It is interesting to hear how hot-rod aftermarket companies had been conceived, such as ididit. Owner Ken Callison's life began to change after one of his buddies asked him to design and build a custom aluminum steering column. In 1985, Ken and his son Scott proceeded to make custom billet-aluminum steering columns and other hot-rod stuff.
Shortly after opening their doors, a customer was admiring a custom part that was on display. He asked Ken, who had made the part. Ken replied, "I did it!" And the rest is history. In 1994, Ken retired from the Ford Motor Company to steer his dream into the future. Ken and his talented family have achieved that, and more.
Ken always wanted to build a shop truck that would stand out in a crowd. While cruising past a K-Mart in Garden City, Michigan, Ken spotted an orange '65 Ford longbed pickup, tattooed with a For Sale sign. Ken slammed down a fist full of Franklins and obtained the pink slip. After driving it home, he began to dismantle it, but as the business began to take more hours out of the day and night, the project was put on the back burner. The old Ford sat for 12 years. Finally, in 1999, Ken hired Tom Rose and Chris Dixon, both of Wounded Knee Motors in Toledo, to specifically work on the truck.
Tom proceeded to strip down the truck to its bare frame. To create rigidity and strength, Tom boxed the front and rear inner frame rails, then welded the factory holes up and ground them smooth. Custom engine and transmission mounts were fabricated and installed. The front suspension's foundation was a Fatman front cross-member with upper and lower control arms and a pair of 2-inch drop spindles. An Air Ride Technologies pneumatic 'bag system was installed giving the old '65 the ability to lay low, or to inflate and drive away. The braking was achieved by Classic Performance Products' disc-brake calipers and 13-inch cross-drilled and vented rotors. A CPP Corvette chrome master cylinder supplies brake fluid to all four CPP calipers. A Fatman power-steering rack provides quick, direct-steering inputs from the driver. Out back, the Currie narrowed rearend received larger 31-spline axles and was stuffed with 3.50 Richmond gears and an Auburn posi-unit. The Currie rearend hous-ing was hung with a TCI four-link and Panhard kit. Again, CPP rear-disc brake calipers and 13-inch cross-drilled and vented rotors were bolted on. The CPP disc-brake system is interlinked with Inline Tube stainless-steel brake lines and fittings. The '65 rolls on 15x6-inch Colorado Custom Purgatory polished billet-aluminum wheels and 26x8.5x15 Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires up front, while the rear has 15x12-inch Colorado Customs Purgatory polished billet-aluminum wheels wrapped with chubby Mickey Thompson Sportsman 29x15.5x15 baloneys.
The grunt is produced by a balanced and blueprinted Ford 351ci V-8 Windsor with Ford Motorsports performance cylinder heads. An electronic, custom-fabricated fuel-injected tubular intake system was fabricated by Tom Rose. A pair of 2-1/2-inch Ford Motorsport long-tube block-hugger headers received HPC ceramic coating. The headers collect into a large, 3-inch exhaust tube before flowing into a pair of Bassani stainless-steel mufflers. The engine is cooled by a custom-built five-row aluminum radiator. A beefed-up Ford C6 automatic transmission and a torque converter link to a custom-made driveshaft.
Looking to draw attention, Ken wanted to perform some serious body mods to his Ford longbed. Tom Rose chopped the top 4 inches, the front fenders were each narrowed 2 inches, and a front roll pan was fabricated and installed to create a smoother leading edge. A pair of Hagan tri-bar headlights was inserted into the custom-made horizontal bar grille. Advanced Chrome Plating did an incredible job of stripping, dipping, and chroming the grille. The truck's entire electrical system was linked from unit to unit with a Painless Wiring harness. The tailgate was shaved smooth, while a custom, rear roll pan houses the four frenched taillights and a pair of 4-inch stainless steel exhaust tips. The cab sports a lengthy horizontal LED third brake light above the rear window and under the roof ducktail. Due to the chopped cab, a custom cowl was made to house the shorter and sunken windshield wipers. A hidden electric antenna appears with the push of a button. Larger rear-wheel tubs were widened to accommodate the chubby Mickey Thompson Sportsman rubber.