Page 1 All about the truck         

Page 2 Gratuitous image page 

1967 Ford Econoline

 5 window pickup truck.

  I painted the truck in its factory Harbor Blue color in Sept of '07. I've owned the truck since 1989. My dad and I bought it non-running and rough at an auction for $60  It was worth every bit of $60! Actually I think we over payed .
I started working on it in '01. It had been off the the road for 15- 20 years.

 Here is a picture in Oct '08.  

When I got this truck it had 7 coats of paint on it if you count the original paint and primer coat. Grey primer and blue (factory), yellow, green, orange, white, and black.  This is pretty much how it sat from '89 till '01 when I started working on it. There was and engine in it, but we had no idea of the status other than it turned over freely. Due in part no doubt to the lack of spark plugs and freeze plugs in the block.

Below was in June '01. I had just got it running after a long sleep. Oh what I was getting myself into! My wife called it the terrorist mobile because of the gun rack mounted in the back window .

This was sometime in '03

Much like happens to many of these econos, the frontend sheetmetal was mashed in and slathered with an inch thick layer of bondo at some point in its life. It need an nose job. In this photo you can't see it, but the dash is still attached to the front panel as one piece. Its spot welded at the lower windshield flange.

A donor van I parted supplied some much needed parts incuding the virtually undented unrusted front sheetmetal. Also a complete uncut wiring harness, and a nice straight pair of painted bumpers.

The rear corner also needed a graft. Previous rust repair and a wheel coming off while driving pretty much trashed this corner.

Time for some more surgury.

 This is a shot of the cut I made. I took many careful measurements and marked it out well. This shows where I was grinding to the line for a nice tight fit to make a but weld. This is tedious work, but allows for very little body filler after the repair.

A section from California via ebay ( thanks Tim H.) after a trip to the blaster.

A NOS Ford quarter panel

Being in NW Ohio its whole life, The truck had a quite a bit of rust in the lower panels.

This is where the sane bail out. All new metal to be welded in. I'm a little bit nuts and a welder by trade so that helps.

On the road again after 20 years.

This shot is sometime in '05

Here are some shots of Festiva rescues. The one below cost me $50 and included an extra engine and 5 speed trans which is in the bed. Put in a radiator and front brakes and sold the car for $600.

The one below was $200. The guy I got it from changed the plugs and after that it ran with a terrible miss-fire.  We got it home and in 15 minutes had the plug wires sorted out and it was running like a top.

 Finally in the shop for paint! Sept '07

Unmasking. The fun part .

 The original color. Harbour Blue

Nov '07 I had Ziebart put a rhino in my bed.

May 11 08. Scored a nice front chrome bumper from pigeonfalcon. He sells top shelf stuff real reasonable. Now I am rebuilding the tailgate.

Ford produced the first generation Econoline vans and pickup trucks from 1961 through 1967. This truck has the factory body configuration. These are unibody (no separate frame). The inline six engine sits in a "doghouse" between the seats and slightly behind the straight front axle. This essentially makes it a mid-engine pickup, though I doubt that term was officially used at the time these were being built.

Still to do. Trim, tailgate(ongoing project in itself), grille, interior.

8/'08 I replaced the exhaust manifold and leaky old gasket and the down pipe from the manifold. What a big improvement. Nice and quiet inside now. 

Scored a NOS crome horn ring, but I paid stupid money for it. Its puuurrrrdy though.

9/'08 Got the seats recovered in NOS blue vinyl. They turned out super nice. Done by Marquarts Custom Creations here in Fort Wayne. I also installed a NOS blue floor mat. Man, Its not very often you can buy that new car smell for a 41 year old vehicle.

10/'08 I've got 4 factory wheels blasted and powder coated semi gloss black. Also the factory caps for the stock look. I'm still tying to decide on a tire size.

 I reurbished the gauges and painted the entire dash last weekend. The dash had still been red and shabby from the graft of the front end.

 Now after every upgrade I make, no matter what it is, I find it nesessary to take the truck out for a thorough test drive. This is a driver! Its my only truck, and I use it as intended every chance I get. This thing is a blast.

12 '08 Still married!