1978 Ford F-150: An Unorthodox Wheelie Machine
We think the saying ‘go big or go home’ certainly applies to this badass build — and let’s just say he won’t be going home!
There are probably a few of us who still have the truck we drove in high school. Ford truck enthusiast Tony Cannon still has his, and knowing the massive lifted Ford F-150 is on its third build makes us wonder what the first two builds were like. We’d guess more mild. Cannon decided to go all out with this build, and we’re loving what he’s put together. We recently stumbled onto this build on the OffRoad Xtreme website and couldn’t help but scroll through the photos wanting more! So, we may have done some Instagram stalking. This guy, Tony Cannon, has some sweet Fords — namely, the 1978 F-150 he’s owned since he was 16 years old and which he has dubbed “Wreakin’ Havoc.”
If you’re wondering what shade of blue Cannon used, it’s Dodge Viper GTS Blue Pearl from 2009-2013.
“I went through tons of paint charts to find a blue that caught my eye,” Cannon told OffRoad Xtreme. We’d have to agree. Though not shockingly blue, it’s a nice blue that just seems to fit the sixth-gen F-150 just right.
However, aside from the paint, everything else about the truck has been built to do one thing: wheelies. From the 6.72:1 gear ratio and 54-inch Baja Claw tires to the supercharged 521 cubic inch V-8 behind the cab, this thing is laser-focused on pulling the front wheels “maybe four or five feet up in the front … I wanted to push the envelope on its wheelie capabilities,” according to Cannon.
There’s a lot of cool work done in there, and custom fabrication. We always enjoy a close look at how different people go about getting their power to the rear wheels when the engine in an unusual place. We’ve seen boat V-drive units in another wheelie-pulling Ford build, but this is a little different. By that, we mean “far less sketchy” than Roadkill.
Cannon elected to hook a custom C6 transmission to the big-block Ford, and send the power into an SCS transfer case. For all intents, the V8 and tranny are “normal” as all the reversing happens in the transfer case. Power then goes to all four wheels. Don’t worry, he’s rocking 300M Chromoly steel axles, which should easily survive the thrashing they’ll receive. Cannon said he thinks that the Ford is putting out 1,000 hp and 800 lb-ft of torque. He’s thinking about nitrous once he gets it running well.
Now, how did he manage to mount the steering wheel in the center of the truck? We wondered the same thing. Cannon explained the setup on his Instagram page, commenting, “I set this truck up as a center steer truck. 3 racing seats, passenger on each side of a driver. It’s all hydraulic steering, no mechanical link.” In the build feature he explains, “I’ve seen it on monster trucks, which is where I took a lot of my cues from.”
Really, we could go on and on. This truck has a TON of great attention to detail. Check out the build feature and follow this guy on Instagram. We’re hoping he posts some sweet wheelie videos soon. Though, we’d settle for a video of the truck idling. Tell us what you think about this wild ride in the comments below.
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