1972 F250 CS Budget Resto!

[Seapony]

Starting a progress/resto thread for my newly acquired '72 F250 Camper Special!
This is going to be kinda a budget resto, spending as little as possible but yet paying up for important things it might need, since right now I only make $400 a month from my apprentice type job after school during the week.

Shortly after my dad gave me his 79 F150 as a Christmas present, he told me a coworker friend of his had a 72 F250 that he was going to send to the scrapper. My dad knowing how much I liked the 79 told him that we would come look at the truck!
He told us we could have it for $250! It's taken me a while to get the cash to pay for it but I'll be paying it off this next weekend!

It was originally Seapine Green (nicknamed it Seapony cause it seemed cool ), has a 360 with a 4spd (my dad kept telling me it was probably an auto before we looked at it but I was hoping otherwise!), it uses oil and might have a valve problem but it was driven often before being parked, doesn't have a tailgate, body is a little beat up but still straight, and it didn't want to start when we tried to start it.

First orders of business when I get it home:
Getting it started (if I can't get it started at his house and driven home. He lives about a 1/4 mile away)
Two "new" wheels and tires until I can find two more steel rims to match the ones I have
Clean the fuel tanks out(atleast the one in the cab)
New rubber fuel lines
Carb rebuild
Oil change
Thermostat and gasket
Antifreeze
And title transfer/insurance/tags

Right now I owe $150 left.
I have $70 left of last weeks pay, I'll get $20 back from a friend, that's $90, my dad owes me $50, and then $10 out of next weeks pay will pay the truck off!
I'll have $90 left next weekend to buy the parts parts listed above except for registration, need about $170 for that (which I have $150 coming from a car detail and another $75 from selling a canopy to my boss if it fits).

I like to have a plan

Have pretty much 1 1/2-2 months left of school and have really wanted to drive a truck to school(or anything else out of my driveway that I haven't been able to drive!) instead of just my Crown Victoria. CV takes about $30-40 a week in gas since I live pretty far away from school, but I don't care if I have to spend 80 bucks a week in gas for the truck because I'll be having fun!

Anyways the goal for this truck this year is new Seapine Green paint, a nicer bed off another CS with perfect tailgate and cargo box on the side(from a friend), cab lights, bedliner, better rubber mat or carpet, interior upgrades, engine bay detailing, front disk brake upgrade, canopy(see pic), and some other things I'll come up with!
Goal is to have it looking halfway decent for a local show/cruise this summer for now.

Pics!








Sun shines down as it gets a new fate


The bed that will be going on. I offered $300 for the entire truck since it doesn't have a motor or trans but my friend said that he was offered that for the tailgate, so I decided to just buy the bed and tailgate for $350 sans the Ranger trim. If anyone needs parts I can ask what he'd take.





And my canopy that has been behind our barn for like 10 years. I think it will fit and look halfway decent. Needs some repair work. I want to do it white again, tint the windows more, carpet the inside, and add LED strips under the bed rails (saw it in LMC catalog, could probably do it on my own for cheaper!)

[sargentrs]

Sounds like you've got a good plan to start. Good luck n keep us posted!

[Maximus]

looks like a solid start, I started fixing up my first car when I was 15 with my father, seemed like every paycheck I got for the first year of work went into that car, but every penny was worth it. Not only will you be putting sweat and tears into a vehicle that you will be able to make your own and enjoy, plus you will learn a lot of mechanical skills that you can take with you for the rest of your life.

Does your friends '70 also have a drum front-end? would be an easy task to rob all of the brake parts off of his truck if its got the front discs already...

[mcheath]

Love your enthusiasm! It'll be a great project, keep updates flowing here if you can. Any self service wreaking yards in your area? I get a lot of parts from them, and on half off days a bed and tailgate are about 75 dollars here. Not a lot of young people in my area are into vehicles this old, so it's good to see you are.

[Seapony]

Thanks guys! Not sure if either are drum or disk, didn't check on mine

Mcheath I really like reading your thread! Everything that is older than 80s pretty much gets crushed right away. Scappers scoop up a lot of old cars around here or people take them to get scrapped. I know of a bunch of ford trucks around the area though, when I start making more money I want to go by and try and buy them to clean up and resell to keep them alive.

[mcheath]

Thanks for the compliment. I'm doing a pretty El Cheapo build and it's been fun, have to be creative to keep the costs down. Luckily the truck was in sound shape when I found it.

Even in the wreaking yards here it's hit or miss, Bumps are about the oldest trucks you can regularly find these days and they are getting fewer. I almost never see a F100 short bed, usually now they are all F250 Camper Specials, which are often in fairly decent shape. I guess they were less desirable as collector trucks back when the F100s shortys were common, but now they seem to be all that's left. Most of them look like they've been sitting for many years in someones yard before sent to the wreaker, wasp nests and rats nests are common.

Sometimes I feel pretty bad when I find a really nice Bump in the yard, knowing that it's going to end up scrap in Asia most likely and once it's gone it's gone, they don't make them anymore.

[Seapony]

I agree. Pretty much all the bumps I see on craigslist are Camper Specials, rarely ever any other level. I prefer the CS more, just screams "truck" more than the 1/2 tons with their long beds and 8 lug wheels

Have a few new updates!
Went to a tractor show about a month ago, found a set of ford CS mirrors and 6 70's dog dish hubcaps in the swap meet area, guy sold them to me for $20! Then my friends and I hit up a couple yard sales on the way back, one had a lot of cool "junk" (if the stuffs got rust, it's my kind of yard sale!! ), wasn't finding much I wanted to spend money on until I came across a pile of truck mirrors and spotted the stainless front of a CS mirror! Dug through and found a nice set of DP mirrors, and a set of older (fomoco) CS mirrors that were actually nicer than the set I had bought earlier! Asked the guy about them and a fixed spotlight(metal housing was the same that CHP used in their 60's-80's patrol vehicles, dad and I have a CHP Vehicle collection ), he told me $25 and I had a hard time keeping my excitement contained inside since I thought I was going to have to pay over $100 for a set on ebay!

And then a couple weeks ago I saw a craigslist ad for a 67-72 tailgate for $50. Contacted the guy and he reserved it for me until I came and looked at it. Gave him the $50, a guy on facebook said it was actually off a 66 and earlier but it don't matter to me. Still alot better than paying $350 for a bed and tailgate that would force me to paint the truck! Then he told me he had a 360 motor out in his field. I thought it was funny that I had contacted him a month prior asking about the motor on craigslist and that all the other ford truck parts I saw on craigslist were his Motor was locked up but I still bought it for $75 either as parts for mine or a replacement if I get it free'd up. New paint and gaskets will go on if it's going in my truck.

Yesterday I was browsing craigslist like I do every morning (torture when I see a bullnose 6.9 4spd 4x4 for $600 (or any other ford truck less than a grand) and I have no money, but pays off when this happens), and I saw an ad for 67-72 ford truck parts! Guy had a couple grilles, doors, fenders, small stuff, each for less than $100 which I thought were real good deals. Bought a 1971 grille from him for $20, he was pretty chill and had a bump in his driveway he was fixing up. Grill has rock chips and deep scratches, decent dent on the passenger side and a fixed dent on the drivers side, but the grille inserts are prime! I'll try polishing it out the best I can so it looks better but either way it'll be an improvement over the grille that's on the truck!

I think I've typed enough , time for pics!













Only a couple dents in it, latch works but is squeaky, and it came with the hinges! Debating on if I bedline the bed, should I do the tailgate too? Only reason I'd do it is so the bed looks better, less paint I have to buy (unless there is a paintable roll on bedliner out there), and the chance for dents is lowered.





All for now, might work on cleaning up the hubcaps and mirrors soon, and hopefully get the truck to my house!