Rob's restomod shortbed pickup

Lookie, lookie! Archway Cookie. A phrase from an old commercial back in my kid daze.

I never thought I'd own a Restomod in my life, but low and behold, here it is, a 1951 Ford F1. Somehow, the stars aligned allowing me to find this truck at a great price. I was looking for a muscle car restomod, but prices have exceeded my budget.

Due to a ton of electrical issues with the 1971 Nova, I sold it. It seemed when one thing got fixed, two more would break. I had to pay high labor costs to find electrical shorts that appeared like ghosts and disappeared, trying to track them down. Very frustrating not being able to drive the Nova, let alone get it to start. Plenty of gremlins hidden in places I did not see during my prepurchase inspection. Cut my losses and sold.

The F1 has been sitting for a lot of years, purchased as an investment whose owner wanted to cash out for the upcoming financial situations. He lived remotely, which also worked in my favor, as not many potential buyers would venture to see the truck. It sat on Craigslist for weeks, so I decided to make the adventure to try to find it. And find it I did. I also found the owner had in his collection a 1996 Grand Sport Corvette with, get this, 4000 miles on the nearly 30-year-old car. It was and is a true time capsule.

But I digress. The tires on the truck were 20 years old, and it truly needed updated fluid, filters, lube and love to get it back in shape. The seller rewarded my due diligence to find it being probably the only buyer to show up. He offered the truck for less than I prepared to offer him.

The truck hides a 1973 GM 350 with carb. The transmission is a 700R4. The rear gear holds 3.92 gears. It gets up and goes and cruises 2400 rpms at 75 mph. The additional power steering is nice. The front straight axle contains modded front disc brakes. The steering is a bit odd to feel since it's old school, but all the linkage is tight. Maybe a Mustang ii front suspension is in it's future.

The closest I have ever driven to a pickup this old was my grandfather's 1961 Ford F100 back in 1967. It was a straight 6 with three on the tree with bench seat, no options, not even a radio. Funny how this 51 has no radio either. But, I'd rather be entertained by the dual exhaust exiting in front of the rear tires. The 350 has a small RV cam in it.

The truck is like a cream color and has custom pin striping. It's like a gold pin stripe. I like it. Not too much, not too little and very professionally done. I've never owned a car with professional pin stripping. I guess I can't say that anymore.

All the glass is clean and clear. The bed of the truck has been lowered 3 inches. The suspension has also been dropped. Thankfully not in the weeds, I think my clearance will prevent any small critters and coyotes from being rolled.

I must admit, I can't recall the last time I saw so many zerk fittings. I started with the driveshaft, then went to the rear spring shackles and worked my way up to the front steering. The old grease took it's time slowly oozing out of the joints.

Next I needed to address the parking brake as it was inop. With new drum brakes shoes on the rear, I thought this shouldn't be too tough. Well, it seems the cables had become inoperable. So bring out the 50 gallon drum of PB Blaster. Day by day I elevated the brake lines spraying PB on the cable and let gravity work for me. Three days later I got movement. From there it was spray and repeat until the cables slid back and forth nice and smoothly.

Note the smoothed front bumper. Easy cleaning, the suicidal bugs that amass on it's curved look. The truck had one parking light in yellow, the other in clear. My OCD forced me to fix that immediately. Just got the part today, and now my world of disorder is back in order.

I believe the simplicity of the truck is growing on me. Two Phillip screws and bingo, the parking light is fixed. A simpler time for my simple mind. New wiring throughout the truck, hopefully, will prevent any of the issues I had with the Nova.

Two comfy, plush bucket seats courtesy of a Grand Cherokee Jeep with a custom-made center console greet the 2 occupants. Seat and shoulder belts add to the safety of the truck. Sure, no airbags, but let's keep this real. The console is deep and long. I plan to add some cupholders once I determine where to put them and which ones, like swing outs, can fit nicely under the dash and yet swing out of the way when not in use.

And here we have the pilot's view with the custom steering wheel. The dash is adorned with Equus gauges noting all the happenings under the hood. The Lokar shifter works nice and smooth. I had hoped to find a restomod with a 5 speed Tremec, but settled for this since the wife can drive it as well. My days of being chastised for always buying manual transmission cars are over.

The Speedometer is off, but I can find the correct speedo gear once I pull the tail shaft from the 700R4 and note the teeth. I then take the tire circumference, the axle ratio of 3.92 and the OD gear of the 700R4 and get the correct speedometer gear and all will be copacetic in F1 dash land.

I know you see the vents in the photo of the dash. Yes, praise the LORD, VINTAGE AIR CONDITIONING!! And with a small cabin to cool in AZ, happy days are here again.

I know the bumper looks odd but check out this engineering idea. That black bumper slides into a 2-inch receiver so you can tow with the truck. The license plate can be relocated to an already installed license plate bracket. PRETTY COOL EH? I'm having thoughts of buying a small tow behind trailer for long trips to car shows. That's the thing about AZ. There are a lot of miles between cities, with open highway and desert. Maybe another tour of Route 66 is in order.

I'll be cleaning and polishing the aluminum wheels and adding new rubber to the staggered set-up of front 215/70/15 and the rears 255/60/15. It's a shame the age dated BF Goodrich Radial tires were way beyond their life with so much tread left. They were hard, and weather cracked.

And here's the transplanted heart of a bow tie into a blue oval. A GM 350 with a 4 barrel, dual exhaust, RV Cam, nothing special but a nice cruiser. The seller believes it's from a 1973, but I haven't been able to make that claim certain yet.

It runs nice and cool as the day I brought it home, it was in the 100's, and the temp stayed around 180-190.

I did try the Vintage Air, and it may need a little boost of Freon, but it definitely made it cooler in the cab.

I still have oil and filter change to do and other items I like to have completed before going out for a show, or taking the Mrs. out for ice cream. I can't wait to see her drive this.

Here's a view of the gauges lit for nighttime use. Looks neat, me likey!

Wooden truck beds take severe abuse in the AZ sun. I have to put log oil on my wooden barrel planters, or they dry out, crack and split. Thankfully, this truck doesn't have the wooden bed, it's all metal. Easy maintenance too.

This made me happy to see the fuel tank was relocated to the rear of the truck and a custom fuel filler door added to the rear driver's fender. Almost looks stock. Amazing how many years we drove with the fuel tank behind the bench seat. And we thought the Pinto was bad.

This feature of the ONE PIECE WINDOW, the jury is still out if I like them or not. I always loved wing windows. I'm sure the one piece flows with the truck, but those wing windows sort a spoil an old F**T like me. No plans to change, it is what it is, as they say.

Shortbread doesn't have a dome light, so I added this little diddy to light up the cab. My talent at wiring is the same as conducting my own colonoscopy. The procedure and the results are not something to be proud of. So I doubt Shortbread will see much night-life, as the wife and I don't venture out much after dark due to tired old eyes.

And here we have the tail shaft from the 700R4 removed and the speedometer DRIVEN gear shown. It's a 45 tooth and I need a 44 tooth, so one is on the way to help fix the speedometer error. One tooth may not be much, but to me, it does. OCD? Maybe? I get it from my Mom!

And here we have the tail shaft with the DRIVE gear on it. It also has to be changed to get the speedometer correct. Once the DRIVE gear and the DRIVEN gear are correct, it will be a happy day in SHORTBREAD.

Now WHAT are the chances, of this happening to you? The new tires I purchased and yes they are budget minded tires because they won't see a lot of miles. So to the rescue: WALMART

I noticed the truck was pulling to the right and called to get an appointment for an alignment. Well on my way home I hear a hissing and deduced something was up with the right wheel.

The bubble had been rubbing the rotor and so the pulsing effect felt very odd. And this bubble on the inside of the tire is the culprit.

So a call to Walmart, and they said they would send me an exact replacement for the tire.

But little did I realize they truly meant: EXACT REPLACEMENT.

This is a pic of the replacement tire after being mounted and balanced and inflated....thankfully noticed BEFORE installing on the truck.

What are the odds of getting an exact replacement? They mean business.

I'm now returning the 2 bubble tires and the one that hasn't bubbled yet. So SHORTBREAD is out of commission until I can find suitable replacements.

It doesn't rain much in AZ, but when it does, it pours, as it seems lady luck has left the building. After installing the correct gear set for the truck's speedometer to be accurate, all at once it stops working.

Seems the shaft on the driven gear broke, for an unknown reason. Poor plastic? Damaged in shipping, maybe a small indiscernible crack? Whatever the reason, back under the truck, and returning the gear set to the seller LA Speedometer. Now awaiting replacement parts. Here's the driven gear without the shaft as it remained in the housing, but it came out and was returned to LA for inspection.

SHORTBREAD may be renamed to SHORTDRIVE since that's what it's life has been. I'm trying to remedy that.