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This is my '24 XL FWD EB I've named Freddie after my late grandfather who worked at the Dearborn print shop most of his adult life (hence "FR3DD13" on the throwback MI vanity plate). This was my first opportunity to order a car under the Z plan and really wanted to make the build a tribute to him because he passed away before I learned how to drive so I felt a strong need to make this truck into something he'd think was cool. Ordering the truck in atlas blue as a shoutout to the last vehicle he ordered (a bimini blue '90 tempo gl with matching fuzzy dice) seemed like a must.
As far as design goes, I drew heavily from the 90s F150s I first cut my teeth on when it came to tinkering with cars (e.g. the faux brushed aluminum vanity panel wrapped on the tailgate) as well as the '69 Ford Cobra because the XL seemed to resonate with a base model Fairlane with next to no options but with a 428CJ under the hood and beefier suspension. To be honest the cobra "fender" decals on the front doors really seem to sell the sleeper aspect of this car. Especially since on the Atlas Blue you can't really see the "COBRA" script unless the light hits it just right. Can't you hear something like "You can't see it until it's too late!" as a cheesy '60s tagline in a car commercial? The Cobra theme continued to the interior with seat covers that seemed similar to the 60s/70s comfort weave seats.
Couldn't just stop at Fender decals. If this was going to be a sleeper, it had to perform like a sleeper. Naturally this meant strapping on the Eibach drop springs, the S&B intake (complete with "Cobra Jet" emblem to showcase the ram air aspect of the intake system), the Livernois performance tune, and running an open downpipe (didn't have the funds to do what I wanted for a custom downpipe right out of the gate so we opted for the mindset of "why would the ENTIRE catback system be attached to the downpipe with ONE v band clamp if they DIDN'T want it to be removed?)
Last month my grandfather passed and it felt like there should be a nod to him in this build as well. One of my favorite stories about him was that him and his friends would go around town stealing the red crown valve stem caps people got when they stopped at Standard Oil gas stations. Gave you a sense that our heroes did dumb kid stuff for the sake of doing dumb kid stuff just like us. Naturally, a set of these caps found their way onto the wheels.
I think that about covers everything I've done so far. I'll do my best to keep this page up to date.
As far as design goes, I drew heavily from the 90s F150s I first cut my teeth on when it came to tinkering with cars (e.g. the faux brushed aluminum vanity panel wrapped on the tailgate) as well as the '69 Ford Cobra because the XL seemed to resonate with a base model Fairlane with next to no options but with a 428CJ under the hood and beefier suspension. To be honest the cobra "fender" decals on the front doors really seem to sell the sleeper aspect of this car. Especially since on the Atlas Blue you can't really see the "COBRA" script unless the light hits it just right. Can't you hear something like "You can't see it until it's too late!" as a cheesy '60s tagline in a car commercial? The Cobra theme continued to the interior with seat covers that seemed similar to the 60s/70s comfort weave seats.
Couldn't just stop at Fender decals. If this was going to be a sleeper, it had to perform like a sleeper. Naturally this meant strapping on the Eibach drop springs, the S&B intake (complete with "Cobra Jet" emblem to showcase the ram air aspect of the intake system), the Livernois performance tune, and running an open downpipe (didn't have the funds to do what I wanted for a custom downpipe right out of the gate so we opted for the mindset of "why would the ENTIRE catback system be attached to the downpipe with ONE v band clamp if they DIDN'T want it to be removed?)
Last month my grandfather passed and it felt like there should be a nod to him in this build as well. One of my favorite stories about him was that him and his friends would go around town stealing the red crown valve stem caps people got when they stopped at Standard Oil gas stations. Gave you a sense that our heroes did dumb kid stuff for the sake of doing dumb kid stuff just like us. Naturally, a set of these caps found their way onto the wheels.
I think that about covers everything I've done so far. I'll do my best to keep this page up to date.
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