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InTheGarageMedia.com

Perfection Through Correction
Dylan Keindl Dismantles a Restored 1972 F-100 to Build the Bumpside of His Dreams
BY SCOTTY LACHENAUER IMAGES BY THE AUTHOR
F

or some people, good just isn’t good enough, and great, well, that can also fall short as well. Great to who? Maybe to you, and the majority, but not to everyone. It’s all a matter of an owner’s personal style and taste. Add to the fact that some people just aren’t satisfied no matter what the case. Dylan Keindl of Pine Bush, New York, is one of those guys. Dylan will take someone else’s idea of perfection and rework it to eventually suit his idea of what real perfection is.

Now, Dylan’s been a Ford guy his whole life, starting out his automotive journey in high school with a ’64-1/2 Mustang. “I come from a Ford ponycar family. Dad always had Mustangs, along with my cousin and uncle,” Dylan states. But soon the creative and driven young gun started to veer off the road, setting his sights on something different. “The thought of going fast in something that wasn’t expected to go fast was becoming much cooler to me at that time.” Rather than build a big-block ’Stang or Fairlane, Dylan set his sights on something more intriguing to him: an F-100.

Over the years, Dylan bought and built some sweet F-100 rides, but somehow a Bumpside always eluded him. So, at one point, Dylan decided the time was right to move onto the truck he really wanted. “Two years ago, I headed to the Carlisle Auctions to hopefully score a super-nice ’67-72 Bump to call my own.” He quickly spied a flawless vehicle to bring home: a ’72 that had been meticulously restored by the previous owner. Not only was it mechanically on par, with its 351ci, four-speed combo, it was also a looker, now coated in a high-end modern gray/silver finish. “I had searched for a while for the right truck, and I thought for sure this was it.”

Dylan was determined to score this particular ride, and now he had to get past the other suitors to bring it on home. “This was the right truck at the right time for me. I said to myself, I don’t care what it costs me today, I got to have it. Of course, I got into a bidding war with another gentleman who wanted it almost as bad as I did. He eventually gave up, but I probably paid a little more than I expected. But that didn’t matter in the moment, as the truck was now mine.”

Once the title was in his hand, the stunning Ford pickup was brought home and parked at the house. Then it happened. Dylan immediately started having second thoughts about his new-to-him Ford. “The truck was pretty much perfect, and it was everything I thought I wanted in a truck … until I got it home. When I got it home, I pulled it in my shop and immediately started taking it apart.”

Custom distressed leather interior with diamond-pleat bench seat.
Front grille and halo headlights of a 1972 F-100.
Custom dashboard with Dakota Digital gauges and leather wrap.
From Deconstruction to Reconstruction
Dylan started removing everything he thought was wrong with the Ford. As time went on, more and more parts came off, until finally, he was down to the frame. “As my wife says I’m never satisfied with anything and can never just leave things alone. Once I was at the frame, I then knew this was going to be a full-on build.” At that point it was obvious to Dylan that he needed a real game plan, and an extensive parts list to go along with it. “I picked parts from all the big dogs of the industry that I wanted to be part of the build.”

So, Dylan ordered up the engine, transmission, suspension, rearend, wheels, and brakes, after doing a ton of research on what was going to work with what he wanted to accomplish. “I was OK with paying more for parts from reputable companies, and it certainly paid off in the long run. I had no issues whatsoever with any of the parts for this build.”

To start it off, the frame was stripped bare and powdercoated. Next the QA1 coilover conversion suspension was bolted up front, which consists of a set of double-adjustable coilovers, rack-and-pinion and an adjustable 5- to 7-inch drop with included drop spindles. Out back it’s more of the same QA1 goodness, with double-adjustable coilovers, and panhard bar. Everything is adjustable, including the torque arm, trailing arms, bracket mounts, and shocks and bar. To get the power to the meats out back, a Currie 9-inch rear with a TrueTrac third member stuffed with 4.11 polished gears handles the duties.

Mocking up the drivetrain was next, and Dylan certainly picked one hell of a mill to propel this Blue Oval beast down the road. Though the 351ci motor that came with the truck was a worthy powerplant, Dylan knew he needed more; and more he got! “I built the current motor starting with a Ford Performance Dart 427ci stroker small-block crate motor. From there we added Borla injection up top and it’s all managed through a Holley Terminator X setup.” It was built by Prestige Motorsports out of Concord, North Carolina. It’s backed by a 4R70W Level IV transmission built by Gearstar out of Akron, Ohio.

Once the driveline was laid out, Dylan relocated the gas tank to the rear of the truck and slapped the cab back on. “Then it was time to put the bed back on, but the wheelwells needed to be tubbed before that could happen. So, I reached out to Gillin Custom Design in Florida, New York, to see if they could do that for me because I am not a fabricator. I then dropped the truck off to them and they handled everything that needed to get done.”

The next step was the interior. “I needed a top-of-the-line interior, so I let Gillin handle that too.” The crew designed and executed a flawless cockpit featuring a custom seat covered in distressed leather in a diamond pleat pattern. To give the cockpit a fluid look, the top of the dash also received the same leather treatment, along with the steering wheel and door panels. Dakota Digital gauges add a modern touch to the cockpit and Vintage Air handles the HVAC needs.

Ford Performance 427ci stroker engine with Borla stack injection.
To add some bling to the corners, Forgeline three-piece custom wheels were chosen to pull it all off. Dylan chose 19×9 fronts with 19×11.5 out back. They are shod in Michelin rubber, 255/35-19 and 315/30-19, respectively. Wilwood six-piston pinchers along with two-piece rotors help this ride stop on a dime. Other add-ons include an exhaust featuring custom headers and electric cutouts, feeding a pair of MagnaFlow mufflers. A Wizard aluminum radiator keeps it all cool, even on those hot New York summer nights. As far as the paint and bodywork, Dylan was more than happy with the truck’s hue and the execution of the paintjob. The only thing it needed was a good buff to get that metallic finish to radiate out in the sun.
Tubbed wheelwells and finished bed floor of a custom F-100.
Once completed, Dylan admired his new ride. Looking back on the process that got him to this point, he says, “With two kids and multiple businesses to manage, I slowly learned that at the rate I was going it was going to take me a long time to finish the truck at the level that I wanted it done with the very little time I had. It was tough for me because I never paid people to work on anything before. But after seeing the work that Gillin does for its clientele, I was very happy I had a place that would be able to do it at the level that I hoped for. In life you get to a point where you have money or time, but you never have both.”

He sums it up this way: “The truck is finally what I was after, feels good to finally drive something that I’ve been working on for over two years and then seeing it come to life after imagining it in my head; from the exterior and going for that darker look to the interior being super comfortable. Even though it’s a bench seat ride, it’s cut to my body to keep me planted in the seat, which is key. The truck feels like a train on rails on the road and with the right tuning, we got the truck absolutely dialed.”

Dylan thanks the people who helped out during the build. “I would like to thank Gillin Custom Designs for being awesome to work with on this project and of course thank my wife, Brianna, for always letting me do whatever I want and never saying I can’t do anything!”

Rear view showing the tailgate and custom exhaust of an F-100.
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