700 Horsepower of Ford Power: The Ultimate F-100 by HJ Customs

A Monster of an F-100

“Shop truck” can mean different things to different people. For some, it’s just a matter of enlisting whatever vehicle can haul parts around for one’s place of business—with dents, scratches, or whatever. As long as it runs and has a bed, it’s all good. For others, a shop truck should be as clean and detailed as possible at all times—ready to represent at any given moment.

Holden Jung took that second notion to heart, and then bumped it up about a hundred times over to create the truck you see here. Now, you won’t be seeing this truck haul anything but trophies for the foreseeable future, but you can bet your ass (or someone else’s, if you don’t happen to have one) that this ‘56 F-100 certainly delivers!

In fact, you’re looking at the winner of Truck of the Year at the 2024 Grand National F-100 Show (and Best Truck at the 2024 Boise Roadster Show, and Best Truck at the 2024 Salt Lake City Autorama), but you would never guess it possible if you had seen the truck’s very humble beginnings. You see, this ‘56 F-100’s rebirth started with only a rusty cab, a hood, and a set of doors, making for one hell of a long shopping list once Holden was ready to get down to business. And boy, did he get down to business.

Now, a truck of this caliber is much more than just the sum of its parts, and it’s so much more than a catalog build since nearly every single component was modified in some way to flesh out Holden’s vision of the ultimate F-100. Nothing on this truck would be typical, but he wasn’t about to do anything gimmicky, either. So, with some parts now on the shop’s shelves and the rest on their way, he was already well into the project, which would take two years to complete.

The body of the F-100 is just as pristine, but it took a lot of work and modifications to get it exactly where Holden wanted it.

Holden readily admits that Coyote swaps are the bee’s knees and obviously a whole lot better than an LS-anything under the hood of a Blue Oval, but he didn’t want to put a belly button engine in his masterpiece. No, this build required something much more substantial—something extraordinary—that would leave an indelible mark on the Ford truck scene.

And as you’ve probably guessed based on this story’s title, he found “something extraordinary” in the 7.3L Ford Godzilla engine, which sports 430 horsepower from the factory. While that’s a respectable and even somewhat impressive number, it  wasn’t quite enough to satiate Holden’s desires. To accomplish that would require the addition of a Whipple supercharger, which made the big block capable of up to 700 horsepower on 93-octane fuel. Coupled to a 10-speed 10R80 automatic, we feel it’s safe to say that this may be the ultimate Ford drivetrain for a classic F-Series truck!

Add to that ultimate drivetrain a complete coilover-equipped chassis from Roadster Shop, Baer disc brakes all around, and a beautiful set of 18 and 20-inch Schott Fuel wheels, and you can plainly see that there were absolutely no corners cut, as these brands represent the highest caliber of components available.

The body of the F-100 is just as pristine, but it took a lot of work and modifications to get it exactly where Holden wanted it. Shaved drip rails, smoothed running boards, widened rear fenders, custom bed posts, welded seams, and even radiused and gapped doors are just a handful of custom treatments which adorn this truck, but it’s the choice of the Land Rover/Ranger Rover Byron Blue metallic paint that really grabs your attention when taking the truck in as a whole.

Once you’ve had a chance to absorb the exterior, you can begin to comprehend how much work went on inside the truck as well, and this is just about the only part of the build that HJ Customs didn’t do in-house. Interior Revolution got the nod to tackle the intricate details, such as custom crafting the extremely modified heated leather bench seat, door panels, and headliner. And then there’s the leather-wrapped dashboard, which brings things to yet another level! Oh, and then there’s the wireless phone charger built into the custom center console, which is just one of the many convenience features built into the interior.

With the truck now complete and ready to show off HJ Customs’ capabilities to the world, it’s no surprise that this ‘56 has been cleaning house from the first time it hit a showground floor!

TRUCK SPECS

 Chassis & Suspension

• Roadster Shop coilover chassis
• Baer disc brakes front and rear

Wheels & Tires

• 18×9 and 20×10 Schott Fuel wheels
• 235/50ZR18 and 315/35ZR20 Nitto NT555 tires

Engine & Drivetrain

• 2022 Ford 7.3L Godzilla V-8 crate engine
• Upgraded fuel injectors
• Whipple supercharger
• Custom fuel system
• Custom wiring harness
• Custom 2.5-inch exhaust with Flowmaster FX Series mufflers
• Custom engine and transmission mounts
• Ford 10R80 transmission
• Ford 9-inch rearend with limited slip differential

Body & Paint

• Work performed by HJ Customs
• LED halo headlights
• Narrowed/shortened/tucked OEM bumpers
• Rear bumper cutouts for exhaust
• Custom sheetmetal in engine compartment
• Shaved drip rails
• Welded seams
• Rounded and gapped doors
• One-piece door glass
• Smoothed tailgate and running boards
• Custom roll pan with frenched license plate box
• Rear fenders widened three inches
• Mini tubs in bed
• Custom bed rail treatment
• Custom painted bed wood by Paul Zahller
• PPG Land Rover/Range Rover Byron Blue paint
• Custom billet door handles

Interior & Stereo

• Work performed by Interior Innovations
• Ididit steering column
• Push-button start
• Dakota Digital Retro RTX gauges
• Sparc Industries Spindle steering wheel
• Modified heated custom leather bench seat
• Custom leather door panels, console, and headliner
• Custom leather-wrapped dashboard
• Wireless charger in center console
• Power windows
• Restomod Air heat and A/C kit
• Restomod air vents in custom vent panel
• Custom interior lighting
• Custom sill plates with F-100 logo
• Backup camera
• Pioneer double-DIN head unit
• Kicker separate speakers
• Kicker Solo-Baric L7T 10-inch subwoofer

Photo Credit: Bart Cepek