ace it; a longbed truck is more practical, rides better, gets the same fuel economy, and hauls way more stuff. Yet we still crave the more balanced look of the sportier-looking short trucks. Toss on a cool set of wheels and you’ve got a great-looking parts chaser or cars-and-coffee star. The shorties bring a lot more money at the sale, and the factory ones are getting harder to find—especially without rust! If you’re handy with a measuring tape, and you’ve got a friend with a MIG welder, you can dig in and build your own with the help of the automotive aftermarket, namely Auto Metal Direct (AMD), who’s earned the reputation as a high-quality aftermarket manufacturer, starting out with Mopar offerings and expanding into all things truck. AMD is continuously adding to the F-100 catalog and now offers both inner and complete bedside assemblies for 1973-79 F-100 trucks (as well as 1973-79 longbed outer panels) and a host of other much-needed replacement parts. We’ll walk you through the process of building your very own bed from the AMD catalog, starting with the floor and working your way to a complete assembly.

This truck belongs to Chris Slee of Kiwi Classics and Customs in Franklin, Tennessee, and actually became his shop truck by accident. The storage yard behind his restoration shop was selling it for the storage charges. Though he won’t say exactly how much he paid, it was a STEAL and he couldn’t resist. He freshened up the engine, took care of the common rust in the core support and front fenders with AMD parts, and made the plan to shorten it up to suit his needs for a cool-looking shop truck. Slee is no stranger to heavy fab, so he went to work measuring and shortening the frame, having a driveshaft made, and driving it 45 miles down to my shop to build and install the new bed. We did this project in two sessions: one to build the bed and one to replace cab corners and install the new assembly, which gave Slee time to cut the bed down and wait for the new driveshaft to arrive.

ust a short while or two back in the Sept. ’25 issue, we endeavored to illustrate the installation and easier break-in of slightly slimmer (PN 60-0485-72) door weatherstrips from Steele Rubber Products. That was for our ongoing 1955 second-series Chevy build, and as always those particular weatherstrips truly made the easier break-in difference.

If you happened to catch the aforementioned story before ordering Brand X online door weatherstrips for your own Task Force or Blue Chip truck project, we’re pleased if we’ve saved you frustration. Even so, our own work is still not quite finished here.

We’ve talked about the weatherstrips, but it seems to yours truly that the nuts ’n’ bolts of the job might be worth a mention as well. At this stage of our subject truck’s build, panels are painted. Yes, for the most part, they’re in living color, and hopefully for keeps.

ainting an assembled engine block can be a tedious task with all the masking involved to prevent unwanted components from being coated and items like pulleys and/or dampers preventing access to certain areas of the block. I’ve always preferred to paint the bare block, heads, and intake before assembly begins so that all the detailed areas can be easily covered. Sometimes, the condition of the engine upon arrival is out of our hands and we have to make do with what we’ve got.

We found ourselves in just such a situation recently, as an assembled long-block Chevy engine arrived at the In The Garage Media Tech Center, bound for one of many of our magazine builds. The engine was freshly rebuilt by our buddy Evan Perkins of Westech Performance and it was decided that lest we disrupt the otherwise leak-free performance of the timing cover and oil pan, we’d simply mask off what we didn’t want painted and hit the rest. The block had been hot tanked prior to machining and assembly, so it would be a simple manner of wiping things clean with Acetone before proceeding.