1961 Ford F100

The Ford F-Series made its introduction on January 16th of 1948, beginning the legacy of F-Series trucks. Since that time, over 32 million trucks have been given the F-Series badge. These trucks have been the best-selling pickups for 36 consecutive years, and America's overall best-selling vehicle for over three decades.

Ford has continued to improve upon the F-Series throughout the years. The fourth generation of the F-Series began in 1961 and would continue through 1966. This fourth-generation brought with it unibody construction, integrating the cab and the box. Ford originally dubbed this design as the 'integrated pickup.' The unibody construction meant there were no gaps between the bed and the cab, and was set atop a traditional frame-style chassis. In this guise, it was more of a body-on-frame than 'unibody'

This new way of assembling their flagship pickup required fewer stampings, fewer welds, and several other fewer complications. Also, without the gap between the bed and the cab, the cargo area was able to be larger. Period promotional material stated that the 1961 Ford F-Series truck had 16% more load space than the third generation Ford.

Several body styles were available, including the styleside or flareside models.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2013