no WT police needed !

Not a big Pete fan other than a Needle Nose. Probably started out as a Glider. Easiest way to do a chassis modification actually.

Western Stars and IH Eagles are my thing.

burningman wrote:
Would be nice if it were a needle-nose?? That’s an old (‘70s-80s, you can’t pinpoint by looking outside) long-nose 359, the coolest truck ever built! 359s are narrower than modern 379 and 389s and have the vintage style without being too horrible to drive, although the hvac still kind of sucks.
If it were a ‘60s 309 it might be cool looking but have you ever driven one? It would be a nightmare to drive. It would have an under-300 hp motor, no power steering, probably a pain in the butt trans setup like a 5 & 4, no air ride, etc. You can’t get enough radiator in a 309 to cool a bunch of power.
That rig is about as cool as it can be! Love it!!

A little off topic but, uh no, that's not a 359. It is indeed a model 379 long hood 127"bbc. Not enough pics to tell about what year though. All he did is swap (one change) to single round headlights from the factory dual square to change the looks up a bit.

One of the easiest ways to tell a 359 is to look where the air cleaners enter, on a 359 it is a cut out in the hood. 379 is direct into the cowl. A lot of other differences of course. Windshield is another easy one. :)

work2much wrote:


Here is the link!

Thanks.
Love the 3000 miles tank, but I wonder how the single supersingles handle with tall camper?
I still wonder about "It didn’t cost us a lot of money to build this"
I see $3000 for Ford bed
rear supersinges probably another $2000
$2-4,000 for sleep-over and storage materials
$2600 for inspection.
Even they prep themselves, the friend did not paint it for free?
9 months of labor. Been there.....

How many 1980's semi tractors had more HP than new 440HP Ford pickup?
You convert something like this, you drive it to DMMV to register as and RV and use A licence. End of the story.
Air brakes endorsement doesn't apply in lot of states.
It is cool camper from the outside, but I wonder how he finished inside. I imagine flat 8" wide floor gives much more options.
It is classC motorhome afterall. One with good roll-over rating.

In actuality, you can buy a tractor pretty cheap (compared to a new 1 ton pickup truck), Pete, KW, Western Star (my preference) or an International Eagle conventional. Issue is, most will be twin screw so there will be frame work involved (stretching the frame) and removing a drive axle, or leaving it a stretched twin screw, possibly an engine and driveline rebuild (Cats especially aren't cheap to rebuild), but, you wind up with a very capable and powerful toter.

Of course you'll have to learn how to shift a 13 or 18 speed Roadranger unless you can find one with an automatic (select shift) box.

Lots of them out there. You'd probably wind up at the same cost as a new pickup after frame modifications and rebuilding, but, with a much more capable (power and torque) unit that any current pickup (stock) has.

Not sure about plating one and license requirements. It has air brakes so an air brake endorsement is necessary and I would imagine that most states will still recognize it as a commercial vehicle so a Class A license too.

I think it is very cool...you want power, you got there

A needlenose Pete's hood is about half as wide as a 359's and slightly longer. Still nice though.

I bet the turn radius is about half a football field. Pete's are noted for not a whole lot of wheel cut.

Would be nice if it were a needle-nose?? That’s an old (‘70s-80s, you can’t pinpoint by looking outside) long-nose 359, the coolest truck ever built! 359s are narrower than modern 379 and 389s and have the vintage style without being too horrible to drive, although the hvac still kind of sucks.
If it were a ‘60s 309 it might be cool looking but have you ever driven one? It would be a nightmare to drive. It would have an under-300 hp motor, no power steering, probably a pain in the butt trans setup like a 5 & 4, no air ride, etc. You can’t get enough radiator in a 309 to cool a bunch of power.
That rig is about as cool as it can be! Love it!!

gemsworld wrote:
I dunno. The rear end seems to be sagging a bit. :B

He dumped the air ride ....