My First Truck yep 1st we been together 44yrs

The Jade and I been together for 44 1/2 yrs., she is my first truck, and my first new vehicle. My children’s first memories are being lulled to sleep by the rough tones manufactured by the truck since it was my daily driver. I bought the truck to play in the sand dunes that run along the southern & eastern border of Lake Michigan. I ordered the truck as a plain Jane since I was planning to make it into a Hot Rod Ford.

Jade came stock 300-I6 with the manual truck 4 speed transmission, 1st being granny in front of a new process 205 transfer case then passing through a 9in. 3.50 posi rear axle. I placed a set of Armstrong TRU TRACKER’s tires to give it traction in the sand.

In the early 80's, when I needed more power, Ford didn't offer a power plant that wouldn't cost you an arm & leg to produce the horsepower I wanted. Then, I was introduced to a friend that wrecked his ‘69 Camaro with a 375hp 350 that has cast steel crank & rods. Being a certified welder and a fabricator it was a simple task to make the necessary parts to fit it into the truck.

Then, in 1983, life got into the way with a divorce, plus a lay-off at work, and the starting of a new job with a new family. Jade was parked in the back of the garage.

About 7 years ago, my life took a new direction with the help of Parkinson’s and degenerative disc disease. I had to retire and I didn’t have an idea what to do with myself. My best friend Randy and I were talking about the past fun we had with the truck. Then, Randy told me about LMC and the seeds were planted.

So, I decided it was time to let my grandchildren experience the same joy their parents did and not let Parkinson’s consume my time left. So I took her (Jade) down to her frame and with the help of LMC I restored her back to her prime. I’m very pleased with the depth and quality components that LMC has to offer.

I took the time to repaint her with Nason basecoat / clear coat to give the rich deep metallic dark jade green that she came with. The interior has radio conversion AM/FM Stereo with auxiliary input, four channels with 45 watts per channel, Bluetooth, USB, and voice command. A Cobra 29 Classic CB.

Jade has always been my “Hot Rod” Ford and I was going to expand on this by refining what’s under the hood. The 350 motor breaths, a Dual-Plane Edelbrock Performer EPS intake has a Holley 4-Barrel Double Pumper 650 cfm, rests on top of a pair of ported and polished cast iron 64cc - 2.02-1.65 valves, camel hump - angle plug heads.

The motor roar comes from a pair of custom headers made 1-5/8in tube, 3in collector headers with a 2 ½ X-Pipe Kit, Summit Racing™ complete electric exhaust cutout, then finally a pair of Walker Quiet-Flow SS mufflers. The health of the engine is monitored with the help of Stewart Warner Heavy-Duty Series Analog Gauges, AEM Electronics X-Series Wideband UEGO Air/Fuel Sensor and a Sun Super Tach II 8,000 RPM Blue Line Vintage Tachometer.

The muscle of this power plant is directed through a Ford wide ratio Top-Loader transmission that is a big input (1-3/8”) and big output (31 tooth) with a Hurst competition plus shifter. Then, it’s sent through the new-process 205 transfer case and then to the upgraded 4.11 gear.

As you can tell, she is a looker and also quick at a traffic light, even though she weighs in at 4800lbs.