Undercover Bullnose Hides Modern Platform
With a little vision, and an auction Crown Vic, TMI does more than your average engine swap.
We’re not gonna lie, we’ve daydreamed about taking a modern F-150 drivetrain, frame and all, and swapping on a more classic body. You know, nothing like taking 20 or 30 years of progress and getting them all into a classic pickup without massive amounts of fabrication and money. We came across this article from Hot Rod about one such build, with a twist. The team at TMI Products, known for producing custom seats for hot rods and pickups, took a slightly different approach. They got a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria. You know, an ex-cop car. Then they got one of the most under-appreciated generations of the F Series, a 1985 “bullnose” F-150.
When you get a project for $500 you can spend the rest of your budget making it cool. That’s just what the team at TMI did. They took the ’85 body and tossed the rest. Then they took the ’08 Crown Vic, pulled the body off the frame and tossed it. Then the work began. Apparently, as noted by Hot Rod, despite some initial skepticism from their fabrication shop, the body fit the chassis like a glove.
The necessary changes were relatively minor considering what was accomplished. They shortened the framehorns of the chassis and raised the bed a few inches to make room. The shop rebuilt the stock 4.6 V-8 and upgraded to coilovers. Otherwise, the Crown Vic chassis remained basically stock. The truck cab and bed didn’t require much to be mounted, and received only a few subtle mods, like shaved badges and trim.
TMI Products makes seats, and since this was a car meant to showcase their handiwork at the Special Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, it has some kickin seats. The buckets are Sport VXR Pro-Classic models, and the center console is a Sport-XR waterfall model. We don’t know if we’re more excited about the way they look, or the fact that you can go order them online.
Anyone else daydreaming about a body swap with modern bones? Chime in on the F-150 Online forums!
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