Story and photos by Al Anderson

Detail, detail and more detail – basically that is the story of Larry and Pam Hill’s ’53 F-100 panel.

That something turned out to be a ’53 F-100 panel that Larry found in Bowmanville. Although Hill was able to look past the rust and the big, boxy look and visualize the end product. . . . visualization was only the start of the process.

More than once after he dragged the hulk home, Hill confessed he often thought about ending the project, especially as more metal cancer seemed to surface every day.

Long before any custom body modification were performed, Larry dealt with the major metal decay. Then he started smoothing the lines, removing door handles, emblems and body seams . . . even the gas filler door.

Running boards and front bumper were painstakingly smoothed by hand. Driver and passenger door received Hills touch as well. The original no draft vent window and separate crank down windows were replaced by custom one piece windows. Both doors carry door mounted Vision Concepts mirrors. Power window controls are mounted on the underside of armrests – nice touch.

Sure, the plate on this lowdown Ford says a lot. But take a good look at the oval in the door upholstery. You might say there is no L in Ford – but that would be before you have had a good look at Hill’s ground scraping truck. Obviously, the L in this smooth blue oval stands for low.

Getting this panel to ride as low as it does is a tribute to Hill’s vision, his commitment to the project, his obvious building skills and a two inch adjustment to body mounts. Oh yeah, that two inches resulted in the attention getting ride height of Hill’s ride.

Hill is a hands-on owner; he and Ken Crawford performed the sheet metal work, while Ron Chaisson and Hill fabricated the suspension and the 2 inch stainless exhaust. In addition to the Ridetech airbags, they C notched the frame.

Up front Hill chose 17 x 8 Eagle alloy wheels with matching 18 x 8 inch units on the rear. Both front and rear carry Continental tires, 245/45R17 up front with 275/45R18 on the rear.

The too cool look of running board scraping the asphalt isn’t the ride height. Although on the 10 minute ride to the spot we took the pix, the Ford sure rode low. Got to tell you, this Ford has a great ride

The overall smooth look was a result of door handles and other trim receiving a close shave. The top hinged one piece rear door was painstakingly crafted by Hill and is a huge element in the wow factor created by the overall appearance of the unit. The original rear doors were barn door style and just had to go. Rounding out the rear of the truck (no pun intended) a rolled pan carries LED lights.

Larry started the build in 2000 and started driving it in ’04. He started with bare frame rails and fabricated new cross members for the 8.8 inch disc brake rear end that he attached to a four link suspension. Ford disc brakes were used all the way around.

But the airbags weren’t enough to get the Ford down where Larry wanted it. That’s the point where he modified the body mounts by a full two inches and dropped the panel over the frame. Although this may sound simple, that meant fabricating a new floor.