1956 Ford F-100 Is So Cool Someone Had No Problem Paying Mercedes-AMG G Money for It

The F-Series was born in the final years of the 1940s, and every generation made since not only turned into sales hits, but also had a flagship representative that stole the crown as the king of its lineage. For older F-Series, like the ones of the first seven generations, that fine example of American pickup is of course the half-ton F-100.

The model was highly appreciated back in its day, and led the Blue Oval charge on the pickup market from the early 1950s all the way to the mid-1980s, when it was replaced by what we now know and love as the F-150. Yet some people are still so infatuated with the older incarnation of the half-ton that they still keep rolling out new, customized versions of it for us to enjoy and drool over.

One of the most recent re-made F-100s is the one we have here. It was completed in the form you see it now back in 2021, and only shows test miles on the clock - so for all intents and purposes it’s a brand-new build.

The thing was put together by a Florida-based crew called Undercover Restorations. These guys are usually in the business of re-interpreting in resto-mod and pro-touring fashion America’s cars of old, but they do seem to have a passion for early-gen Corvettes.

The 1956 F-100 we have here seems to have slipped through the cracks, and we’re not in the slightest sorry that it did. Still sporting the classic look of its breed, it was dropped closer to the ground for a more aggressive look, draped in a color we rarely see on pickups, and gifted with so many impressive pieces of hardware it probably has no issue taking on vehicles with a much more pretentious pedigree.

We’ll start with the things we don’t see. Underneath all that metal painted in Solar Red Crystal sits a custom chassis signed by No Limit Engineering, and properly equipped to handle whatever an adventurous driver might throw at it: independent suspension at the front, rocker-style shock linkage with trailing arm at the rear, and coil overs and Wilwood braking hardware all around.

The truck meets the ground courtesy of four Billet Specialties wheels shod in Mickey Thompson Street Comp tires. We are not told their exact size, but we do know what gets them moving - and this is when you should get ready for something truly spectacular.

Lift the hood, and the sight of a massive Boss 520ci (8.5 liters) engine hits you. This thing is not something you could snatch off the shelf somewhere, but a piece of hardware modified by John Kaase Racing, a name that needs little introduction for custom car lovers.

The unit has been gifted with things like 8-stack electronic fuel injection and a 6-speed automatic transmission, but sadly we are not told how much horsepower it develops in this configuration. We do know the troop is sent to the rear wheels with the help of a Ford 9-inch rear, and that the engine breathes through a custom exhaust system whose tips can be seen to either side of the truck, behind the elegant running boards.

The interior is as you’d expect from a project of this caliber, with leather playing on the seats, door panels, and dashboard in two-tone brown and tan hues, brown alligator inserts, and diamond stitching. This way, the interior does not look aggressive and ready for the track like the exterior, but rather like an old-school oasis of luxury. Yet under all that rather classic appearance several modern-day touches can be found, including a Pioneer sound system comprising a touchscreen, speakers, and subwoofer.

In all, we’re told a total of 2,000 man-hours went into putting together this unnamed build, and if you ask us every minute of that time seems to have been worth it. And it’s not only us who believe this, but also the F-100’s most recent owner.

You see, the truck went under the hammer last weekend in Palm Beach, where auction house Barrett-Jackson held its annual event. It not only went under the hammer, but also got sold, and not for pennies: $154,000.

Just to give you an idea of how much that is, just consider the fact Mercedes-AMG is selling the G 500 from $139,900, while the top-of-the-range G 63 goes from $179,000. I wonder if the truck’s original designers had any idea of just how valuable the F-100 would become long after production stopped.