1963 Ford F100 Rex Scrap & Salvage

Chuck Most · December 9, 2024

Rex William Bearndt (1932-2014) opened Rex Scrap & Salvage in 1977. He was known around the area for his fair prices, friendly demeanor, and his patchwork fleet of old Ford trucks, most of which were built from or augmented by his "inventory".

Rex actually bought this '63 F100 in 1968, but by the early '80's, it was suffering from significant rust in the bed, and a collision with a deer in 1983 left Rex with a choice... Repair or replace.

Choosing the second option, Rex replaced the mangled front sheet metal with parts from a '66. The old unibody bed was cut away, and a 1964 8' bed was spliced into place. That was actually Rex's main motivation... He always wanted to see what a '64-66 might have looked like with the big back window.

Once that was done, the other rusted parts were dealt with, and the entire truck was hosed off in a pale blue he had laying around. And of course, it got lettered to advertise his business.

Rex also painted the middle of the '64 bed trim to (sorta) match the '63 trim. He always toyed with the idea of changing the door and hood trim to match but never did

Even though Rex is gone, his daughter Wendy and grandson Brad have kept the business going, and two of Rex's old Fords are still in service.

This is the '63 AMT kit, that suffered a happy little accident. Trying to "rust out" the bed, I went a little too far and changed plans to do a bed swap. The grille, turn signal panel, and modified bed came from a Moebius '66. All the rest is out of the box.

Wanting a "blasted down a muddy road" look, I attacked the truck with various acrylic paints and Vallejo mud.