Like many of us, Russell Post is a dyed-in-the-wool classic trucker. He eats, breathes, and drives old trucks like they were meant to be. Prior to his '55 F-100 we see here, he had two other early Effies that he literally drove into the ground until the rust, wear, and tear made them into donor trucks.
Back in 1994, Russell started gathering parts for his third F-100 that was slated to be a "finished" truck. He started by scavenging parts from the previous two beaters as well as accumulating five more parts vehicles such as a '54 F-250, '55 F-250, '54 C-600 COE, '54 F-100, '55 F-100, and many other parts from nearby wrecking yards. One of the main reasons for buying so many original trucks was that Russell set out to piece the final F-100 together using OEM parts, which can obviously be a bit more work in the long run.
From a local Iowa pig farmer, Russell scrounged up a '77 Oldsmobile he gladly pulled the motor, trans, and cruise control from. After a good cleanup, the "new" drivetrain was lowered into its new Ford surroundings, complete with the original 263,000 miles! Russell went through the Turbo 350 trans, but the motor showed little sign of wear despite the odometer reading. To dress up the Olds 350 V-8, a set of chrome valve covers was purchased on eBay and looks right at home with the '56 Olds air cleaner that sits atop the dutiful 600-cfm Quadrajet.
A Volare front clip was had via Buzz's Salvage in Storm Lake, Iowa, and was installed by Russell. The clip still retains its stock spindles, springs, torsion bars, disc brakes, and steering box. The '65 F-100 9-inch rearend that now resides under the '55 was courtesy of Russell's second, now deceased F-100 and mounts up to the stock frame with a set of No Limit shackles, raised spring hangers, and stock parallel leafs that have two leafs removed per side.
With all the original sheetmetal Russell had on hand, there was enough decent material to assemble the '55 properly. Since this was going to be another driver, albeit a nice one, many parts like the grille, wheels, suspension, and bed pieces were sent out for powdercoating instead of chrome, but looking at the truck, one would hardly question this decision. Russell finessed the rest of the truck into shape and sprayed it in '55 Ford Thunderbird turquoise.
Inside the cab, the bench seat from the C-600 was used and covered in turquoise vinyl with white piping by Darrell Krehlik in Spencer, Iowa. Russell installed a black carpet kit from Mid Fifties as well as the Chevy van steering column and Camaro wheel. Housed in the stock dash and gauge panel is the original FoMoCo instrumentation that was rewired thanks to a Ron Francis kit.
Seven years have passed since Russell hit the pavement in this F-100, and he's added another 15,000 miles to the odometer going to shows, cruise nights, swap meets, as well as hauling more parts and lumber in the bed of it. After it's all been said and done, Russell claims to get the most out of it simply driving through the northwest Iowa countryside. Sounds good to us; can we ride shotgun?