Rare Ford truck has been restored and fitted with newer V8 engine.
While flipping through the Ford truck listings on the Barrett-Jackson website, we came across this gorgeous and rare unibody 1963 Ford F-100. When new, this antique half-ton pickup served as a military police vehicle, patrolling the grounds of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Today, it has been restored and fitted with a newer, more powerful engine, showcasing the rare and unusual unibody construction.
The Unibody F-100
Ford Motor Company hasn’t introduced many truck innovations that didn’t work out, but in 1961, the automaker rolled out the first unibody cab design for the F-Series pickups. The bed and cab were one continuous piece, doing away with the gap between the two and making for a smoother-looking pickup.
The problem with the unibody F-100 was that when you overloaded the bed, the body flexed and the doors would jam shut. As you can imagine, that turned out to be a turn-off for consumers, so the unibody design was gone after the 1963 model year. However, FoMoCo sold thousands of unibody F-100s in those three model years, including this truck, which was purchased by the United States Navy.
Military Police Beginnings
When this truck was new, it was used as a police patrol vehicle at the Concord Naval Weapons Station in California. This military facility served as a weapon storage depot, so when this truck was working in California, the people driving it would have been watching over items being sent to American soldiers in Vietnam.
We don’t know when it left the possession of the military, but at some point, it was sold into civilian life and fully restored. During the frame-off restoration, the chrome was refinished, the body panels were repaired and covered with bright white paint, and the interior was refurbished to better-than-original form.
Finally, a 302-cubic inch V8 was installed. No 302 was available in 1963, so this is a newer engine, but we don’t know how new or how potent of an engine is installed in this F-100, but it should be a little quicker than a stock truck from that era.
If you are in the market for a rare, antique Ford F-Series pickup, it doesn’t get a whole lot more unique than a unibody F-100.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
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"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
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