From there, it was all in Sacramento Vintage Ford's court (the main source for the F-100 "kit" for any and all interested parties!), as they supplied everything they offered from their inventory, from the wiring harness to the window glass, exterior/interior accessories, and nearly everything in-between. It's fair to say that our phone bill to their number alone was staggering (good thing we don't have to pay for it!). The goal was to create a "master list" of supplies required to assemble a truck from scratch. Obviously, there were a few things that SVF couldn't provide us with (items they didn't carry), so as you can see by the lengthy source list, there were plenty of reputable manufacturers and suppliers that stepped up to the plate.
Above and beyond the parts suppliers, we also need to give a ton of credit to the individuals that donated their time to the project, which oftentimes is worth more than the average hourly rate. Namely, we owe a debt of gratitude to Jerry Seivers and his crew at the Paint 'N' Place for not only applying the Auto-Air Colors Rock Star Red water-based paint, but for dutifully handling all of the underlying bodywork required to allow the paint to look as good and smooth as it does. Anyone will tell you, a complete paint job is no walk in the park, but these guys sure made it seem like it was, mainly because they took full control and ran with it.
As the project was nearing an end and the time came to install the RodDoors custom upholstery kit, my good friend Rudy at Auto Upholstery of Orange put his customers on hold long enough to stretch and glue our Raisinette UltraLeather and Chamois UltraSuede over the ABS panels to match RodDoors' own effort on their Lassen II bench seat. Rudy also used his super-duper glue to affix the Trinidad Copper carpet to the cab's floor. Along with the Dakota Digital instrumentation and ididit chrome column with a Lecarra wheel, the interior has a nice, classy feel to it without being too modern looking.
While it would seem the truck was finally ready to hit the road, we weren't taking any chances, so we scheduled an appointment with the folks at Westech in Mira Loma, California, to get the engine and trans dialed in. They put the truck through its paces, fine-tuning everything from the Edelbrock fuel system, the TCI overdrive computer, to the Performance Distributors ignition system, and all the way to the cooling system. Once they'd performed their magic, we knew we could get behind the wheel of the F-100 with confidence.
We may have fallen short of our original goal of having the first 100-percent aftermarket F-100, but pulling off the feat of just completing the project was satisfaction enough for us. It was indeed an adventure, one that none of us will soon forget. The entire staff of CLASSIC TRUCKS past and present would like to thank everyone who lent a hand in one way or another, ultimately assisting us in reaching this point of our Mail-Order F-100-The End!