Velocity Is Building the Ultimate Restomod 1970 Ford F-250

• Having made a name for itself building beautifully imagined Broncos, Florida-based Velocity Restorations is moving into the pickup truck business.
• Like the company’s Broncos, this 1970 F-250 is powered by a Ford Performance Coyote V-8, matched with a four-speed automatic transmission.
• The top-of-the-line Heritage package is no farm truck, fitted out with a full leather interior and high-end stereo.

In Miami, nobody raises an eyebrow at a Lamborghini. You might as well be driving a Golf for all the attention a Huracán will get you, and unless you’re one of the lucky few to have nailed down a preorder for Lamborghini’s safari-inspired Sterrato, you’re going to spend a lot more time worrying about scraping the nose than enjoying that V-10 screaming to redline. Besides, for the same money you could have a truck.

That’s a capital-T Truck, specifically a 1970 F-250 hand-built from the ground up to provide the kind of experience you don’t get from a factory. The Velocity Restorations F-250 is eye-wateringly expensive—$285,000 to start, $325,000 for this blue-and-white commission-built Heritage package—but it’s a no-detail-spared masterpiece.

We drove a 1969 Ford Bronco reworked by Velocity Restorations back in 2019, and came away both bewildered and beguiled. The Bronco was the easily coolest thing on the streets of Florida, but also seemed like a “more money than brains” option. We desperately wanted one anyway.

The company’s take on the F-250 is possibly even cooler. Any child who ever picked up a Tonka truck can’t help but be charmed by the stance of this pickup’s chunky 33-inch Toyo off-road tires and exposed suspension and axles. Trucks were simpler in 1970, less about the ornamentation than the purpose. Velocity’s trick here is taking that early simplicity and adorning it with flawless two-tone paint and billet accessories—subtle details you don’t notice at first.

The powertrain, on the other hand, is not so subtle. Building on the lessons learned in crafting its Broncos and Harvesters, Velocity here pairs a Ford Performance crate Coyote 5.0L V8 with a stout 4R70 four-speed automatic transmission. Brakes are Baer discs at all four corners, the underpinning chassis is from the well-respected Roadstershop in Illinois, and the F-250 now rides on custom-valved Fox dampers. Velocity’s in-house custom exhaust and Dana axles complete the package.

This blue-and-white two-tone model is a built to order special called “High Roller.” It marks the start of a new line for Velocity, which will start taking orders in 2023. Turnaround time is estimated to be 14 weeks, but it should be noted that wait times for the company’s Broncos stretched out to over a year. The order books for this thing will likely fill up fast. There’s also a plan to release a similar build based on the classic F-100 series pickup next year, though no concrete details are yet available.

Throw in a full leather interior, air conditioning (not an available luxury for a Kansas corn farmer in 1970, totally necessary for a Miami beach cruiser), and a powerful Morel sound system to belt out your latest hit, “Only my dog’s been true to me.” You can keep your high-strung Italian exotica. Everybody loves a pickup truck, and Velocity Restorations is currently taking orders for one of the best.

Source: Motor - aranddriver.com