Gordon Peterson
Veteran Member
Well lets start this thread with a story to explain why I am doing what I am doing.
In 1962 my parents loaded the family into a 1959 Ford pickup with a piggyback camper and headed west from MN to WA to attend the world’s fair. I was 6 years old (that is me in the picture with my sister) and remember the trip like it was yesterday. Most of you are thinking, ok, so we went on family vacations too, that’s not a story for tdiclub. The story here is about the truck, it was unlike any other on the road. My father had replaced the v8 with a 4 cyl. Ford tractor engine. It could have been the first Diesel pickup on the road in the US. I know that ford produced a Perkins diesel pickup in 1959 but only in Argentina. If anyone knows of an earlier US production model I would love to know. That engine was not like the high speed diesels of today and to make it roadable he put together a 9 speed manual transmission to make the 500-2050 rpm range usable. Needless to say he was the only one who could drive it. Well in 1962 the only place you could purchase diesel fuel were truck stops so every time we stopped for fuel it was an adventure. First you had to get someone to come out and put fuel in the truck, there were no self-serve stations then. No one wanted to leave the station and mostly gestured for us to move on by waving out the door. If someone came out on their own, without my father going in to get them, they informed us that “they don’t make diesel pickup trucks” I don’t remember a single time that my father didn’t have to open the hood to prove it was a diesel before they would put fuel in the tank. Now once the hood was open EVERYONE in the station had to come over and look and see, after slaps on the back and explanations and stories and 40 minutes we were on our way again. My brother and I always laughed and wondered if it was going to happen at the next stop. It always did.
That truck would really smoke going up the mountains to the point people would pull up and inform us that the truck was smoking and we should pull over. My father would wave, say thank you and we would all laugh and keep on heading west.
I lost my father a few years ago and wanted to create this truck as a tribute to him. I hope it honors his creativity, ability and willingness to take on anything. In his words “If GOD didn’t make it, together you and I can make it better than the first guy.” So Dad, this one is for you.
Here is a picture of the truck we are starting with. It is a rust free Texas truck (I hate rust) that I found where the original owner lost interest in the project. Needless to say he spent lots of money on the body work. The current engine is a 350 chevy, a terrible choice for an old ford pickup but makes it easy to ditch. The truck weighs in at 3100 lbs, 100 lbs lighter than my ’03 wagon. The wagon pulls like a tractor and I plan on using the same mods for the f100 as I have on my wagon. (larger turbo, injectors, down pipe 11mm pump, lift pump, RC 4 tune) I am using an automatic transmission to make it a good cruiser,
Stay tuned. Work is underway and I will update every few days.
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