Pete Ulbricht's 1958 Jeep FC-170: The People's Choice
Turning Two Trucks into a Dream Machine

by Pete Ulbricht

Edited by Rebecca J. Decker

 

This picture was taken at the "Hot Rods and Hot Dogs Car Show" in Tucson, Arizona. This was the first show for my Jeep. Despite being badly outnumbered by many beautiful Ford, Chevy, and Dodge trucks, it did very well. It won both the "People's Choice" and the "Most Artistic" trophies. The main purpose of my Arizona trip was to visit the FC Roundup in Phoenix, Arizona. It is not a "Car Show," but a gathering of FC Jeep owners from all over the country and Canada. Instead of standing out, my truck blended in with 40 other Jeep FC's, probably the largest gathering of this type of truck since the assembly line in 1957-1965. What a sight!!!

 

I first got interested in Forward Control Jeeps when I was in High School. I couldn't afford one then, but decided that I would have one someday. Forty years later, I found one and decided to rescue it. It had spent most of its life in the desert around Salome, Arizona. It hadn't moved for many years. The good part about this truck was that there was very little rust damage due to the dry desert climate.

I had everything to restore this truck, but decided to modify it. It started with little changes. A friend of mine rolled his 1989 3/4 ton Chevy on some black ice outside of Magdalena, New Mexico. He had just put a new crate 350 motor and new transmission into the truck. I passed the tow truck taking it to Socorro. After finding out that he was not hurt, I bought the truck from him. He still kids me about the fact that the engine was still warm when I bought it from him.

  

  

To make a long story short, I joined the two trucks. I shortened the Chevy frame to the Jeep wheelbase. I used a steering column from a Dodge 1 ton van. With the Chevy suspension, I gained 9" of width and a smooth ride. I had to fabricate fenders and made running boards to cover the frame. I made custom front and rear bumpers (rear bumper to cover the full sized spare tire under the bed). I used seat belt latches to attach the tailgate with cable inside the bed, shaved door handles, and installed electronic entry door poppers.

 

 

 

 

I extended the dash across the cab to cover the after-market AC unit and put in a complete set of new "old looking" gauges. I also made an over-head console for speakers and the Pioneer Satellite Radio, along with an electric retracting antenna. The door panels and floor boards are made of aluminum diamond plate to match the rest of the truck. I kept the original seats and had them redone in black and yellow. I could not find new seats to fit properly with the motor doghouse. I have a Grants removable steering wheel and a Hurst floor shifter.

 

 

 

 

 

Time to paint. I originally picked a Teal Blue, but decided the truck had to be red, orange, or yellow. I liked the retro Thunderbird "Inspiration Yellow" color, but was afraid it would look too much like a banana.

 

 

 

 

Jim's Paint and Body Shop was ready to begin. Jim's son had been painting flames on another vehicle, so he came up with the silver ghost flames with red tips to match the diamond plate and 20" aluminum wheels, along with the matching accents on the wheels. The flames broke up the yellow, and gave the Jeep a real Street/Custom look.
At this point, the truck was evolving far beyond my wildest dreams. I even had the headliner upholstered with yellow flames on black. I drive it to work once or twice a week, and use it to run around town on weekends. It may not be quite "show quality", but it gets a lot of compliments and "thumbs up" wherever we go. You don't see many of these Jeeps on the road today. I was delighted to see that Jeep has come up with an FC Concept vehicle this year. I hope it catches on and they put it into production. I would get one!! ( I hope someone from Jeep reads this!!)

 

For more pictures of Pete's FC-170, please click the link below:
http://www.jeeptruck.com/bd/articles/petesf170/petespics.html

 

Special Thanks:

The welding was done by "Mild to Wild Classics" in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Thanks to them and Jim from "Jim's Paint and Body Shop" in Socorro, New Mexico, my vision of my truck became a reality.

Thank you, Pete, for sharing a truly remarkable Jeep truck with all of us!

Editor: Rebecca J. Decker, writer and web developer for JeepTruck.com