My dad is a certified mechanic and wanted to pass his skills on to me. For my 14th birthday, he decided to find me a classic car to restore and teach me car repair during the process. I told him I wanted a 4×4 Ford pickup. That’s when we found Mator, a running but rotted out 1970 Ford F100 Short Bed Flareside 4×4 with the 300 inline 6. We were able to pick up this relatively rare truck, (less than 500 manufactured), for $2,000. It was originally owned by the Nevada Bell company.
To start off the restoration, I began saving money by selling fresh chicken eggs. I was then able to buy a donor 1971 F250 Camper Special Long Bed with no motor or transmission. My dad and I stripped both trucks down to the frame, swapped all of the body panels including the cabs (minus the beds), and sold the F250. Next we installed a 4″ lift kit, an Eaton Truetrac in the rear, and a disc brake conversion in the front to make it perform better on Colorado’s mountain trails. I then purchased the pieces from LMC that I could not find on the donor truck, such as rear fenders, bed wood and rails, tailgate, chrome molding, rubber seals, and many other things. We sanded the truck down to bare metal and painted it in our garage. Finally, I reupholstered the seat in white vinyl.
All in all, we have about $6,000 and 4 years in the truck. Now I’m working on the finishing touches including carpet, headliner, power steering, and hopefully someday the 6=8 intake and exhaust kit that nearly doubles horsepower and torque.