1970 Ford F-100 Shakes and Shimmies Through Tuff Truck Competition

Fifty-year-old F-Series makes it through a series of punishing bumps and whoops, proving it’s “Built Ford Tough” and a Tuff Truck.

Ford trucks are built to last, but let’s face it, any vehicle is lucky to survive 50 years. Over the course of half a century, even the most lovingly cared-for machine can be totaled in an accident. Some vehicles get passed on to relatives who don’t have the same love for them as the previous owners and quickly sell them. Others stick around until the cost of upkeep is deemed more than their worth. But the 1970 Ford F-100 in this video from YouTuber NWfan2 not only made it through nearly five decades of existence, but it also endured the abuse of a Tuff Truck event at the Clark County Fair in Ridgefield, Washington.

According to the announcer at the competition, the faded and battered F-100 has “a 400-cubic-inch engine” between its two front fenders and a driver named Eric behind the wheel. If the 24-year-old’s truck is going to stand a chance in the contest, he needs to have a high level of endurance, too, because the course is hard on both man and machine. Luckily, he does.

After Eric leaves the starting line, he drives over a trio of hillocks. Those are nothing compared to what lies ahead. Eric slides through a left turn and launches into a series of whoops. The F-100 bounces and pitches from side to side as it makes its way over the small but effective mounds of earth. The further it goes, the more air it gets.

As the announcer puts it, Eric is “shaking the dust off” of his truck. He’s also rattling the hood and twisting the sides of the tailgate-less bed with every hard landing – which is all of them.

Just one pass through the course looks taxing enough. But Eric isn’t done and his truck certainly isn’t either. It’s ready for more abuse. And Tuff Truck has plenty to inflict. Eric doesn’t help matters. He drives over the hillocks with more speed, causing the F-100 to bounce and crash over them. His trip over the whoops draws pained exclamations of “Ooh!” and “Ah!” from the announcer. Eric points the nose of his rig toward a mudhole and blasts down into and up out of it.

The footage cuts out before Eric’s run through the torture test ends, but something tells us he and his trusty Ford made it to the end. The F-100 has made it through 50 years and who-knows-how-many trying situations. It can definitely take a few more minutes of hard driving.

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Derek also contributes to other outlets. He started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to get even more automotive content out to fellow enthusiasts.

He can be reached at autoeditors@internetbrands.com.

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