So what’s going on here? We covered the mismatched Ford pickups here a while back, the ones that used the previous generation’s bed. But this is taking it a whole step further.
This is how the long bed version looked originally.
And here’s the short bed version. Looks like our featured truck is a hybrid of the two.
A couple of smokestacks in that gap would have this rig looking good.
Maybe it’s on a newer chassis?
What’s the thing in the foreground with the bicycle seat?
The bicycle seat thing looks like a strut, mounted on a brake rotor with the bicycle seat fastened to it to make a quick work stool. @ least that’s my guess…
I’m liking that pogo stick strut thing too. It needs a round bar stool top though. It looks like a prostate compressor torture device with that seat on it.
Maybe he wants space to put in one of those hydraulic cranes…
Maybe it’s a dump bed? That would need some space between cab and box.
Ooooh, that really rare Ford truck with the rear wheel steering and the articulated frame. Those were really great in tight parking lots.
“Run what you brung.”
There’s something awkward about the way these should look that always bothered me. The front wheel appears backward of centre in the wheel well while the rear wheel appears forward of centre in the rear wheel well. They got the box in the right place on the mismatch imho. It would take some fabricating to move the cab and front end back a few inches and get the front wheel more centred and reduce the gap to something reasonable.
When the long and short beds have a 20″ difference, but the wheelbase is only 14″ different, there’s gonna be a mismatch somewhere. Ford long and short beds wouldn’t adopt the same rear overhang until 1973, I think.
That’s what happens when you add Viagra to the undercoating…
At first glance I thought that truck had a custom built articulated frame, but on closer look it was just a shortbed attached to a LWB frame. At least the body colors match.
That makeshift work stool using a bicycle seat attached to a suspension strut is an interesting piece of engineering. A friend of mine would call that “hillbilly engineering”.
At least in both examples, it works, serves the purpose; shows ingenuity with what you have.
But that shortbed attached to the LWB frame leaving a gap between the cab and the front of the bed could be useful to mount something, i.e., storage box or parts bin or something? Or if handy with welding torch and welding, cut off back of the cab, move it back, weld in a roof and side to make a sort of “extended cab”?
I thought about that with my dad’s 1968 GMC when the longbed was damaged and replacing it with a shortbed. But didn’t know whether the mounting holes on shortbed fitted the long wheelbase frame with the fender/rear wheel centered properly, nor did I have the knowhow and expertise (and courage) to carry out that hairbrained idea. Oh well….
I enjoyed your story.
The owner is clearly a serious inventor. Everything in the picture is homemade and clever. He must have a good reason for the combination! Maybe he has a saddle-tank or toolbox that fits in the space.
It reminds me of a truck with a midbox prep. Those are special ordered with a short box on a long chassis to provide space for a large tool box with sides shaped to match the bed, like so https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/01/ford-f-150-xl-midbox-review/