Everyone can rest easy......Altman went with a Ford power plant
When it comes to selecting an engine for your project, there are as many possibilities as your mind will allow you to have. Of course there are those that only want to see a Ford motor in a Ford Truck or Chevy in a Chevy, etc. Terry has dealt with both sides of this coin in the past. Altman built a beautiful Ford F-100 many years ago, that to this day can stand with the best of them. See for yourself in the pictures below. But what Terry did under the hood ruffled some feathers. A chromed Lexus motor sits up front with miles of wiring and multiple computers resting behind the dashboard. Let's face it, none of the great looking trucks we drool over at shows or in the magazines get to be what they are without changing things up. Terry didn't set out to stir up any sensitivities that people have over motor choice. He had the engine already, a nice engine at that, and he prides himself on stepping outside the box when designing vehicles.
The engine choice that ruffled so many feathers. Terry Altman's 55 F-100 with a Lexus motor.
When Altman started planning Capone, he knew he was going Ford. He wanted real power in his latest build. Mission accomplished. Terry called on Kuntz and Co. out of Arkadelphia, AR to build the power plant for Capone. It's a 460 stroked to a 509. Let's jump right into what this engine is comprised of. Kasse-Boss 9 Heads, Diamond pistons, Eagle crank, and Innovators West balancer. Air is brought in through a Hogan intake. The intake is fed air via a killer, handmade air plenum made by Terry himself. Fuel injection is handled by a FAST E.F.I system, and Capone gets its spark from an MSD Digital 6 ignition and coil. The front of the motor is finished off with a Billet Specialties belt system. The exhaust system starts with stainless steel headers, made by Terry, and from there the stainless continues to the polished Magnaflow mufflers, and dumps out in front of the rear tires. How about some numbers? 750 HP and 700 LB/FT of torque. Cooling is an absolute priority with a motor like this. Altman chose a huge Griffin radiator, dual BeCool fans, and a stainless steel fan shroud to handle the duties. This time around, if Terry's engine choice ruffles your skirt, chances are you stood too close to the Magnaflows when this beast roared to life.
I know you want to see the pictures. so here you go:
460 stroked to a 509 Kasse-Boss 9 Heads
Hogan intake with dual throttle bodies
On a lot of F-100 builds you will notice that most people cut off the top of the radiator support to fit a bigger radiator in. Terry modified Capone's radiator support to maintain the factory look. It still houses a large radiator and is finished off nicely with the handmade fiberglass intake plenum made by Altman himself
Currie rear end with 300 gears
Handmade stainless steel headers and exhaust. Wilwood power disc brakes on all 4 corners
Nice huh? You know you want to look again. Go ahead, I'll wait...
OK let get to the transmission. It is a BTE Powerglide and a BTE converter with a 3800 stall. Nested in the armrest is a PCS Electronic Shift Controller that puts selecting gears at Altman's fingertips. Because no corners were to be cut during this build, Terry requested that we make him a new top plate for his PCS controller and engrave a V8 that matches the one that adorns the tailgate. The power is sent through an aluminum driveshaft to a chrome Currie rear end with polished aluminum, Strange center section, and 300 gears.
BTE Powerglide with a 3800 stall converter
Shockwave air bags provide a comfortable ride height, but allow Capone to get low when it is time to show off.
Moving back to the front of the TCI chassis you will find a Mustang II front end, stainless steel control arms, and a polished aluminum, Flaming River rack and pinion steering. The suspension? Air bags of course. it is necessary that Capone can sit up and cruise, but when the time comes to show off, Capone gets low. At the time of this writing, Altman is planning to use polished aluminum Budnik rollers with HUGE Mickey Thompson tires. Stopping is the job of a Wilwood power disc brake setup on all four corners.
With the front sheet metal out of the way, you can see what Terry did to make the Griffin radiator fit. It has been lowered 2 inches to make room for the intake plenum and still keep a factory look.
Polished aluminum Budnik wheels with great bog Mickey Thompson rubber.
]]>Picking up where we left off, the doors are stretched 6", the quarters are shortened 6" in the front, 6" in the rear, with the rear leaned in slightly and widened as well. Terry then began work on the tailgate section of Capone. He went to work fabricating the caps to top off the quarter panels and doors....yep, no windows in this cruiser. He then created the F-100's roll pan that house a set of Lokar LED Taillights. After that, he designed and built the skeleton that would be the tailgate framework, and wrapped it in sheet metal.
With all the work put in to beefing up the rear end of this F-100 Panel, maybe Terry should have named it Kardashian instead of Capone.
Small details are very important to Altman when designing a vehicle. The F-100 has a very distinct body line at the top of the doors. Terry carried this body line from the top of doors, along the top of the quarter panels, and around to the top of the tailgate. The lines come together in the center of the tailgate to frame out the 3D machined billet aluminum V8 emblem designed and made by yours truly at Trique Manufacturing.
The V8 emblem was machined from a piece of 6061 aluminum. One press of the button located in the top circle of the "8" will release the two Altman Easy Latches that hold the tailgate closed.
The body lines were not created using body filler. This was all metal work done by Terry to achieve the look he was shooting for.
Take note of the gaps people. Every gap on this vehicle is executed with perfection.
Terry designed and built some seriously strong hinges to manage the tailgate weight on Capone. The lowering and raising of the tailgate is assisted with a cable and pulley system that resides behind the interior quarter panels. The "elbows" of the tailgate hinge system ride on a spring perch system. Terry created this to allow the tailgate to open enough to clear the latches when the release button is pressed, but not come completely open until you are ready to lower it.
As you can see in the picture above, there will be a nice sound system housed in the back end of this beauty. The center panel, located between two speaker enclosures, is mounted with spring loaded pins and easily removable to reveal storage space. By lifting the hinged floor section in the storage area, Terry can access the air ride system that manages the ride height of Capone.
Next week, we will dive into the frame, suspension, engine and transmission selection for Capone. Find out what kind of horsepower this F-100 will be putting out.
]]>The story of Terry Altman’s 1954 Ford F100 Panel Truck starts like a lot of projects…….a long time ago. In 2006 Altman acquired a 1954 F100 Panel to begin what would turn out to be his best build yet.
Altman knew what he wanted to build before getting the F-100 Panel. Terry is no stranger to ground-up builds, or F-100’s. He has built 2 magazine featured, award-winning F-100 trucks, and numerous cars over the years. So it began. The Ford was brought into Altman’s Body Shop in Russellville, AR and immediately stripped of its roof. That was the beginning of what would become a build that has dramatic changes, mixed with countless subtle changes that work together to reshape this classic panel truck into a one of a kind ride.
Fast forward 4 years. Altman put the idea and his project on hold for a while. In that 4 years he wasn’t exactly resting though. He and his wife Terri, own a successful body shop in Russellville AR. Altman fully restored a 1939 Ford Business Coupe because he has always wanted one. He also founded Trique Manufacturing built on the backbone of the very successful bolt-on door latch kit for Ford and Chevy Trucks, the Altman Easy Latch.
After removing the roof of the Ford……..Terry removed every other panel too. The new cowl sides, rocker panels, and firewall were purchased from Mid-Fifty F-100 Parts. Now stay with me here. The front of the rear quarter panels were then shortened 6 inches and the doors were stretched 6 inches. Altman then took 6 inches off of the rear of the Ford, leaned the tail section inward 1.5 inches and widened it 5 inches. All of this was mocked up on a custom built frame from TCI.
There is going to be a roof on this panel, but first, proportions. Terry knew the proportions he wanted, he had seen them on a car that would occasionally run through his body shop. The Chrysler 300. Altman measured the proportions of the body section and roof section of the 300 and found that, as he suspected, the body is twice the height of the roof. These were the proportions he would shoot for on the later named “Capone”. The body of Capone measures 36 inches tall and the roof height comes in at 18 inches. Next order of business, he needed to lower the roof line of the “Effie”. This was done by cutting the windshield frame loose from the cowl and lowering it 1 inch, then leaning it back from the stock 45 degree angle to a 62 degree angle. This allows Capone to run a full size windshield, but achieve a very low profile. I mean when the airbags have this thing laid out on the ground, it has a killer stance. We will get to that later though. Remember, this story was a long time in the making.
Next time…..
”Honey, does this license plate make my butt look big?”
We will show you the major changes and subtle touches that Terry made to the rear quarter panels. We will also get some more insight into the awesome tailgate that he hand fabricated and how he handles the weight of it. This old girl has some junk in her trunk.
]]>We designed our Altman Easy Latches to fix a problem that we felt had not been addressed properly yet. Door latches. Until Terry Altman designed his first latch kit for the 53-56 Ford F-100, your only option for replacing worn out latches was to buy a foreign knock off of the same flawed design, or chop up and weld up your doors to fit in bear claw latches. We changed the way people are replacing the latches in their beloved trucks. You can check them out in the article below and then grab a set for yourself on our website.
While it's true that our cherished classic trucks were built when things were meant to last there's a limit to the service life of any mechanical part. As an example, can you guess how many times the doors of your truck have been opened and closed? If you have to slam the doors to get them to stay shut, or yank on them to get in, you know what we mean about service life—the latches are history.
Read more: CLICK HERE
Terry Altman “latched” on to a great idea.
Terry Altman has been an avid fan of the Ford F-100 since an early age. He has built three Ford F-100’s. The first F-100 he built was a 1953 that became his daily driver in 1976, when he was 16 years old. After that was a magazine-featured 1953 Ford F-100 built in 1983, and lastly was a 1955 Ford F-100 he finished in 2005. You can see more about this black beauty a little further down. He is currently working on a 1956 Ford Panel Truck and that is all I am at liberty to say, but I promise that it will be like nothing you have ever seen. Watch for this one!
Terry Altman in 1983 with his Ford F-100 in Truckin' Magazine
Terry’s attention to detail and determination to settle for nothing less than what he has envisioned are traits that, he will be the first to tell you, can be a double edged sword. However, it is undeniable that they are largely the reason for his success. Each of these traits proved very valuable during his next endeavor. Altman set out to take a shot at fixing a problem that plagued his favorite trucks, but had yet to be really addressed. The door latches!
The old school latches found on our favorite Ford and Chevy trucks all have the same 2 pit falls. One, they are old technology, that while in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s were sufficient, just aren't acceptable today. Two, our beloved trucks were work horses back in the day. They saw more than their fair share of door slams. There is really something to be said for the creators of these older style latches that they still function at all after the abuse you can imagine some went through. These two factors contribute to the problems that we all face when we set out to build one of these trucks. Your chassis is built, your body is straight and shining like a new penny, the motor and drivetrain are strong. Now you jump on your freshly upholstered seat and SLAM!!! Let’s face it, for some of you, that first slam wasn’t the last. It might take you one or two more before the door is “latched”. Do you feel comfortable taking off down the road after insisting, with such force, that your door stay shut? If you are one of the lucky ones that have latches that still close pretty decently, you still have to worry about the door popping open. The old latch design has an ugly flaw. There is nothing that keeps the door attached to the door jamb laterally. In an instance of ”body twist” the door is allowed to separate from the body enough to allow the door to “pop” open.
The last F-100 Altman built has garnered him many accolades within the F-100 community and car shows alike, including being a Boyd Coddington's Pro Pick at the Goodguys Dallas show in 2005, as well as numerous "Best in Show" finishes. This F-100 has an absolutely flawless black paint job that dares you to find an imperfection in its laser straight bodywork. It also has an innovative, chromed out Lexus motor, Jaguar rear end, and a one of a kind custom interior (also done by Terry himself, his first attempt at upholstery). These are just the main highlights of this beautiful “Effie”.
Terry Altman’s first attempt at upholstery went rather well. Seen here outfitted with Trique Mfg’s A/C Vents, Interior lights, and interior door handles.
After all of this, Altman's Ford still suffered from being equipped with the stock door latches. After attending the F-100 Supernationals, Terry knew he had to address this issue. He set out to make a universal set of bear claw style latches work with the inside and outside door handles, as well as the outside lock cylinder. His goal was to do this without the need to weld or repaint his freshly finished doors. Let's face it, we put enough work into our vehicles without having to go back and rework what we have already accomplished. Terry created the first version of the Altman Easy Latch.
The Altman Easy Latch started out as a modified set of universal bear claw style latches with levers and pivot points designed by Terry to work in conjunction with the inside and outside handles. He even made the locking mechanism function with the lock cylinder using some cleverly thought out pieces. The Easy Latch system is held in place by a contoured jam plate that fits discreetly in the corner of the door. Best of all, it is completely bolt-on. The only modification that has to be done to the door, is to cut a hole where the new latch will reside. This hole is smaller than the jamb plate, so it is easily covered up. A machined aluminum striker block with a stainless steel striker pin attached, is then placed on the cab corner, where the old striker block formerly resided. No modification necessary. What he now had was a fully functioning door latch system that operated smoother, stayed positively closed, and is still visually appealing.
This shows the evolution of the Altman Easy Latch. We never stop improving.
Since then we have taken on the full design and assembly of all of our own latch components. No more using universal bear claw latches that we found were not near the caliber latch that we require for our customers. All of our latch pieces are designed, manufactured, and assembled in the U.S.A. to bring you the best latch solution for your Chevy or Ford trucks. With applications ranging from 1947-1966 Chevy trucks and 1940-1956 Ford trucks, and several thousand latch kits sold, we have had nothing but positive feedback and there are more kits in development. We have even taken what we've learned from door latches and started addressing hood latches as well.
“Stop slamming your doors, go easy, with the Altman Easy Latch.”
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