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If you never take a look around and see what’s out there, you’re bound to miss some fantastic rigs that deserve some attention. That’s why we’re glad that we took a walk around our office yesterday, when we stopped at Mila Performance and came across this: a burnt orange 1995 Ford F-150, owned by Brandon Friddle.
Even though he’s a teenager, Brandon has built up his background in off-road in the course of owning the truck. Likewise, the truck has followed by getting built into a sweet retro-styled pickup that we can’t help but admire.
As both his first vehicle and first build, Brandon has done an excellent job of keeping the truck both practical and beautiful.
“I got the F-150 when I was 16, and it is my first vehicle and my first build,” said Brandon. “It has the 4.9-liter straight six and a manual five-speed transmission.”
The truck was bone-stock when Brandon purchased it, and Brandon got started on the modifications by installing a six-inch suspension lift, along with a three-inch body lift. This made it possible to install the 35-inch BF Goodrich All-Terrain KO2s, which were more recent.
The F-150 still uses the stock 4.9-liter straight-six motor, but Brandon has plans to swap it for a Cummins 4BT sometime in the future.
Brandon lifted the truck a total of nine inches, and can now fit 17-inch Vision wheels with 35-inch BFG All-Terrain KO2s. Plus, there’s still plenty of room for flex.
Fabrication was done entirely by Brandon, from the lift kits to the roll bar situated in the bed. It really adds to the look of the truck, and it’s an aesthetic choice that some are starting to embrace again. You can thank nostalgia for this comeback, and we’d like to see it grow more and more in the coming years.
“I’ve invested probably 200 man hours to keep this truck going,” said Brandon. “A lot of that was from doing the suspension lift in my driveway and using the tools in my garage. Getting it all off of the ground using one floor jack and a couple of old jackstands was a big task.”
It took Brandon a solid two weeks, working every day, to get the suspension and body lift kits fabricated by himself.
With six KC Daylighters and two LED pods wired to Reverse, the lighting part of the truck is pretty well taken care of. Brandon isn’t sure when he’ll be doing his next set of modifications, but he has his sights set on one day swapping out the straight-six for a Cummins 4BT diesel motor. “That’s probably another 100,000 to 200,000 miles away,” he joked.
Brandon put plenty of personality into the truck, from the tongue-in-cheek bumper stickers, to the self-fabricated roll bar, to the square-pod LED lights that turn on when he goes into Reverse.
Given how the F-150 has progressed up to now, we have no doubt that Brandon will refashion his truck to the ultimate level as time ticks by We look forward to seeing where the build goes from here.
