Chuck Most

Blue truck has the intake from the AMT '57 Ford Fairlane, with the kit heads cut from the molded manifold. I made the exhaust manifolds and crossover from plastic rod. Red truck has heads and intake from the Revell '57 Ford, and a '53 F100 air cleaner. I just used the Revell exhaust manifolds for a dual setup. For a model of a body style I don't particularly like, I sure am liking this kit!

Used but not abused. Really nice.

AMT kit, lifted to fit Moebius F250 tires, converted to a small window, and bed extended to 9'. The heads and intake came from a Revell '57 Ford. Paint is Krylon Poppy.

AMT '60 kit cut down to a short box, fitted with the custom grille from the '53 F100, and painted with Colorshot With A Twist (light green) and Kale (dark green). The tonneau was made from grooved Evergreen sheet. The wheels also came from the '53, and the tires came from the MPC '78 Dodge D100. I'm referring to it as a '59 mostly just to break up the solid line of '60's. ?

Any place that sells Gofer Racing stuff should be able to get them, or any number of eBay vendors. Just look for the "new plate sheet". It's just a few must coats of Tamiya Linoleum Deck Brown over the green.

Prepare your finest poutine and clear your audio device of anything that isn't Stan Rogers. It's time for another Mercury pickup. AMT kit with a Morgan Automotive Detail tailgate (meant for the Moebius '66 Flareside) and hood lettering cut from a '49 Mercury hood. Wheels and tires came from the AMT '60 F100. The kit engine was treated to some finned heads from the '49 Mercury and a twin carb intake from the AMT '50 Ford convertible. Paint is lightly weathered Tamiya Racing Green with Revell dull clearcoat. I went with a Saskatchewan plate from Gofer Racing.

Just some spare parts stacked onto Pegasus wheels and tires, a NASCAR Thunderbird suspension, and powered by a four cam Cobra 4.6.

Straight from the pages of a 1992 issue of Sport Truck. Love it, love it, love it. ?

AMT kit with the Moebius utility box. The cab was stripped of the Custom Cab trim, the rear window was changed to the small version, and all chrome gave way to off white. The engine has the intake, carb, and air cleaner from the '57 Fairlane 500, along with a scratch built exhaust crossover, for a closer to stock appearance. The Moebius bed had the wheel arches cut out and switched side to side to match the '60 wheelbase. Finish is distressed Colorshot Splash with Gopher Racing door graphics.

Sorry sports fans, the '60 has a Y Block. Consider the 223 idea filed away for another project.

Spare parts combined into a curbside model. The truck itself is inspired by a 1955 F100 from the movie "Three On A Meathook". If you've never seen the movie, it's basically a sleazier, cheaper knockoff of "Psycho" made in the early 70's. The truck in the movie is heavily battered and has a third generation Styleside bed, so my '53 version follows suit. And here's a picture of the '55 in the movie...

This seems to be crying out for a 223. Gonna have to see if I can find my Kitchen Table version or maybe modify a Chevrolet 250.

Shortened Moebius 1972 chassis and '65 cab and interior. The grille came from the AMT '63 F100 and the panel above it was modified to resemble the '61-64 style. The bed is the AMT '60 F100, and houses an Olson Brothers tool box and an Iceman Collections milk crate. Vallejo acrylics and washes were used for weathering.

I actually have a decal set for this. No idea who made them. No idea where I put them either. ? But it's one I might build. My big hangup would be cutting down the bed which is probably why I ultimately won't. I'm not a big fan of bodywork and I prefer the look of a long bed anyway.

One thing I felt like pointing out. The '63 includes a nice rooftop beacon with a cylindrical red dome. Looks like it might be a decent capper for a late '50's to now Michigan State Police cruiser. The '60 also has a beacon but it's a more rounded "lipstick" type dome. Not sure why the domes are molded red (running a red beacon is a good way to get charged with impersonating a police officer in real life) but those will come in handy for quite a few police and fire projects.

Only trouble with the Edsel kit engine is the size. It looks nice but it's too small, closer to a Y Block in scale. The best MEL out there is the one from the '66-'69 AMT Lincoln Continental annual kits. Missing Link did a resin version years ago. Trouble is they're both not exactly the most commonly found items by now.

Well, with the kit you're about 99% there. The triple carb intake is the only glaring thing that's noticably not stock. That being said, Ford would have gladly given you a three carb Y Block in an F100 if the parts were on hand, or provided it as a dealer install. Would have required a sales rep who knew how to order it that way. So while I can't vouch for how likely it would have been, a three carb F100 isn't too farfetched.

I'm going to say it. Best project I've seen from this kit. By several orders of magnitude. ? For whatever reason I always assumed it was a Chevrolet G Van under all the shag, though I haven't seen the movie since it came out and admittedly my memory is more than a little hazy.

I didn't say a thing about the *transmission*... ? But yes, that would be the way to do it. That's more or less how I got a 351 Windsor in the '63.

Yes. I should have been more clear about the FE. That was first offered in the F Series for 1964, along with the newly designed Styleside beds. (If you want to get way out in the technical weeds it was designated FT for truck applications.) That certainly explains their relative rarity in the early 60s F Series. ? Though given how loose Ford could be with the order sheet, before we even get into third party and owner fabrications, I wouldn't be surprised if at least a handful of FE '61-3 F Series trucks existed at one point.

I wouldn't say the kit engine is closer to an FE. It's in a kind of early '60's annual kit "fish nor fowl" liminal space. The engine is only "close" to the FE in bottom end appearance, size wise it's about perfect for a Y Block in 1:25. Any 25 scale Y block heads and intake should fit to the kit block pretty well. I don't have the stock Revell '56 but some dry fits with the '56 and '57 Ford hardtop kits fit the '60 kit block about as close to perfectly as you could realistically hope. So those are absolutely good sources to start. Suitable rams horn manifolds could be nabbed from any number of late 50's- early '60s small block Chevy engines. Wouldn't be an exact match but it would work short of scratch building. The FE was technically available in the F100 but it was much more common in 3/4 ton and 1 tons, and even then it seems like the Y Block was the more popular choice at time. The kit engine block is a bit small to stand in as an FE despite the passing resemblance. That being said, if I wanted to go that route,I would grab the extra 352 from the most recent 1960 Starliner kit, or one from the '65 or '66 Moebius F100s. I might need my memory refreshed but I want to say the old AMT '32 Ford phaeton has a decent FE with a four barrel and stock manifolds that might work. If nothing else it's from a similar time period as the original '60 kit and wouldn't look too out of place.

Will the Camper fit both trucks? Yes, but the locator pins at the back will need to go bye-bye to work best on the '60. How about the Fender Skirts on the '60, will they fit the '63? Not without some blending. Will the Stock Intake, Carb, and Air Cleaner from the AMT '57 Ford 500, fit the engine in the Trucks? Yes, same goes for pretty much any 1:25 scale Y Block parts. How about the odd little Supercharger from the '57? Or the Twin Carbs from the '56 Crown Vic? See above. Will the Intakes from the Revell '57's, swap too? Didn't actually try those but I don't see why not. I've mixed and matched parts between the AMT and Revell Y Blocks so it should be doable. Since everybody has at least one set of the Chrome Stock Hubcaps from the AMT '57 in their Stash/Spares box, would those be a logical swap onto the trucks? Fit isn't 100% perfect as is but it's definitely within the realm of logical. Will the Custom Grill surround from the '63, fit onto the '60, without Too much work? Well... Define too much work. ? I'm not a fan of the custom grille choices in the '63 so I didn't even bother trying for a dry fit because for me any amount of work would be too much. ?

I don't know if the emblem is available. Since mine didn't represent a factory stock truck I just didn't bother with the emblem.

Fantastic little conversion! I converted one of these to a '63 a few years ago, with the Revell hood and an old SMP annual grille. Did you switch the front suspension to coil springs or just "live with" the '60-'62 torsion bars like I did on mine?

Clean, simple and effective. ? I've never had much luck with the pill bottle wheel tub trick myself but I'm glad it seems to work pretty well for others.