 |
A legend rebornNovember 22, 2005 When the F-150 pickup that Frank "Scoop" Vessels drove to history-making Class 8 victories in the 1977 SCORE Baja 500 and 1000 came into the shop for restoration at Spirit Racing in El Cajon, California, it did not look good. It was without motor or transmission and had been sitting for more than 30 years. But Spirit Racing proprietor Jeremy Spirikoff considers it an icon of off-road racing. This is, after all, the truck that demonstrated to the world the superiority of the revolutionary new BFGoodrich® Radial All-Terrain T/A®KO and Radial Mud-Terrain T/A®KM tires at a time when bias ply agricultural tires were the off-road racing norm. Jeremy, what kind of condition was Scoop's pickup in when it first arrived at your shop? The yellow chassis paint was flaked off, the truck was very greasy and dirty, just very dilapidated and ragged looking, and the body had some dings. But I was excited about restoring it because of what it is and what it means to off-road racing history. How bad was it? Nothing was very rusted, so the storage must have been kind of climate controlled. The biggest challenge was repairing the damage the truck had suffered structurally from racing. What kind of damage? Given the design structure of trucks back in those days—the lack of chassis configuration, the lack of triangulation—there was a lot of room for damage, and you could tell lots and lots of repairs had been done. We had to repair lots of cracks in the chassis, in the cab, and the body just to make it look decent. 
What was your goal in restoration—to make it look like new, or the way it looked when Scoop was racing it?
We wanted to make it look fairly decent. The body had some dings, the hood had been replaced, and our procedure was what we'd do with any truck restoration: just pull it apart and make it right from the ground up. We've had so many Ford pickups—especially the early ones—apart and back together that we can do it in our sleep. But this one was different? Once we pulled it apart, we started seeing more and more cracks and things ready to fall apart on the vehicle. So we determined to do as complete a restoration as possible. We pulled it 100% apart and sent everything out for sandblasting and powder-coating. Then we had to replace the hood, which the previous owner had replaced, and cut holes in it to match the holes Scoop had cut in the hood when he raced it. What were the holes? Two ovals in the front, two ovals on each side and a big triangle on each side. They were for cooling, and they also gave it kind of a mean look. Scoop loaned me photos so I was able to duplicate the holes he had cut. We wanted to get it as close as possible. What about restoring the suspension? That was a challenge. Scoop originally ran Rough County B Mark Five shocks, which were the best available at the time. But they were non-adjustable, so everybody would cut the tops off and machine a screw-on top so you could go inside and adjust the valving. Finding a set of period B Mark Five shocks that had not been cut up took some doing. How did you find them? Just asked around. I asked all my friends and my dad's friends, who raced back then, if they had any, and I finally collected enough. How many did it take? There were three shocks per wheel. Plus, Scoop used two shocks between the rear frame and the axle as an anti-windup device. Did you power it with a Ford propane-conversion race motor like the original? No. We decided to go with a gasoline engine, which is what the truck was converted to right after Scoop retired it. It's a Ford 460, a legitimate engine for the period. It was a matter of expense and practicality. What was it like working on the truck that changed the course of off-road racing? It was pretty exciting restoring an icon of the sport, knowing it's going to end up in the Off-Road Racing Hall of Fame. What's your feeling about the BFGoodrich tires that Scoop raced and won on? They are just the best. I've been involved with BFGoodrich in off-road racing since the 1980s and I've had nothing but excellent experiences with them. I cannot tell you how many teams I've worked with over the years—at least 20—that ran BFGoodrich tires. And it was always amazing what they could take. Flat tires were so rare, and it was unbelievable how hard you could hit something with the tires, and not damage them. They're just the best. Visit Spirit Racing online at their website www.spiritracing.com. 
|
 |
| See Archives 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 |
