Chuck Most

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.

Lovely Flareside. My only complaint is that those rear tires don't stand a chance against the firepower that 428 is packing. ?

Dolled up just right. The 240 retrofit is a nice touch. I'm definitely doing one of these with a 223 at some point.

My printer ?

D100 is wrapped up, it's in light commercial Under Glass now.

MPC kit with a Slant Six from a Lindberg '64 Dodge, rear bumper and mirrors from a Moebius F100, and a spotlight and beacon from the spares pile. Paint is Colorshot Orange Slice.

Black paint job, with color keyed grille, bumpers, mirrors and handles, and the bespoke Nite stripes and graphics. Other than that it was just a plain old everyday XLT Lariat.

The Dually tires are technically undersized like the original 1996 ones were, but aren't as distractingly obvious as on the '92.