SPRING CHICKEN

Tom Bennett's Homegrown F-100

- JOHN MATA JR

TOM BENNETT IS NO STRANGER TO MODIFIED CARS AND TRUCKS. In fact, his history with customs is deeply rooted in the mini truck scene. As Tom got a little bit older, his interest in vehicles didn't change much, although he was more determined than ever to find a classic pickup that he could learn to customize on his own. Tom had relied on shops to dial in his rides in the past but he wanted to break away from the pattern of hiring others to do the work he knew he could handle in his home garage.

The search through local Florida classifieds didn't prove helpful for Tom. All he found was a bunch of poor condition trucks with high price tags attached. Tom widened his search settings and found this seemingly amazing 1961 F-100 in Texas at an almost unbelievably low price. “I figured it was a scam or something, but I reached out to the seller anyway”, Tom admits. After multiple messages went unanswered, Tom asked a friend in Texas to try contacting the seller.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much luck either. "I figured the listing was too good to be true, so I just tried to forget about it", Tom adds. "Then one day I got a call back. The seller gave the listing some time to weed out potential scam callers ironically. My friend went to look at the truck, reported back to me that it was good to go, and helped load and ship it to my place."