1956 Ford F-100 - Owner Built and Full Tilt

We see a lot of trucks—some nice, some not so nice. Every so often we stumble across something extraordinary. That is the case with this truck. We were walking around the Sport Truck Nationals when we heard the whine of an early-style blower calling out our names. Upon investigation we found Brian Ramstack’s ’56 F-100 just pulling into his spot. The truck was eye candy enough, but then he hit the switch and the whole front clip flipped forward to expose a highly detailed small-block.

Within an hour, he was able to explain to us what took him eight years to build. Beginning with just a bare frame, he made custom crossmembers to hold his own four-link coilover setup, and he hooked it to the narrowed 3.55 9-inch rear. This allowed him the room to bolt on the massive Hoosier slicks. Up front Brian grafted in a Mustang II front suspension with coilovers and disc brakes from a Ford Granada. After the major modifications were done he boxed the entire frame, molded it, and painted it with PPG’s Deep Lilac Pearl.

The heart of this F-100 is a 0.030-over 351 Windsor with a custom-grind Wolverine bumpstick and hand-worked heads. Atop the mighty mouse sits a Dryers 6-71 Huffer fed by two 600-cfm Carter carbs. Keeping the air clean is a set of Edelbrock filters that had to be cut down for hood clearance. Falling in line behind the Windsor is a five-speed from a 5.0 and a shifter from a Porsche. That’s right, a Porsche.

To create the new bodylines the F-100 sports, Brian took 3 inches out of the top, grafted in a 944 Porsche sunroof, and shaved the door handles. That’s just a few of the items on his list of modifications that lie beneath the PPG Silver with Violet Pearl paint. The entire front clip was welded together and tilts on a custom hydraulic ram setup. To complement the front clip, the bed was welded together. The bed also tilts and was finished with a built-from-scratch tailgate. His dad inlaid a beautifully crafted, hand-polished bed floor. With the bed at full tilt you will notice the care that was taken to make the bottom just as sano as the top.

To make the inside of his truck sound as good as his whining supercharger, a Sony head unit and two Xplode amps push a complete series of Kicker speakers including an 8-inch sub. The gray tweed and purple accents on the seats and door panels were applied by his girlfriend Marsha. An aluminum custom panel was inserted to hold all the tilting controls and the vintage air unit. From the console to the custom glovebox door, the attention to detail is quite impressive.

It never ceases to amaze us what our readers are constantly putting together and bringing out to the shows. Brian has set a standard that we should all hope to achieve when building our projects. It goes to show you life is like a box of sport trucks—you never know what you’re gonna get.