The Tale of the Orange Truck

Family owned since new when Jimmy Carter was President in a decade far away, this 1977 Calypso Coral Ford F-250 4X4 was purchased by my Father in-law as my wife Jill recalls when she was 13 years old and went to the Ford dealership in San Jose,Ca. and helped pick the eyepopping Calypso Coral color (which is close to the Chevy Hugger Orange color) for her Dad’s new Truck.

Jill has fond memories of taking summer long camping trips in the truck to Mexico and her Dad also used the truck to pull a boat when he Salmon fished out of Santa Cruz, CA. After several years of service wearing a camper shell & pulling a boat, Jill’s Dad passed the truck on to her brother Scott who pulled the 351W engine and installed a Ford 428 Cobra Jet into the ’77 Ford.  Then not soon after he shipped the truck Kona, Hawaii where he used the truck for hauling materials for building houses in Kona for 10 years & then the ’77 Ford made it’s second ocean voyage back to America and on to Arizona.

Jill’s brother used the truck for building houses in Scotsdale, Az. for a few years then he moved with the truck to California and then Oregon where the truck resides today in my garage. I purchased the truck for my son Cody when he started driving in High School.  But not soon after Cody began driving the old ’77 Ford with the worn out 428 Cobra Jet engine, he realized it guzzled fuel at a rate of 3 gas stations to the mile.  So Cody got a cheap running Toyota 4X4 with a 4 cylinder engine and the truck was mine to use once in awhile till the old tired 428 Cobra Jet engine gave up the fight.  Then the truck sat for years in my driveway.

I was debating selling the old ’77 F250, but just before Cody’s younger brother Maxx enlisted in the Military he asked me to not sell the truck because he wanted it when he got out of the Army.  Just days before Maxx was to be sworn into the Army he lost his life to a drunk driver at just 19 years old . The F250 truck would sit for several more years after we lost Maxx.

I made a promise to myself to someday restore the ’77 F250 in memory of my son Maxx.  I was going to pull the 428 Cobra Jet engine and rebuild it, but my son Cody suggested I do a Cummins 12V swap into the truck.  I found an intercooled Turbo Diesel Cummins 12V with a 5-speed and began to tear into the old ’77 F250 for restoration.

I began with the Cummins 12V and refreshed it with new paint, gaskets, seals, and few upgrades with new smaller turbo exhaust to spool up faster, rebuilt VE injection pump with improved fuel pin & governor spring and also took care of the KDP or (Killer Dowell Pin) which is known to fall off into the timing gears and grenade the engine.

The F250 got and new shocks, stabilizer, and every U-joint replaced along with removing the front axle. I rebuilt it with new knuckles, bearings, seals, gaskets and the biggest upgrade was to remove all worn out hydraulic steering components and installed a electric steering set up, which has made driving like a new truck . I spent hours compounding, buffing, and waxing the old faded paint and gave it new life.

During the countless hours I spent over the last few years restoring the ’77 F250 in my garage, it gave me comfort knowing Maxx was alongside me in spirit.

Andrew C. ~ Merlin, Oregon