MARVIN | 1969 Ford F-100

A Lowered and Bagged Childhood Dream Come True

Since John Johnson was a kid, he has always loved lowered and bagged trucks. At age 18, he purchased his first truck, a 2000 Chevy S-10. Not long after, he and a friend bagged it. John drove it around for six or seven years, body dropped it and then lost interest. He told himself that once he was finished with welding school and working a stable, good job, he would build another custom truck.

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The time finally came. John started his search for a Chevy C-10, but he didn’t find any that stood out to him. While flying home from a job out of town, John began to Google bagged and bodied Ford F-100s, but again didn’t come across many. Luckily for us, John and his girlfriend decided to go to the beach for vacation and saw it—a 1969 Ford F-100 was parked in a pawn shop parking lot across the street from their hotel room. After checking it out and wheeling and dealing a little, John became its new owner and, with the help his friend Andrew, picked it up the following Monday.

Upon arrival back at his house, John and Andrew immediately started tearing down his F-100. With the truck stripped to bare frame, John welded in the Mustang II front clip. John tried to bolt up his 20-inch wheels, but that didn’t work. So, he cut the suspension back out and contacted Martin at Soulless Innovations to design a new front clip that would work with his wheels.

Five and a half years later, John built a truck you absolutely must see in person.

While the front clip was being made, John went ahead and installed the Ford 9-inch rear end and Thor Bros parallel four-link with a Watt’s link to hold it in place. He also added a monster notch to make sure the frame would rest on the ground. After picking up the new front clip, he welded it in place and was finally good to go. Before adding the wheels, however, a Wilwood brake system was installed. Now ready for rollers, powdercoated Mobsteel D-towns in 20×8- and 20×11-inch sizes, wrapped with Nexen tires, were bolted up.

After watching about 500 hours of YouTube videos on building a Ford 460, it was time to tackle the motor. The list of goodies to build the motor are endless, but the main question after building the motor was, would it fire? The answer is yes!

With the chassis and motor complete it was time to take care of the body. John realized that at some point, his truck was painted with house paint. Removing it would not be easy, but two weeks later, 98% of it was removed with the help of plenty of graffiti remover, paint scrapers and various Scotch-Brite pads, leaving the original paint. John wet sanded, buffed and waxed it to the patina you see here. John and friends then mated the body with chassis.

One advantage of always being on the road is that you are always finding stuff you need in the weirdest places. While traveling, he came across a factory bench seat with good foam in great shape for $40. Jonathan J. Albert is responsible for re-covering the bench seat with distressed leather using diamond tuck stitching on the inserts. John then installed the red 5-point harness, while he left the rest of the interior stock.

The list of goodies to build the motor are endless, but the main question after building the motor was, would it fire? The answer is yes!

The custom scorched and stained bed floor also features contrasting red bed strips.

Five and a half years later, John built a truck you absolutely must see in person. John would like to thank everyone that helped him along the way, including his lovely lady Kelly for putting up with this expensive hobby and the countless hours he has spent in the shop, and everyone else that helped: Andrew Starling, Rodney Newton, brother Josh, Chris Dillon and Martin Fountian at Soulless Innovations.