Doug and Bonnie’s 1974 Ford F100 Project
Doug and Bonnie purchased this 1974 Ford F100 from the second owner in Nevada. This truck reminded them of a yellow 1976 F100 that they used to own when they lived in Georgia. They then decided to restore and modify this truck to their needs. They are no strangers to the technical work that comes with a project like this, one is a helicopter mechanic and the other specializes in electronic systems. This truck came to us as many projects do, incomplete or in process. When it arrived to us from San Diego, it had been painted yellow with a metallic black flame pattern. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was not going to be the typical restoration.
The owners had already completed some of the work on this truck including the the frame, suspension, body work, paint as well as having the engine, transmission and transfer case built. The original steel block FE engine is now 433ci with an aluminum Edelbrock intake and heads and a Holley Sniper EFI system. When they put this engine on the dyno it made 375 hp and 450 ft-lbs of torque. The wiring had been done by Bonnie as electronic systems is her specialty.
We were asked to complete this project for them here at Crown Concepts and we were up to the task. The scope of our involvement would include engine and transmission mounts, custom fuel tank and in-tank fuel pump, front disc brake conversion, exhaust system with remote cut-outs, custom motorcycle mounts in bed of truck, interior redone with custom switches and Mexican serape blanket seat covers.
With this being a 1974 Ford F100 4×4, reproduction parts can be hard to find and original parts can be expensive. This makes some of our process more involved. One of these items is restoring the gauge cluster. They do not make new ones for this truck and the owners wanted to retain the look of the original one. The project lead, Chris Cook, took on the task of restoring this one with parts that were available and making it look like new. With some skill, and help from some other team members, he was able to disassemble this original FoMoCo part and have the needles repainted, zero out the odometer and replace the clear plastic face.
Doug and Bonnie had the idea of making a bench seat cover out of a Mexican serape blanket pattern for a unique look, but also making it a removable cover so that you can also choose to show the recently reupholstered seat. They had sent us the two options of color patters they wanted to use and we ended up choosing the
They do plan on using this truck for towing and our fabricator took to building a custom hitch for this truck that could handle anything they wanted to throw at it.
The interior will be mostly original with a few extra details such as a subwoofer and box behind the seat, iOS/android tablet connectability, Dynamat sound damping. and new carpet. We are excited to finish up this project for the customer in the next few weeks and cannot wait to see their reaction. Make sure to check back for updates on the completed build. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Make sure to check out our other restoration projects here.
