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1968 Ford F250

Visit www.geocities.com/deweylillard for complete history of the truck, pictures, and sound files.

The F - 250, 3/4 ton, 8 ft. full bed, two door, 5 speed on floor, 360 cubic inch V8, all white, Ford pickup was purchased by my father, Lester B. Lillard, in April of 1968 from Eddins Ford Motor Company here in Madison, Va. Also included were West coast mirrors, and a walk-in white and gold bed camper; all for the price of $3,800. Dad died intestate in March of 1969, and my mother, Eleanor D. Lillard, became heir and owner. During that time period the truck was used for travel of 9 miles to the grocery store each week and an occasional fishing trip on the Rappahannock River. The family farm was sold in 1986 and the truck was given to me (her son) for use in the building business. I used the truck as a construction workhorse from 1986 to 1997. In December of 1991, the motor was completely rebuilt and painted at 114,640 actual miles incurred. In October of 1997, I decided to retire and professionally restore the old truck using genuine Ford parts and or reproductions for that year of production. Restoration was completed in July of 1998, and the truck has been driven 3,639 miles to various antique car shows where it has won numerous awards and class placements.
The truck engine is a typical 360 cubic inch, 5 speed, V8 with the following modifications when restoration was completed. Headers were installed along with dual exhaust exiting on the sides of the truck bed. Gas mileage for that year and model truck ranged between 7 and 9 miles to the gallon of gas; after modification the engine opened up and gas mileage increased to 18 miles to the gallon. Standard horse power was 220; after modification it increased to 250 H. P.
The restoration was an involved process because I wanted to ensure that in the end, the vehicle would be just like it would have been in 1968 and last for another 40 years problem free! Even though the body was in great shape for a 40 year old truck, there were certain problem areas common to all models of Ford Trucks for the years 1968 to 1972. For this high humidity area there was little rust and rotten metal to repair. The entire truck was dismantled, piece by piece; the only thing left on the frame was the motor (which had already been restored), and the cab. The frame was sandblasted and painted with three coats of under body paint. The cab was stripped inside down to bare metal, sandblasted, primed, and painted. Dual walls were primed inside with Red zinc oxide primer to ensure rust control. All dash, ceiling, dash cover, seat upholstery, arm rests, and sun visors are original to the truck. My mother housed the vehicle in a large unused chicken house away from the sun, and installed a new seat cover every 2 years to protect the seat; thus all these items are like new! All rubber gaskets around the windows and doors were replaced, as well as the rubber floor covering. The floor mat dates to 1968 but is not a Ford product since they did not offer a full mat covering at that time. The A.M radio was replaced with an A.M., F. M., tape deck with speakers in the dash (as the original were) plus added door speakers.
Each piece of the truck was individually sandblasted, primed on the backside, and (if it had dual walls vent holes were taped off, gallons of red zinc oxide primer poured in, piece turned 360 degrees in all directions, holes opened, and paint drained) primed on the interior. Only then did the piece get its final coat of base and clear. All screws and bolts were primed and painted separately before re-assembly. If parts were exposed to the under body they were undercoated before and after re-assembly with a tar product to ensure coverage.
There are several problems that occur with the 1968 - 1972 Ford body style. In that time frame, most parts were made of several pieces of metal folded together to make one big part; not like today where we have one piece of metal forming the entire part. At the folds of the metal, even after welding and sealing, that joint was subject to rust and water damage. Most folds can be corrected by removing the seam sealer and sandblasting and applying a chemical rust treatment. Then by applying a good primer with resealing, the piece is ready for the finish coating.
This is what was done to all seams; sandblasted, chemical treatment, primed, resealed, and finish coated: standard procedure! However, the long seam where the fenders and bed meet present a special problem since road water and grime splash on this seam inside and out. All beds have a problem here with not only rust, but rotted out metal. This was the case here, the fender was good as well as the body but the seam was simply gone. Therefore, both fenders were cut completely off the bed, the old metal seams ground away and new angles welded in, and fenders welded back without any fiberglass filler. Seam was then treated with a chemical rust solution, primed with a Red zinc oxide primer, and resealed. Under body was then coated with tar undercoating (as well as backside of fenders) before the bed was reattached to the frame.
Along with this folded metal problem comes attached metal frames. All front fenders have a strut attached to the backside for strength at the joint, thus rust and water do their work. Each front fender rots out at the bottom of this strut, so the solution is to cut out the spot and weld in a new piece of metal (not fill with a filler which only makes it rust faster). After completing the above correct procedure, the strut was hole filled, Red zinc oxide primer poured in the space, turned all around and drained; only then was the fender primed and finish coated. After the finish procedure was done, the fender was primed again on the backside with the same Red zinc oxide primer and an undercoating applied before and after re-assembly.
Doors also present there own special problems since they are hollow and water is channeled through them out the bottom of the door. Most rust out on the bottom where the weep holes are and along the seam on the bottom. Such was the case here and the solution was to un-seam the two doors, replace the bottom outer skin with new ones while sandblasting the interior and chemical rust treatment. After re-seaming and resealing, the entire door holes were closed, gallons of Red zinc oxide primer poured in, door turned in all directions, and drained for weeks to dry. When the new bottom panel was replaced, metal struts were installed to make the doors more sturdy in that area.

$ 32,000

Madison, Virginia

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