At a glance, it is really hard to believe this 1956 F-100 had been retired from heavy duty farm work, to sitting in a barn for 17 years, slowly wasting away as father time passed by. That was until it was “un-retired” by a hot rod builder. As the story goes, a local hot rod builder in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Don Mathis, had resurrected this hauler from its barn like crypt. Don is no stranger to custom auto build ups, for he has built several street rods in the past, but this time he wanted to shift gears. Instead of building a street rod, Don wanted to build a hot rod pick up truck. By the looks of it, we say mission accomplished! Don began his search in the local classifieds and as luck would have it, he ran across this truck. Don decided to go check out the condition of this former farm hauler and just as he thought, the truck was in rough condition, but nothing that a hot rod builder couldn’t handle. With a lot of available parts for these early model haulers, Don saw the potential that others did not.

Don paid the seller his asking price and hauled the truck to his house where the three year build up would commence. To kick things off, the body had to be rid of any dents, dings, and rust. Paul Herman of Gallatin, Tennessee, was tasked with this job as well as laying down the Dupont Viper 2000 Racing Yellow paint. For the most part, the body of the “effie” remains as it did when it first rolled off the assembly line and retains its original sheet metal, except for the running boards and tailgate.

As mentioned, Don kept the exterior modifications subtle in nature, but modifications were made in order to give it the appropriate mix of contemporary and classic styling. In the rear, Don shortened the bumper and tucked it in closer to the body. A custom pan was built for the custom LED taillight bar that spans across the back right above the bumper. Topping off the rear exterior modifications is a steel, custom made, flush mounted, hard tonneau bed topper. On the nose, the front bumper was shortened tucked in closer to the body as well and the wiper cowl vents, louvers, and seams were filled and smoothed.

With the body banged back into shape, it was time to move onto the big enchilada, the chassis. A lot of time was spent reworking the original frame in preparation for a shaved down big-block Ford 429 power plant. In fact, Don made sure his hard work on the chassis would not go unnoticed by adding a mirror underneath the bed! To kick off the chassis work, Don filled in all unnecessary holes and boxed in th hollow areas as well. A Chrysler 1978 Cordova suspension, with two inch dropped spindles, brings the front end down and gives the truck a nice hot rod rake. Don also wanted to make sure his hauler would stay on the road and out of the field, for the only fields this truck would ever see again would be show fields! So, Don added a beefy set of sway bars to the front and rear. Finishing off the rear suspension consists of a narrowed 31 Ford 9 inch, rebuilt leaf spring pack, and traction bars.

The suspension was good-to-go and Don began to think about a set of wheels that would really make this classic hauler stand out. Originally, Don mounted the classic 17 inch American Racing Torque Thrust wheels all the way around wrapped in BFGoodrich G Force rubber. Don thought it looked good, but he also felt that a bigger wheel size in the rear would look even better. As Don put it, “Why bring a knife to a gun fight?”, so the 17 inchers were scrapped for a set of 20 inchers to stay within contemporary hot rod trends.

The body was painted and the wheels were mounted, all that was left was the interior. Keeping in line with the street rod style, everything that took away from the flow of the original dash was removed and tucked away from view. The air conditioning controls were moved into the modified glove box and the lighting switches were mounted in a hidden flip down panel under the dash. The ash tray was removed as well and the air conditioning unit was moved up into the center of the dash. Underneath, the air conditioning cover was made from a Harley Sportster gas tank. Dakota digital gauges and a Budnik billet steering wheel were installed to give the dash a contemporary custom look. For seating, Don used a set of 1999 Oldsmobile bucket seats which flank a custom made center console that houses the custom stereo unit as well as the switches for the power windows and the power tonneau topper.

Enlisting the help of Allen Bennet of Chuck Bennett’s Upholstery, custom rod style panels were made for the doors and the bed of the truck. A neutral Mercedes tan leather covers the seats, steering wheel, center console, underside of the tonneau topper, and bed walls. Mercedes tan carpeting tops off the interior of the cab and bed.

At the 2003 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Don won Ford’s outstanding achievement in design award, which I can assure you is no small feat! As long as Don keeps building trucks with such attention to detail, such as this “un-retired effie”, it only makes sense that Don will continue to win such awards.