Dentside Ford F-250 Restored, Promptly Goes Back to Work
Most people restore Ford trucks and then baby them. But this ’74 F-250 hasn’t slowed down one little bit.
We now live in a day and age when old Ford trucks are starting to skyrocket in value. Thus, people are understandably retiring them from their lives of labor, restoring them and treating them more like classic collectibles than the workhorses that they really are. Well, most folks anyway. Here at Ford Truck Enthusiasts, our forum members prefer to keep these old trucks doing what they do best. Even after spending time doing things like body and paint, as we saw recently with JacobJ‘s beautiful ’74 F-250.
“I learned to drive in my ’74 Ford and it’s been in the family longer than I have! So far, I have done a complete restoration on the outside and painted it candy apple red. The truck used to be teal. But recently, the 360 seems to be running on 7 cylinders and blowing oil. I am hoping to do a modern 5.0 Coyote engine and manual trans swap in it. This will be my first Ford engine swap.”
The Ford looks pretty awesome in the OP’s “before” pictures, but a closer inspection revealed quite a bit of rust. Thus, the bodywork was obviously necessary. And amazingly enough, he was forced to do the same thing over again in just a few short years. But that didn’t stop him from putting his old Ford straight to work!
“After 3 years in the Las Vegas sun (and my uncle backing the truck into a shed), it needed a new paint job! Same candy apple red. A week after these pictures were taken, I drove the truck 1,100 miles up to Washington state towing a car on a tow dolly! I about ran the whole west coast out of gas.”
But that certainly wasn’t the end of the road for this restored Ford. The OP has continued to wrench on it ever since, making improvements to virtually every single area. From the stereo system to the brakes and drivetrain, virtually nothing was left untouched.
The most impressive thing about this build, however, is how it’s been used. The OP has driven it in terrible weather, hauled trash and bricks in it, and just generally used it like the truck that it is. And we’ve loved every second of watching this Ford F-250 get better and better. So be sure and head over here to catch up on its adventures, and stay tuned for future updates!
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