Editor's Note: Getting your truck into Readers' Trucks is a snap, of the camera, that is. All it takes is a stack of good-quality photos of your ride that are in focus and well lit. Due to the volume of mail we receive, we regret that we cannot return photographs. Send photos of your truck (no Polaroids or printouts) to: CCT, Readers' Trucks, 774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870. It is important that you include a detailed description of the modifications you have made to your truck, including any interesting stories behind it.
A True Labor Of Love
The story of this '55 Ford truck began in Jacksonville, Mississippi, when Alex and Victoria Morrison purchased it in '69 to get to and from work. They even used it to build their home. In '79 they gave it to their son, Butch, for a graduation present. He immediately began making changes to it-like adding gold flames and some pinstriping.
In '89 Butch and a friend went to the F-100 Supernationals, back when it was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Butch decided it was time to do a frame-off restoration. He began taking the Ford apart piece by piece. He even chromed parts as he took them off. As a lot of builds go, other projects and circumstances prolonged the restoration much longer than expected. Eighteen years later, the truck was finally apart. Things took so long that the cab and other parts, that were already sandblasted, began to rust again. However, plans were always in the works to finish the truck. Butch and his dad always planned to reassemble the truck, and parts were ordered continuously over the years. There really wasn't any hurry to get the truck done-they thought they had plenty of time.
On July 7, 2004 Butch died unexpectedly at the age of 42. He took the plans for the '55 with him.
That October, Alex, his brother David, and friends, decided to finish Butch's last project and continue the dream by starting on the truck again. With the truck sitting up on four jackstands, they began hacking away. Four years later, the truck was finished. So they headed to the Supernationals, now in Knoxville, Tennessee, the birthplace of Butch's dream. Although it took four years to complete the build, they never gave up-making it a true labor of love.