A Lifelong Ford Enthusiast’s Full-Custom F-100 Shop Truck

By Fuelish Media – Photography by the Author

Randy Pierson of Montgomery, Texas, is a self-proclaimed custom Ford junkie. He says that even before he could speak, he was infatuated with cools cars and trucks—a trait that has stuck with him into his adult life. “Basically, I build up every vehicle I own, mainly because stock sucks,” he says enthusiastically. “Both my grandfathers were car guys, so they helped instill an appreciation for customized vehicles in me as far back as I can remember.”

The game of buying, building, and selling old cars isn’t anything new for Randy. He’s been doing it for so long now, a solid chunk of his free time is spent turning wrenches on vehicles of all types in hopes to make them as awesome as possible. “Back in 2014, I was in the process of building a ’65 Ford Mustang G.T. 350 replica”, he adds. “The car was keeping me pretty busy, but I really needed a shop truck to help make trips back and forth to the hardware store much less of a hassle.”

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This is the time frame when Randy picked up this ’72 Ford F-100. The truck was located in North Carolina and was listed on eBay for $7,500. For the price, the old Ford appeared to be in pretty decent shape based on the photos and description of it online. It was in decent shape, was said to run, drive, and stop OK, and looked to be rust-free. That was enough for Randy to pull the trigger on the F-100 and arrange for delivery to California where he was based at the time.

“When the truck arrived, I quickly confirmed that the seller’s description wasn’t quite spot-on,” Randy admits. “The truck was, in fact, a decent driver with a crappy paintjob and a dog of a 429 station wagon motor, but it did the trick. We swapped out the old drum brakes for new discs, upgraded the exhaust and gears, but really left it in that condition for a good while. I figured I could just gift the truck to my son when he turned 16 to let him have some fun with it, too.”

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Well, in the time Randy had owned the truck, he built four other cars before he decided that his F-100 was just begging to be the next of his vehicles in line for an extensive overhaul. “It was time to do something with this thing, and I already had a vision of what I wanted to do with it,” Randy says.

While the factory frame wasn’t overly cut or hacked into, it was merely cleaned up and upgraded with a modified twin I-beam front suspension courtesy of DJM Suspension components and blessed with QA1 coilovers at all four corners as well as a rear four-link setup. Larger Baer brake kits, along with an electric power brake master cylinder from Speedway Motors allow the Ford to stop as great as it rides now. The 20×9 and 20×11 American Racing VN-474 Gasser wheels along with 265/35ZR20 and 315/30ZR20 Nitto NT555 G2 rubber give the truck’s new chassis system a modern take on a clean, classic look.

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Next, it was time to ditch the tired old engine that was attached to the F-100, and all the unpredictable, sluggish performance that came along with it. To dramatically turn things around for his project truck, Randy selected a ’10 Ford Racing 521 big-block crate engine that has been outfitted with all the trimmings in the form of Ford Super Cobra Jet cylinder heads, Edelbrock water pump, American Billet alternator, Billet Specialties air cleaner, Griffin radiator, MSD billet distributor and wires, L&L Products headers, a 3-inch MagnaFlow exhaust system complete with a custom X-pipe, and a whole lot more. A Ford C6 transmission was then assembled by Rebs Specialties in Reseda, California, to adequately harness the engine’s much higher performance output.

The body- and paintwork was handled next by Xtreme Autosports in Santa Clarita, California. It was while the truck was there when the Ford’s true condition was ultimately discovered. “This was the portion of the project that took the most time and effort to correct,” Randy says. “The truck was actually in much worse shape than I had originally thought. The bottoms of the doors had to be cut out and replaced, the fuel filler was removed, and more little holes than I could count needed to be filled before the guys could move onto paint, but the final result was worth the wait.

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With some original parts sent out for fresh chrome, a solid pile of brand-new replacement parts, like fresh headlights and glass from LMC Truck, custom LED tails, and billet door handles from Fat Fender Garage began growing taller while the final problem areas of the F-100’s troubled surface were adequately ironed out. The colors of choice that Randy ran with were a PPG ’06 Ford GT Midnight Blue metallic that was sandwiched by a special shade of white on the roof and back cab wall and underneath the trim molding. Carlos at Xtreme Autosports expertly executed the two-tone paint scheme and glossy clearcoat in order to preserve the classically styled paintjob for the entirety of the Ford’s second lifetime.

Inside the cab, Randy wished for the interior to appear moderately modified, even though a ton of work went into creating its seemingly lowkey appearance. TMI Products leather seats, door panels, center console, and dashpad take centerstage inside the Ford’s cockpit, and accessories in the way of Dakota Digital gauges, Vintage Air climate control, LMC Truck carpeting, steering wheel, and interior mirror all come together to bump the cab space up a few notches.

The F-100 might be a little too nice for it to serve as an everyday shop truck for most folks, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Randy continues to put his Ford pickup through the paces as his trusty yet well-manicured workhorse. “I’d like to thank Sam at Xtreme Autosports and Mitch Allread as well as everyone else who lent a hand in finishing up this project in a year and a half once it was started,” he says with much pride.