As anyone knows who follows the Pro Street movement, times change. But, while they do, a well-crafted truck will still turn heads, no matter what the current flavor of the month might be. Dave Holmgren, of San Bernardino, California, knows this all too well. Located less than two miles from one of the sacred pieces of car culture real estate - the site of the very first McDonald's - Dave knows that his '67 Ford F-100 is still a class act.
One of the great benefits of living in Southern California, as opposed to say the Northeast, is that on any given day there's a car event or cruise going on somewhere in the Los Angeles basin. A side benefit of this is that these events are fertile ground in which to unearth trucks that whatever the reason have yet to catch the eye of magazine editors. Dave's Torch Red F-100, accented with its subtle flames, is just such a truck, discovered at a weekly Saturday night cruise at the Fuddruckers in Pasadena.
The story of how such trucks evolve is something that always catches the interest of Truckin' readers. "I found the truck on the Internet," says Dave Holmgren. "A guy in St. Louis had it for sale. He told me that it had been sitting for about six years in a climate-controlled barn due to a divorce. It was already tubbed, had the red paintjob, and the redone interior. I contacted him and he sent me a dozen photographs of the truck, so I could see it in more detail. We talked on the phone many times about the truck. I was planning to fly out and personally inspect the truck, but each time something unexpected came up, and I wasn't able to go. I finally decided that it was a solid foundation to build from, so I sent the guy a certified check for $1,500 and made arrangements with an auto transport company to pick up the truck and deliver it to me in San Bernardino," he explains.
"The deal was that when the driver showed up to load the truck, I wanted to talk to him to get his opinion on the overall condition of the truck. With his positive assessment, I okayed the pickup and sent the seller the balance to complete the sale.
"My wife really wanted me to fly back to Missouri to inspect the truck, and she wasn't real pleased with my decision to purchase the truck over the internet, sight unseen. She referred to it as my grab-bag truck. She made me promise that if it wasn't what I thought it was, my only response could be to laugh.
"The transport driver told me he should arrive at my house in three days. I made arrangements to take off the day of its scheduled arrival, so I could be home for the delivery. The driver started checking in with me when he hit Kingman, Arizona. Each time he called, my anxiety level grew. Then he called and said he was in Barstow, and he would see me in a couple of hours. At that point, I got a chair and planted myself out on the front lawn in nervous anticipation," Dave recalls.
"Then the moment arrived. I heard the transport round the corner and there on the flatbed was my F-100. It was exactly what I thought it would be. I yelled for my wife to come look and I started to laugh, not in disappointment but visualizing what this project would produce."
After fully assessing his purchase, Dave started planning to make the F-100 truly his. The first major local contributor to the project was Dave Sheidecker, of Sheidecker Fabrications in Rialto, California. According to Dave Holmgren, Dave Sheidecker and the guys at the shop have done a lot of work on the truck. A major project was the conversion from the small-block 289 Ford with a C4 transmission to the 410ci stroked, small-block Chevrolet engine mated to a Turbo 350. Sheidecker used all of his considerable talents in cutting the hole in the hood to accommodate the bug-catcher air scoop. With the engine sitting slightly off center and a hood body line that runs right up the middle of the hood, it was extremely difficult to pop the scoop up through the hood and have it come out looking just right. As the photos show, he was 100 percent successful.
For those interested in his front suspension, it was donated by, of all things, an AMC Pacer mated to Art Morrison three-way adjustable coilovers. The output of the stroked 410 small-block gets to the pavement via a '71 Chrysler 8-3/4-inch rearend with 4.11 gears. Mickey Thompson 33x21.5x15-inch rear tires are mounted on 14-inch-wide Cragar S/S Classic wheels with spinners, matching up to the 7-inch-wide wheels up front shod with Pirellis.
The project started the day he got the truck in 1999, and as anybody who's done a project like this knows, the project is never really done. It's been a work in progress since its arrival in Southern California. While the truck continues to evolve, Dave is not shy about entering it in local shows, where he's garnered two Best of Shows, and several trophies and awards at local car shows, virtually every time it exits the garage
The interior is as tasteful as the exterior - a combination of painted metal surfaces and contrasting cloth trim, accented with just enough billet to give the cab a distinctive look. The elements include Recaro buckets, a Grant steering wheel, VDO night-design gauges, power windows and locks, and a shaft-mount Pioneer AM/FM/cassette to provide the music
The next step of this project will be to fabricate and install disc brakes on the rear axle and add exhaust cutouts. Dave is working with Dave Sheidecker to fabricate manual cutouts that will be opened by stepping down on the parking brake pedal. Then, by pulling the parking brake release handle, the cutouts will close.
As should already be apparent, Dave's wife deserves thanks for her patience and support during this project. He also would be remiss if he didn't stop to thank all the guys at Sheidecker Fabrication for their ideas and hard work. And last but not least, he wanted to thank local legend Lil' Louie for the flames and paint on the Ford logo on the tailgate. And while buying a truck sight unseen over the internet is not for everyone, no one can say that Dave's effort is anything less than a 100 percent success.