Troy Lambert’s Big-block Ford-powered ’56 F-100

Troy Lambert’s passion for everything automotive began at a young age while he worked at his father’s service station pumping gas, filling up tires and keeping the floors spic and span. It was that early connection to cars and customers in his youth that planted both the gearhead and entrepreneurial seeds within him.

Like most diehard Ford fans, Troy wanted a Ford in a Ford and searched high and low for a truck with a Blue Oval bullet under its bonnet. After looking at several trucks with Chevy engines stuffed into a Ford doghouse, Troy elected to build his own custom pickup.
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After all, then he could create the truck exactly how he wanted it and with a Ford heartbeat to boot. A fairly solid ’56 was located and the build was off and running at Chaotic Rods & Customs in Conroe, Texas.

The build team at Chaotic started the project by removing all of the sheet metal, getting down to the Effie’s bones. The stock frame was boxed and fit with a Heidts front end complete with Heidts spindles, chrome control arms, coil-over shocks and rack-and-pinion steering. In the rear, the altitude was adjusted with a Heidts 4-link, coil-overs and adjustable pan hard bar all pivoting off of a 9-inch Ford posi-equipped rear-end stuffed with Strange axles and 3.73:1 gears.
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For stopping power, Mustang discs up front and Metric GM discs out back were plumbed with a factory Corvette master cylinder and 7-inch frame-mounted booster. Capping off the smoothed and modernized chassis is a dose of charcoal gray paint and 20×8.5-inch front and 20×10-inch rear Intro V-Rod billet wheels clothed in Toyo Proxes 2 rubber.
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There’s usually a smallblock Chevy under the hood of most F-100s, but that just wasn’t going to cut it for Troy. Pulling out all of the stops, a 427-ci Ford Motorsports crate motor was the mill of choice to push this masterpiece down the road and roast the rear Toyos in the process. The Blue Oval Rat was equipped with a steel crankshaft and topped with an Edelbrock intake and Holley 750 dualfeed carburetor.

For just the right mechanical music and to kick the octane cocktail out the back door, the Chaotic crew bolted up a set of Jet- Hot-coated BBK headers mated to a 2.5-inch exhaust to shove spent gasses through Magnaflow mufflers.

Once all of the metal modifications were complete and the bodywork’s dust had settled, the Chaotic crew rolled the truck into the paint booth and laid down the PPG Galaxy Red topcoat.

Once the paint and body were finished it was time to bring the build home with a knock-out interior. Ricki Duke of Duke’s Custom Upholstery went to work sculpting the inside of the F-100 into a leather masterpiece. A custom-made seat frame took the place of the original bench, and the seat, custom door panels, headliner and custom under-dash panel were covered in triple-stitched gray leather.

Troy Lambert had this truck built to remind him of the good old days, when things were mechanical and people put in an honest hard day’s work.