NICK CUMMINS
F100, 1974 (or is it 1968?)
F100. F IS FOR FRANKENSTEIN.
It’s actually a 1974, F100 Ford Truck chassis with a 1968, F100 body. I created that mistake.
For a number of years I had it is a 1974 F100. They’ve got a ‘dint-side’. Earlier models like the 1968 are called the ‘bump-side’. They’re a much more elegant shape that I like. So over time I collected a ‘68 cab, bonnets, side skirts, panels….basically a whole new truck in parts.
And then I paid someone to put all them all onto the 1974 chassis.
Wha-la!!
And all the ‘shit-bits’ are now at the tip.
GIFT OF GRUNT
It doesn’t perform like Frankenstein.….because I was lucky enough to have my beautiful wife Heidi say that instead of having a 50th birthday bash I could spend some money on grunting up the truck. So I put a brand new 351 Windsor crate-motor in it.
Truck grunting. That’s love right there.
I did some other things too. I put power steering in it which is really quite tricky. There’s a particular Datsun from the 1970s (I think it’s the 240Z) that has power steering that fits an F100 truck. And I remember asking a guy at the wrecker if he had any. He said mate …”they’re as rare as rocking horse shit”…. because everyone who’s got an F100 wants to put a Nissan power steering box in it. So you can’t find them. It took me some searching but I eventually found one.
RARE AS ROCKING HORSE SHIT
HARDEN THE ‘TRUCK’ UP!
I tracked down a metal grill. Because they often came with a plastic grill.
And….stupidly….I put it on gas. Because back then it was cheaper to run on gas but now its fricken’ hard to find gas. So it’s a performance engine and I’ve kinda weakened its performance in a way.
But what the heck. It still goes hard. It’s a workhorse.
There a couple of signature little additions in the cabin. Two of which have a slightly religious bent about them.
One of them is Mary. Well…not actually Mary. I’d describe her as a Mexican pin-up girl that could be Mary’s latino doppel-ganger I guess.
I love Hot-Rodding culture (I’m doing up a 1928 Ford Roadster as well) and a lot of that Hot-Rodding aesthetic. Mexican iconography is often a part of that. I guess that’s why I have the Mexican Madonna on my dash.
HAIL MARY
I’ve also got a Chris medal (St Christopher to be fully respectful). Of course, St Christopher is the patron saint of travel and I like the fact that he was a bit of your bad-boy saint. He was hard to pin down.
My grandmother Monica was an Irish Catholic woman who went to mass three times a day. And when I first got my licence she gave me a St Christopher medal. So the medals go in all my cars. Gran always had a magnetic one on her old Mazda and I’m continuing the family tradition.
At a junk market in Paris one day I found about sixty pressed metal tin discs and I bought the lot. The other 59? They’re all at Electrogusto and if you buy a car off me you can have one.
BAD BOY SAINT
DEFINING THE DRIVER
I truly believe that people do drive cars because they say something about their personality. You’ll see someone drive an old HQ Monaro that they’ve spent more money on than their own house and it makes them feel a whole lot things. It makes them feel like a man of the people. Then you see someone driving a snazzy sports car and it probably makes them feel like they’ve made it. It is an achievement ribbon.
I hope my F100 says that I’m down to earth, practical, nostalgic, a little bit ‘70s-Aussie’, a bit country boy. And ultimately a bit different. That all works for me.
A UTE FULL IS USEFUL
I’ve always loved how form and function can go together. And they do that really well in this truck. It is a utilitarian vehicle. It can do stuff others can’t.
People always want my help because I’ve got it – shift a fridge; pick up a big Christmas tree; load up at Bunnings….its a massive ute. And looks good while it works.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. RESPECT
I’ve got to say out of all my wheels and rides this one seems to get the most respect on the roads. It gets a lot of second looks. People often smile and give the truck the thumbs up. I get way more thumbs up in that than the vintage Porsche. Way more. Way more love. It’s the car of the people. And that makes me feel good.
I grew up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland. And as a kid I always loved trucks, utes and farm machinery. Any sort of utilitarian machinery. No surprise then that my first car was a ute. When I left the farm I was given the property XP Falcon ute. God I wish I still had that one!
As a country boy in the city, the F100 has given me a way of feeling a little closer to my rural roots. I’ve got an old International Scout as well. One day I’ll tart that one up too. Make it electric of course.
RURAL ROOTS
A lot of my growing up experiences have influenced the car choices I’ve made. And a lot of that was my dad’s influence. I’ll never forget the car he got one year (and the car that I wish I’d kept) - a two door Range Rover. I remember thinking “WOW” the day he came home in that. It was such a cool looking car. So different to anything I’d seen. Maybe that’s when my love for the more utilitarian, functional, bigger vehicles started. Also, the love of simple, basic car design. Range Rover was never designed by a car designer. It was just designed by a dude. It was a brick-like shape with loads of glass. Its probably why I just flew down to Tassie recently to buy one.
DEAR DAD…
Dad took me to the car show once and I remember him showing me a Rolls Royce and me thinking “Oh my god, THAT is a Rolls Royce!” I’d come from a Primary School of six kids. We never saw that kind of thing in real life. All of a sudden I’m in front of the best car in the world and I’m mesmerised. I leant across the red rope to touch it. I just wanted to go back to the Primary School and tell the other kids “I touched a Rolls Royce”. That’s playground cache right there. I touched it and my dad whacked me across the back of the head and said “Don’t touch what you don’t own.” And I think from that day I said to myself I’m going to own a 1970s Rolls Royce. Maybe this year is the year? I want one without a motor to electrify it.
WISH LIST
I do have a driving playlist on spotify. There’s probably a bit of ‘holler and stomp’ in there (or whatever the fuck they call it). You know when you’re driving a car that you really like, it kind of gives you that kind of feel-good swagger. Well, I reckon the music helps with that. Songs that you can enjoy with the arm out the window. There’s long shadows on the road; arm on the window sill; and wind in your beard. Listening to music changes the way I drive. I love it.
HOLLER AND STOMP
Then there’s always Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra. How good is the Country & Western, almost movie kind of storytelling vibe to that song? People sometimes comment that if you’re driving the F100 you somehow feel like you’re in a movie going to a remote and mysterious place. You’re part of a story. It’s full escapism. And the era of that song delivers that. It fits the truck. It’s an outlaw song.
BANG BANG
I’ve had a shit load of cars over the years. Sheeesh. Maybe 20 or so. And I’ve kept most of them! How could I choose a favourite. My preferred ride changes depending on my mood. But my 1968 911 Porsche has a special place in my heart.
FAVOURITE CHILD
One thing I really love about the F100 is that people get out of your way.
In most of my other cars people cut in front or block you. But this beast makes them nervous. It’s a real power play.
KING OF THE ROAD
The truck is really getting old now and they really are becoming sought after. But who cares. This one’s a keeper for me.
Someday Sunday (my daughter) will inherit it. And maybe someday her daughter might inherit it. The thought of that is something I love.
MOTO AMORO
