For $20,000, Pop An Econowheelie
Ford's forward control E100 pick up was a cool truck despite its modest engine options. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe '63 offers up a 434 Chevy mill to address those performance issues, but even with that it's still kind of a drag.
When it comes to Porsche 928s, fully 80% of you want to be the U-boat commander, especially when the opportunity arrives with an eighty-five hundred asking price, and free of major mechanical or cosmetic issues, such as was yesterday's 1986 928S 5-speed. That Porsche was designed to make fast work of carving up the miles, what with its muscular V8 and aryan elf-built chassis. In contrast, today's contender is intended to address the horizon a quarter mile at a time.
It's not all that often that we have a non-streetable car here on NPOCP. Why? Well, because racecar of course. The last one that peppered these pages with trackside gravel was the rare and luv'rly Triumph Dolly a few weeks back. That one at the very least could still go left and right even if not down to the Dairy Queen. Obviously, as far as racers go, a dragster is about the biggest uni-tasker you can imagine, but when one does what this chopped and Chevy'd '62 Econoline does, you'll likely forget about anything else that needs a doin'.
Dave Opie may be a multi-tasker, I don't know. What I do think though is that he must have multiple personalities because while his wheel-standing pick up is a product of FoMoCo – of the Dearborn FoMoCos – it's powered by a honkin' big 434 Chevy, and pays homage to Bill 'Maverick Golden's Little Red Wagon, which of course was a Dodge.
Opie Gone Bad takes that Little Red Wagon concept of a pickup bed-mounted torque monster in a forward control truck and adds to that a 5-inch karate chop to the roof and a sassy sprinkle of the aforementioned Fordy goodness. Representing the bowtie brigade is a World 434 small block built by Ohio Crankshaft with Dart heads and a Prosystems Dominator carb that sucks 1050 CFM on CH3OH. A Shorty Glide sends power back to the massive Hoosiers wrapping Weld wheels, which in turn are bolted to the ends of a post-bris Ford 9". Geez, name drop much?
All that means this truck will, according to the seller, pop off consistent under 10 second quarters. And the best part is that it'll do the first 200 feet with its front tires enjoying the angle of the dangle as its wheelie bar scrapes the pavement out back. Of course if you were to buy it you'd want to change the name on the side – maybe something like Jalop-a-wheelie?
Okay, so he got smoked by a Camaro that time, but who looked like he was having more fun? Hell, if this thing would go around corners as well as it goes in a straight line, I'd consider it a viable daily driver, and as a '62, it's even able to be registered in California! Right now it's in Ontario, Canada and the seller sadly notes that the reason for the sale is due to an injury – must have hit his head on something while popping a wheelie. Twenty grand – probably Canadian – will get you all that wheel popping fun all for your lonesome, and if that's not enough, for five more he'll throw in a trailer and a 1984 30-foot (also probably Canadian) Pace motorhome with a 454. There's also a bunch of extra parts to take up space in your garage if that's a need that you've been desperately trying to fill – like that lonely place in your heart.
That's a whole lot of stuff for $25,000 in loonies. And if you decide that you don't need the home on wheels and trailer, but instead will just drive Opie Gone Bad home, you could knock that five grand off the price. What do you think about a 10-second, wheel-popping, top-chopping, Chevy monster-powered Ford E100 for $20,000? Does that price light up your Christmas tree? Or, has Opie gone and badly priced his Ford E100?
You decide!
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