1972 Ford F100 "Iron Man"

[Chuck Most]

In the late 1960's, Neil Overla worked full time as the service department manager at Village Ford-Lincoln-Mercury in Sickles, Michigan. But he also had what we would call a "side hustle" today... He drove a couple of Village Ford sponsored race cars, most frequently the "SOHC Puppet" altered wheelbase Ford Falcon and the later, Cougar-bodied "flopper". That was, until a firey crash in 1971. Neil was unhurt, but it was at that point Village Ford owner Gary Andrews (who would frequently drive the drag cars himself when Neil was unavailable) decided to pull the plug on dealership sponsored racing. 

As his severance package from his side gig, Gary basically handed almost everything off to Neil, including the two 427 Cammers they had. One complete, one... well... one had a big hole in the side of the block and some of the rotating assembly was missing. But all the SOHC stuff was still there. 

Neil continued racing through the '70's and by the dawn of the '80's he'd sold off pretty much everything except the Cammers, both of which were in running condition by then. Neil sold one along with several spare parts in the '90's. Strangely enough it was his wife Wanda who gave him the most flak for that, on the other hand, the SOHC basically paid for their retirement house with quite a bit to spare. But he promised Wanda they'd do something fun with the other Cammer. 

It wouldn't be until 2012 when Neil would finally find a home for the 427. On his 70th birthday, he was presented with a 1972 Ford F100. Rather than another boring restomod with a 5.0 (or LS...ick...), Neil got to work wedging the mile-wide Cammer into the Effie.

Progress was reasonably quick, although Neil hit a brick wall when the time came to choose a color. Not wanting the simple black and white factory finish,he stumbled on picking a new color. That all changed when he watched Ironman with his grandson. The metallic dark red and gold of the Ironman suit struck him, and he chose a similar color scheme for the '72. 

And for the next several years, Neil and Wanda would cruise Ironman, though Neil rarely ever "floored it", fearing damage to the rare engine. That was until 2022, when then 82 year old Neil backed over his own mailbox twice in one day and figured it was time to surrender his car keys. (As an aside, these incidents happened in the family's 2007 Ford Freestar, not Ironman.)

Ironman slept in the garage until 2024, when Neil's son Ralph (father of the Ironman fan grandson) got it. While Ralph initially yanked the Cammer to install something more practical, he ultimately decided Dad had the right idea all along and left it in place. A little paint touchup, a new set of Halibrands, and an interior refresh, and it was back on the road. Ralph has run it from his home in Indiana to his parent's place in Sickles a couple of times now, and it gets just as many double takes now as it did when Neil first built it. And that's before people see what's under the hood!

Despite some ridiculous offers to buy the truck, or even just the engine, it's safe to assume it's an Overla family heirloom at this point. 

I got this model from Dave Metzner of Moebius. He started the project and gave up on it at some point. He did the paint, chassis and body assembly, added the wheels and tires, and fit the Cammer. I finished the interior (paint and assembly, AMT '64 Cutlass floor shifter), fit the radiator, added the foil trim, and did the final assembly. I also lowered it a bit in front, Dave more or less had it set up at stock height, and I felt like it needed a little more rake. And of course, I made up a backstory for the whole thing. It has an old Preston Model Car Parts Indiana plate and a Best Model Car Parts front plate.

[bondo bill]

cool paint and wheels

[Darbo]

Wow, love that paint

[johnyrotten]

Amazing build and a great story. Beautiful 72 ford. 👍👍

[ncbuckeye67]

Love the two-tone colors and wheel choice! That's a beautiful build.

[Bainford]

Very cool old Ford pick-em-up. Love the colours, and really digging the Cammer. Awesome stuff, Chuck.

[kelson]

Very sharp looking truck!!👌

[TarheelRick]

That is one tire-smoking beauty, love the colors.

[espo]

Like the different color combination and the finish looks great. The engine just does fit. The stance along with the wheel & tire combo looks perfect. 

[stavanzer]

Great Save, Chuck. As usual the backstory nicely completes the model.

Good Show.