When Rick Kirk of Ripley, Oklahoma, purchased this '61 Econoline 100 pickup back in 1969, he had a specific purpose in mind for it: towing his '63 Galaxie around the drag circuit. It definitely wasn't intended to be used as a show vehicle for a car audio firm. But 25 years later, the experts at Kicker car audio poured their talents into transforming this classic Pug. The Kicker folks saw the potential for a unique vehicle that could showcase Kicker's audio components. After "Kicking" the idea around for a while, the concept became a reality.
The resurrection of Rick's E-100 pickup started with its foundation: the suspension. To make it unique, an independent rear suspension was pulled from a Lincoln Mark VIII. The subframe suspension pickup points were moved around to accommodate the mounting points in the rear of the pickup. Because Econolines of that era were built of unibody construction, there was nothing solid to mount the rear suspension to. The crew at RK Machine designed and fabricated a complete chassis from 2x4-inch rectangular tubing to mate into the unibody structure, creating a solid foundation to interface the suspension pickup points and brackets.
The unique center steering features a Flaming River steering column that is linked to the polished rack-and-pinion steering unit. The Chris Alston front coilover shocks were replaced with Air Ride Technologies' Ride Pro system with Shock Wave pneumatic springs. A Ride Pro four-way switch control panel activates the air valve, solenoid manifold that coordinates the pneumatic action from the five-gallon air tank fed by the dual compressors. The rearend housing is from a Lincoln Mark VIII stuffed with an 8.8 ring-and-pinion with a 3:23.1 gear ratio.
To get the simple rolling style of the '60s, Rick used a set of Wheel Vintiques, 18x8-inch in the front and 20x10-inch (prototypes) Billet Smoothies at the rear, with '41 Ford hubcaps. The wheel centers were painted to match the body and the outer rims were kept polished. Toyo Proxes P225/35ZR18 front and P255/35ZR20 rear are used on all four wheels; the wheel and tire combo contributes to Pug's timeless newstalgic appearance.
A '98 Ford Mustang Cobra 4.6L 32-valve V-8 DOHC engine flows maximum air/fuel to the healthy Vortech blower that produces 7-9 pounds of boost. A 15-gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell supplies and circulates fuel to the engine through a Vortech filter and high-volume fuel pump. The fuel return is controlled by the Vortech fuel management unit. The technicians at K.C. Auto in Tulsa, Oklahoma, made a house call to handle the initial engine management analysis and to help get the mighty Cobra engine fired and running. Superchips Custom Tuning supplied the Xcalibrator custom programming system, Raptor data logger, and some personalized help in getting the fuel and ignition mapping system dialed in. A custom Griffin Thermal Products four-row, NASCAR-style aluminum radiator and Vintage Air 16-inch puller fan keeps the mighty Cobra cool. The Cobra engine was delivered from Ford complete with engine mounts, exhaust, accessories, catalytic converters, clutch, and manual transmission. But, because of the engine's location and installation, custom headers had to be built. David at the Kar Shoppe in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, fabricated the flawless headers. These sculpted one-off headers fit precisely between the chassis and the bed. The Kar Shoppe custom headers draw the burnt exhaust gases from individual cylinder exhaust ports then flow into a pair of 40 Series Delta Flow Flowmaster muffs. After the exhaust components were fitted, they were sent out to get High Performance Coatings.