So you have installed a Crown Victoria factory IFS system in your hot rod and now you find out that at 68 inches hub to hub it is too wide to comfortably fit good size wheels and tires. Fatman has the answer with Tubular Control Arms narrowed 1 inch per side. They are TIG welded in fixtures, using 1½-inch lower and 1-inch upper 0.188 heavy wall DOM steel tubing and are assembled with top-quality bushings and ball joints. All the original mounting points for the 2003-2011 Ford design are provided. The lower mount for the factory coilover assembly is provided with an alternate hole to allow a 1½-inch drop while retaining the stock spindles, allowing easy conversion to RideTech or QA1 coilovers.

an we talk about body fillers? White Star, Black Magic, if we go back any further we’ll be talking about lead. When we think of lead fillerwork today we’re likely thinking of famous ’50s customizers, or the same-era craftsmen of the autobody trade.

Bet you’re not thinking of autobody butchers. The ugly truth is: Before polyester fillers caught on, butchers used lead, too. I know because I’ve ground and melted liberal applications away for fresh starts numerous times during my own career.

Back in California, around the middle of the ’70s when I was, oh, in training, leadwork was still a part of Riverside Community College night school curriculum. But afterward, in the collision repair field, I can’t recall using lead one single time. Polyester fillers were improving, and by then insurers wouldn’t pay the difference for lead anyhow.

Granted, there are still some old-time craftsmen—no, let’s call ’em artists—who know how to lead. This story, however, won’t be about that, as we’ll be using fillers that are commonly used and available today.

hen Pete and Leslie Richmond sat down with the Cotati Speed Shop crew to determine how to get their 1968 C10 to sit right, look good, handle well, and stop even better, the one thing they knew was that they were going with a company that offered a “full system.” They knew that mixing and matching components had the risk of incompatibility. It was also decided that they wanted a system that would allow for full adjustability when it came to the stance as well as the handling of the truck. Stock coil springs and non-adjustable tube shocks wouldn’t cut it nor would the stock trailing arm setup out back.

Last month, we followed along with the Cotati crew as they installed a QA1 front suspension kit from Speedway Motors on the Richmond C10, so it should come as no surprise that when it came to addressing the rear suspension, the guys went with more of the same.