More than three-and-half years ago, this Texas beauty was spied in a company storage yard, where she had sat for many years without an engine, transmission or drive train. Originally from Austin’s McMorris Ford Dealership, she still sports the McMorris Ford rear bumper, a common dealer option. Back then, Ford shipped most pickups without a rear bumper. In 2017, prior to my later purchase of her, a thorough inspection showed that although she had surface rust on some areas and heavy layers of old, caked-on caliche covering all of the rest of her - outside and underneath - her body was super straight and in very good condition with only minor usage scars, scratches and only a few of the usual rust areas, but none too serious. On much of the undercarriage, there still remained evidence of her dealer installed “rust-inhibiting-undercoating”. Her bed, floors, frame, doors etc were all solid. Stainless and chrome trim were mostly all there. Glass was all good and she sat up level and square. She was a survivor -- ready for some TLC. The engine bay now proudly boasts a completely redone Ford 390 FE power plant with a Holley 4-barrel carburetor, a noticeable cam and custom stainless steel headers fitted to a stainless, hand-turned dual exhaust system. To keep her old school flavor, she sports a solidly redone three-speed manual transmission smoothly handled by a column shifter. (What a kick to drive a powerful V8 with a three-on-the-tree!).
