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'60 Ford F-100 Custom Shortbed! New Old Custom Grill!!


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A few months ago I finally lucked on to an affordable built-up AMT '60 Ford pickup on eBay. The day it arrived I stripped the decals and junk off, gave it a scrubbing, and started chopping it down from the kit's 118" wheelbase, 8' bed configuration to my preferred 110' wheelbase, 6.5' bed. Took a couple evenings of work, but I managed to get to this mockup stage before jumping back on other projects. Check it out...

Two shots from the auction listing: pretty typical build, but fortunately not painted, and not too much of a glue bomb! No engine, compact 13" wheels up front for a "rubber rake."

60.F100.ebay1.thumb.jpg.42791a94a911becd60.F100.ebay2.thumb.jpg.a2311048c1a2633a

Here she is shortened up. Eight scale inches out of the chassis and out of the front of the bed after cutting it away from the cab. 10 scale inches out of the rear of the bed, just in front of the stake pockets (easier cutting there.) A piece of 1/32" ABS cut to match the rear inside bed wall reinforces the join at the rear of the bed. The bed floor was also cut eight scale inches in front and 10 in back.

60.F100.1.thumb.jpg.6b0fc511fe024d67fae560.F100.2.thumb.jpg.cbd4d242fda3f49e8e2860.F100.3.thumb.jpg.385081c0ece8cdbd1d1560.F100.4.thumb.jpg.814691ab77629e4dfcc660.F100.5.thumb.jpg.38da98049a8720e4c2d060.F100.6.thumb.jpg.e047bcd43e53f9ebedb660.F100.7.thumb.jpg.9b151e04ad99b9721e4b

 

Edited by John Goschke
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WOW!!  I love those old trucks from AMT!!  Yours looks way better being shortened up. I hope you keep that stance also. It appears that you removed the chrome from the hood sides, and filled the opening with styrene. I've done the same idea on my '61 Ford pickup. I'll be watching your progress!

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Oh, man... I'm still kicking myself for giving one of these to a friend when I left CA (decent shape - missing wheels and engine, grille modded with the "V+" from the '57 Meteor grille, but unpainted and not a gluebomb), but I wasn't in my right mind... plus it had a pedigree; it was one of the lot of models I got from H.B. Halicki's estate. Maybe my friend would sell it back to me? Hmmm...

NICE work so far!  Big improvement with those '57 Ford rims too. :wub:

Actually those are the chrome reverse rims that came with the kit; I believe the '60 Vette kit had them as well.

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Oh, man... I'm still kicking myself for giving one of these to a friend when I left CA (decent shape - missing wheels and engine, grille modded with the "V+" from the '57 Meteor grille, but unpainted and not a gluebomb), but I wasn't in my right mind... plus it had a pedigree; it was one of the lot of models I got from H.B. Halicki's estate. Maybe my friend would sell it back to me? Hmmm...

NICE work so far!  Big improvement with those '57 Ford rims too. :wub:

Actually those are the chrome reverse rims that came with the kit; I believe the '60 Vette kit had them as well.

Correct, Chris. The Chevy and Ford truck kits used these rims, as well as the '60 Vette and T-birds. These are from a T-bird.

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  • 2 years later...

Having just acquired a pristine bed floor from one of the eBay parts purveyors for this old truck I took a break from the '58 Fairlane to fit it to the model and resolve some other issues.

The new floor was shortened to match the original one.2v2uw7EwyxE7U1V.jpg

 

When I originally shortened the bed I wound up with an extremely fragile joint at the front corners of the pickup box where it attached to the cab. So I worked up a new joint method by first cutting the front wall of the bed away where it was molded to cab then cemented it to the box. After which I cemented a new sheet styrene rear cab wall and cut a large notch out of it. Then I cemented the piece cut from the notch to outside front bed wall so that it would fit into the notch when the cab and bed were put together. A sheet styrene tab was cemented on top of the piece from the notch on the bed which would overlap the inside rear of the cab wall when the cab was slipped over it, locking the two together. Hopefully the photos illustrate this better than I can explain it.

2v2uw7EYqxE7U1V.jpg2v2uw7EkgxE7U1V.jpg2v2uw7ECNxE7U1V.jpg2v2uw7EmqxE7U1V.jpg2v2uw7EBWxE7U1V.jpg

 

I also tweaked the wheelbase a bit to get the rear wheels centered under the high point of the rear wheel opening and lowered the rear to get rid of the jacked-up stinkbug stance and get it a more subtle rake. The bed was also dropped down a tad from its original position to get the upper body crease lined up through the cab and bed, after which it was necessary to shave a little of the lower edge of the bed forward of the rear wheel opening and too reshape the rocker panels.2v2uw7EQWxE7U1V.jpg2v2uw7E1qxE7U1V.jpg2v2uw7EKnxE7U1V.jpg

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