Rebuilding A Ford C700 Into A Shelby Style Car Hauler

by Michael Satterfield – 05/16/2024

I have always loved vintage car haulers. There is just something about race car haulers from the 50s-70s that is cooler than today’s plane white boxes. Perhaps no hauler was more emblematic of the era than the Ford C Series cab-over truck, built from 1963 to 1990; everyone from Shelby American to Wood Brothers Racing used the C Series in various configurations. At race tracks around the world, it was likely you would see a C Series in the pits.

Our truck, 1969, was originally ordered as a cab and chassis and was sent to rural Nebraska, where it would live a life as a co-op grain hauler; after 53 years of service, it was parked in 2022, and the bed was transferred to a new truck. I found it on an obscure auction site and paid to have it hauled down to Texas. The truck is complete, mostly straight, and is supposed to run, but when I saw it for the first time it got me thinking about what would be the best way to track a project of this size.

For me, it is all about the looks and being transported back to a different time, so I think I want to keep the original chassis. For drivability, I have been thinking about repowering it with a modern drivetrain. Many people think I should buy a modern crashed truck and swap the body. But looking at the size of this thing, I don’t know if a modern import cab over is big enough.

Between the frame rails is a big, oil-covered, and tired FE series. In chatting with friends, I have had every suggestion, from a diesel swap to doing a battery-electric hybrid like the guys up at Edison Motors. Of course, most people just say LS swap, but I think I would like to keep it Ford if I keep it gas-powered, but Desiel is a different animal altogether.

Check out my video below as I see the C700 for the first time and let me know in the comments what you would do.