With 14 generations and counting, Ford’s F-Series is not just America’s best-selling pickup truck range for the past 44 years (and the most popular vehicle overall since 1981). It’s also one of the best providers of raw material for personalized and utterly bespoke custom builds. Really, it doesn’t matter if you go classic or modern, because with care and professional help, the result will always go beyond the owner’s dreams.
Because there’s ample room for morphing the F-Series trucks into anything envisioned by one’s imagination – including the ability to do ghost burnouts – it's always a good idea to get some professional help. Or, better yet, be that professional.
That is precisely the case with this 1969 Ford F-100, a Bumpside Crew Cab that belongs to Jeff Hughes from Hughes Performance, the Phoenix, Arizona-based shop of aftermarket transmission and Hughes Motorsport fame.
The low-riding workman truck was found in Glendale, Arizona, by Solomon Lunger, the bearded and laid-back host of the Ford Era channel on YouTube. The ‘69 Crew Cab was selected for the latest episode of the “What the Truck” series, so we knew from the start there’s more than it meets the eye beneath that subtle shade and the stylish chromed elements.
Thanks to first checking out what’s underneath the hood (from the 0:25 mark), we’re served the first surprise on a merry plateau – the F-100 got swapped for a 572 cubic inch big block (the BBF goes up to 9.37 liters) and a fully programmable General Motors 4L80-E heavy-duty transmission with overdrive. According to the owner, that enables a comfortable highway cruising speed of 120 to 130 mph (193 to 210 kph).
There’s no time to wonder if the double side exhaust offers a sonorous ride at that speed because we’re busy ogling the neat six-passenger interior of this Crew Cab, which has been fully redressed in red and black, with the dark hides contrasted by red stitching and neat pinstriping details (you can check out from the 1:36 mark how the latter is seen both from the front and back).
At this point, one might usually call it a day, but of course the F-100 has one last secret that hides in plain sight. The low rider attitude is achieved through a particularly bonkers setup, as the first one didn’t do the bagged tricks as the owner wanted to. Now it’s in “overkill” mode, with four pumps, two batteries, and a couple of tanks.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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