Photos from the Cohort by riveranotario.
Time to check out some Ford truck variants, this time courtesy of Ford do Brasil with the added creative impulses of local customizing houses. The latter –whoever it was– responsible for this F-1000’s fiberglass customized double cab. Not that it was a rare modification in that market, from what I gather.
Want to see the stock F-1000? Here is one, also uploaded by riveranotario at the Cohort:
There, an F-1000 with no hunchback body and still earning its keep.
Assembly of the F-Series started in Brazil much before, with early ones reaching the market in 1957. Ford’s trucks quickly became a referent in that industrious nation, eventually developing variants suited for that market.
As such, the popular F-1000 arrived in 1979, wearing the F-Series’ fifth-generation body. A 3.9L 4-cyl. diesel with 81HP powered the model and was capable of carrying up to 1000kgs (hence the 1000 designation). Consumption was a good 40% below the V-8’s, which were taken out of the Brazilian market that year.
In 1985, the F-1000A showed up, with a 6-cyl. engine for use with methanol. For ’86, the model gained the 4-headlight arrangement of today’s subjects, along with a more modern dashboard and other minor interior updates. Finally, an additional option appeared in 1991, with the 4-cyl. diesel gaining an inter-cooled turbo that provided up to 119 sweaty horses.
Production came to an end in 1998, to be replaced by a local version of the F-250.
As it occurred just about everywhere, by the 1980s these workhorses were becoming the favored transport of city dwellers. And local customizers identified a small, yet significant, market providing further comfort and amenities for the F-1000. Fiberglass dual-cabs being one of the most popular mods, generally surrounded by ample plexiglass windows.
Perusing online, there are quite a few variations of these dual cabs, and they clearly have their followers. All for the better, as I like this somewhat hunchback body F-1000s. They may look a bit blocky and clunky in some details, but seem oddly sporty otherwise. And ultimately, they’re nice period pieces that reflect the transition to our current active-lifestyle obsessed modernity.
Weird, they kinda look like a square body Chevrolet with those stacked headlights. Also weird how that red one the add on cab and bed is all one piece. No split between bed/cab to account for twist/flex like all other pickups
That seems fair, given that Brazilian ’80s-’90s Chev trucks looked like Fords. Here’s a late-’80s-ish Chev D20:
…and here’s an early-’90s Chev Bonanza:
I wonder if the seemless transition is because the F1000 is a unibody ?
The F-Series was never “unibody” (unitized) in the ’67 gen, and even if it had been, the version made in South America would’ve gotten a separated cab and bed anyway. At least, that’s what happened with the ’61 when it came to Argentina:
Nice article
One thing I’ve always wondered, why did these double cab variants always start on the short bed chassis? Did they even sell long bed F-1000s?
Same with when the F-250 was first introduced in Brazil: it was seemingly all regular cab or double cab/short bed pickups, or the longer F-4000 DRW chassis.
I’ve noticed similar on Argentinian Ford pickups. One feature I’ve noticed on the Argentina variants is a body comparable to what was in the US but engines in 1980s models that had 292 V8s or 221 straight-sixes and single reservoir master cylinders.
Also, some panel trucks/”Suburbans” known as B-100/B-150. CC have an article about some B-150. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-sighting-argentinian-ford-three-door-suburban/
And here a screenshot of these Argentinian B-150 I saw on IMCDB. https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle.php?id=354090
Btw, there’s a typo in the article, to my knowledge Brazil used ethanol and not methanol. 😉
I assume that they simply didn’t feel that the investment in building a lwb chassis and beds was going to pay off, given the moderate volumes at the time. I’ve only seen swb versions of these. And the double cab trucks were really more of a ute or multi-purpose vehicle for rough-road rural areas than a cargo carrier.
They also made sedan versions of these:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cc-global/cc-global-the-brazilian-ford-truck-sedans-how-about-an-escalade-sedan/
A complementary article: https://www.deansgarage.com/the-ferrari-pickups-of-brazil/
We have one in the archives too:https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cc-global/cc-global-the-brazilian-ford-truck-sedans-how-about-an-escalade-sedan/
I suspect it inspired Don Andreina’s.
These South American versions of U.S. light trucks are interesting! I know Ford offered the 2.3L OHC 4 cylinder in the lighter versions, and Chevy countered with 153 inch ‘Nova’ 4 cylinder in the C-10.MWM diesels were also common in many makes of light trucks in Brazil and Argentina.
I often wonder why we don’t see such unique trucks imported. They’re LHD & have to share many common parts, surely it could be no more difficult than owning a JDM vehicle here. I’d surely drive one around! But perhaps I’d be a customer base of one for one of these. In the land of trucks here, this would truly stand out!
There are a fair amount of Bandeirantes imported into the US, but there’s doesn’t seem to be much interest in, say, Veraneiros or these.
Lighting differences in back, too:
Weird yet wonderful, so many Brazilian vehicles seem to scream : BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT ! .
Mexican vehicles also often look very different but no where near as weird .
-Nate