein’s father modified the truck and used it to compete in professional mud racing events through the 1980s. He held onto it until 2005, at which point his dad sold the truck to someone else.
Klein never forgot about his dad’s special rig. When he turned 16 ten years ago, he finally located the pickup and had the means to bring it back into the family. At that time, the F-150 was in pretty rough shape following its life of tearing up the mud, so Klein began to go through it with a fine tooth comb, fixing up or replacing every single component on the pickup.
The results of that hard work quite clearly speak for themselves. This 1979 Ford F-150 now shines thanks to a beautiful dark blue paint job, fresh chrome all around, and a host of aftermarket upgrades. The most obvious include a big lift kit and some giant new rubber wrapped around a set of aftermarket wheels, which results in one heck of a nice combination.
Currently, the old F-150 is packing a bored-out 460 Ford V8 that displaces 472 cubic-inches. But Klein is already planning on replacing that with an even bigger 515 cube V8, which should help this pickup tear up some tarmac or, for old time’s sake, a deep mud pit with ease. Though we’d have a hard time getting this beautiful showstopper dirty ourselves.
Though we always love a good father/son/Ford truck story, this one is obviously a bit more special than most. And we’re also quite pleased to see that this old F-150, despite living a hard life, is certainly living the good life in retirement, rather than winding up in a junkyard or being parted out.
Photos: Luke Klein for Ford Trucks Daily
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