Chopped/channeled 50 Ford Custom Pickup

[Ferbz]

Here's another build I managed to finish in my absence from this board. These Ford pickups are not the most beautiful vehicles in my eyes, but with a 'shave and a haircut' I think they make really cool customs. Some Ford 1:1 pickup customs were built up nicely back in the day and I took inspiration from many of them. I basically made modifications I know I would do if I owned a pickup like this! The cab was chopped and channeled, a 46-48 Ford passenger car hood was widened at the nose and adjusted to fit, the front fenders were narrowed at the front, the bed was shortened and rear fenders repositioned. Fender skirts, front/rear gravel pans, bed cover, and exhaust pipes were made from scratch. Fender lines were filled and smoothed, a sunken license window was cut into the filled tailgate and parts box tail lights mounted. Ribbed bumpers are from the Revell 48 Ford kit and spotlights, 56 chevy steering wheel, are added details. The interior seat and bed cover were detailed with tuck and roll and piping using half round rod and spark plug wire. Paint is Testors Gold metallic under satin clear lacquer.

[Street Rod]

Really cool truck! The custom body mods give it the right look. Great job!

[Ferbz]

1 hour ago, Street Rod said:

Really cool truck! The custom body mods give it the right look. Great job!

Thanks! I tried my best to nail the custom style of the era all the while keeping proportion and good design in mind ?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ohhh baby!!!    

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, Ferbz said:

Thanks! I tried my best to nail the custom style of the era all the while keeping proportion and good design in mind ?

And it shows.   

[cobraman]

Great looking custom, well done !

[crossfire 2004]

Absolutely stunning ! I love everything about this build, well done.

[PappyD340]

Outstanding build, well done!!

[espo]

Beautifully done Kustom. Your build looks like something from the "Little Pages" of the Rod & Custom magazine. All of the styling Q's are what was done, even the color.  

[Ferbz]

56 minutes ago, espo said:

Beautifully done Kustom. Your build looks like something from the "Little Pages" of the Rod & Custom magazine. All of the styling Q's are what was done, even the color.  

Thanks! Yup, I did quite a bit of research looking at as many 1:1 kustom pickups as I could that were built back then ??

[misterNNL]

Very cool Custom cruiser.

[Zippi]

Now that's a good looking pickup and the color is sweet.  Those fender skirts are pretty kewl.

[Misha]

Wow Ferby, shave & a haircut is bang on! This is a stunning build in many ways, the colours work so well with the style, the wheels contrasting with the red trim and flipper discs, combined with the extensive body mods and detailed tuck & roll interior; all the details are period correct especially with the skirts and exhaust pipes running along the bed. Is there anything off interest under the hood?

Congrats on a beautiful build, cheers Misha

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Nice rendition on what I would agree is not a good looking truck. 

[Ferbz]

13 hours ago, Zippi said:

Now that's a good looking pickup and the color is sweet.  Those fender skirts are pretty kewl.

Thanks! Yeah, I tried using the 48 Ford passenger car skirts but they weren't long enough. I ended up making them from scratch using the passenger car skirts as the basic shape ?

[Ferbz]

9 hours ago, Misha said:

Wow Ferby, shave & a haircut is bang on! This is a stunning build in many ways, the colours work so well with the style, the wheels contrasting with the red trim and flipper discs, combined with the extensive body mods and detailed tuck & roll interior; all the details are period correct especially with the skirts and exhaust pipes running along the bed. Is there anything off interest under the hood?

Congrats on a beautiful build, cheers Misha

Thanks man! I built it as a curbside with no engine or chassis detail, but I imagine an early 50s OHV V8 like a Caddy, Buick nailhead, or even an early hemi with chrome detail and multi carb set up would be appropriate?

[Ferbz]

9 hours ago, Modelbuilder Mark said:

Nice rendition on what I would agree is not a good looking truck. 

Thanks! I would imagine these trucks might have that stigma that they're so odd looking that they're cool, which I also kinda actually like! ?

[Spex84]

Now this is a beautiful truck! The stock '50 F1 has character, but the design is less awkward than most trucks of the same era..."good bones" you might say.

The customizing choices you've made have enhanced the essential character of the truck and pared away the extraneous stuff. It reminds me of the work done by Valley Custom in the 50s.

Killer work :D

[Ferbz]

16 minutes ago, Spex84 said:

Now this is a beautiful truck! The stock '50 F1 has character, but the design is less awkward than most trucks of the same era..."good bones" you might say.

The customizing choices you've made have enhanced the essential character of the truck and pared away the extraneous stuff. It reminds me of the work done by Valley Custom in the 50s.

Killer work

Thanks! Yeah, I'm a big fan of Valley Custom! I agree with you about the initial factory design having 'good bones'.....that's a smart way to describe it ? For this build, I basically removed/modified the factory stuff until it looked good to me as an adequate period custom. Ha! I suppose I do that will all my custom builds lol In essence, 'customizing' is just 'redesigning' to suit the owner's/builder's taste I think ?

[Dennis Lacy]

Good Lord, man. This is absolutely KILLER! The best custom F1 pickup I’ve seen in scale or full size. It’s perfect from every angle! ?

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[Speedpro]

Very nice custom! Interesting exhaust placement. I take it those are show only? 

[XYHARRY]

Kool kustom Ferbz. I'll be using your method of half round for tuck and roll.

Cheers, David. ??

[Dutzie]

Really great looking custom. 

[Ferbz]

On 11/11/2022 at 10:16 PM, Dennis Lacy said:

Good Lord, man. This is absolutely KILLER! The best custom F1 pickup I’ve seen in scale or full size. It’s perfect from every angle! ?

Thanks Dennis! I'm just a 'frustrated' designer at heart I think lol I thought to myself: How can I 'redesign' (another word for customize in my book) this odd duck, factory pickup in the traditional 50s style? I took cues from what some people did back then and combined them with my sensibilities. Not all my ideas work out but I like how this one did  ?