Casey’s Customs recently picked up a 1954 Ford F100 truck cab, bed, hood, fenders, a couple of pairs of doors, and a bunch of extra parts from Facebook Marketplace — all for a paltry $250.
Editor’s Note: Casey refers to this build as a Rat Rod and as a Hot Rod. While the sheet metal may be ratty, this is certainly not a rat, but a low-budget chassis swap with the Ford tins stretched at the cowl…
This is a full example of swapping a late-model chassis under an older car or truck body at home with normal tools and not much other help.
While we may have made some different decisions if doing this build ourselves, the intention in posting this series is to make you aware of the challenges and possible solutions. Hence, you know better what to expect in your own chassis swap project. For more information, see our Body / Chassis Swap Overview.
On a final note, Casey uses colorful language on occasion. If you’re some sort of softie, or you got the kids on your lap, be advised.
He ponders and ultimately decides to do a full build for under $1000 — we can get behind that. People have told him that it can’t be done, so naturally, he’s going to do it!
To keep costs down, he opts for a full chassis swap. and acquires a 140K mile 2000 Lincoln Towncar chassis and drivetrain donor for $500.
Getting Started
Casey gets the chassis and drivetrain donor car home, and of course, has to give it a thorough test drive…
Casey strips down the Lincoln and takes the stripped dow donor for a spin…
In this segment, Casey focuses on cutting up the Lincoln Towncar dash and gives an overview of the project budget…
Casey finally gets the ’54 Ford truck can on to the 2000 Lincoln chassis…
Casey gets the bed cut down, and gets it mounted to the 2000 Lincoln Towncar chassis, and sets the cab up a bit as well…
Casey works to get the wheelbases to match, as well as mounting the front end and bed…
In this 8th segment, Casey is working on widening the rear fenders to better match the Lincoln Towncar wide rear axle…
Casey works to get the doors hung, mounts the tailgate, and finally opens the hood so we can get a look at the engine compartment…
Casey is getting the doors adjusted, the latches put on the tailgate, the grille mounted and finally taking the truck for a little test drive…
Work continues finishing the metalwork on the cowl and all-important tailgate chains are added. Casey also goes over the current budget situation…
Casey gets the headlights and taillights installed, and picks up the running boards…
Casey installs the park lights, finishing off the grille, as well as some custom made running boards…
In Part 14, Casey builds a tilt hood hinge system, works the dash in better, and fixes some rust in the floor…
In this segment, Casey makes a hood stop for the flip front hood, fills in the old fuel filler hole, and starts the roof chop…
In this video, Casey works to put the chop back together and the heater quits on him after months of yelling at it. Hmmm…
Casey finishes up the chop, goes over the budget, and offers up some fashion…
Casey handles all of the bodywork and tries out Eastwood’s new roll on primer…
Casey starts on some faux patina on the newly primed areas and works to resolve the no start issue…
Casey finishes the patina and reviews the build budget…
Casey finally gets the truck running and driving…
The new wheels get mounted and Casey takes the truck for it’s FIRST DRIVE!
Casey addresses the turning issue, does a nice little burnout, and FINALLY destroys the heater!
Casey finishes off the interior, gets some carpet in and takes the truck for it’s first long drive, and wraps up going over the budget…
Casey finishes up all the patina process, builds a truck bed floor, and retrieves a cheap original windshield…
Casey burns and stains the bed wood with used motor oil (because viewers suggested it) and gets a bunch of new parts…
Casey finishes up the interior, installs some glass, and does a little goofing off…
Casey installs the rear glass and cuts the windshield, then installs it, “kinda”…
Casey finally gets the windshield installed, goes over the budget, and offers details about raffling the truck off…
Casey works to finish the side glass by chopping the stock vent windows…
Casey finishes up the chopped side windows, vent windows and installs the mirrors…
Casey finishes up the build and goes over the full build budget to see the final total…
