BLAZE OF GLORY
Michael Kruger’s slammed ’61 F100 goes up in flames in the best possible way
SLAMMED trucks are a favourite of ours in the Street Machine offices, and Michael ‘Freddy’ Kruger’s hot rod-inspired 1961 F100 is one truck packed with a whole bunch of attitude. Freddy had been eyeing off the truck for a number of years, eventually trading it with a fellow member of his Ground Level Mini-trucks & Customs Club for his 1949 Ford spinner. “I knew if I was to ever own a truck, it would be this one!” says Freddy. “I’ve been around the truck and the Ground Level guys for its whole life.
“I got it as a running, driving truck,” he continues. “It was a bit rough, but that’s how the previous owner built and wanted it – he liked the rougher, down-to-earth kind of car. It was never garaged, even though it has no side windows!”
The Effy has undergone some extensive surgery to achieve its killer looks, most of which had been done before Freddy got his hands on it. Jason from Twisted Garage took on the bulk of the work, with some help from the lads at Freddy’s mini-truck club. Jason took care of the 9¾-inch roof chop by using sections of the original bonnet, and notched and fourlinked the rear end with a Mcdonald Brothers nine-inch. Twisted Garage also grafted in a narrower front end from a Jaguar, fitted a stocko 302 Windsor and added a whole bunch of other custom touches, including a pair of Ford Galaxie tail-lights.
ONE NIGHT ON THE BEERS ALONG WITH SOME BLUE-SKY THINKING TRIGGERED A RENAISSANCE FOR THE LOW-SLUNG TRUCK
The F100 sits on Slam Specialties airbags, and Freddy went through a bunch of wheels before settling on the 15x7 and 15x9 smooth steelies it sits on now.
After finally getting his hands on the truck, Freddy had the tub re-engineered for tilting duties. “Before Kyle painted it with the flames, I used it for Bunnings runs and for work,” he says. “It was funny seeing the welder in the back, because it sits higher than the roof!”
While the F100 was already somewhat of a finished thing, one night on the beers along with some blue-sky thinking triggered a renaissance for the low-slung truck. Freddy and his long-time mate Jayboy decided it needed some flames, and within days Jayboy had organised for Kyle Smith from Smith Concepts to sort Freddy out. “Kyle has a huge name in Oz for his crazy paint schemes, and Jayboy has an equal reputation for his ability and artistic flair,” says Freddy. “So when these two are in the same room it’s poetry in motion, and the vibe is amazing.”
“We were always going for a hot rod-inspired vibe,” says Kyle Smith of the truck’s wild flame design. “It was never really meant to be a traditional mini-truck in that regard.”
Kyle and the team taped up and sorted the flames in Jayboy’s garage, laying down the new eye-catching additions in record time. However,
HOT PROPERTY
IN A CRUELLY ironic twist, the flames on Freddy’s F-truck now mean more to him than just a striking look. The devastating bushfires that ripped through NSW during the 2019-2020 summer destroyed both sheds at his parents’ home, as well as 20 per cent of their house.
“It was lucky the truck was at Smith Concepts and not there, because I lost a bunch of gear in those fires: engines, grilles, window conversions for the F100 – all gone,” says Freddy. “The neighbour’s house was completely destroyed, and a shipping container we had melted away to nothing. So the flames have even more significance now.”
it was now clear that the rest of the truck wasn’t up to the same level as the shiny new flame-job emblazoned on the worn-out matte-black paint. “The flames basically triggered a second makeover for the truck,” laughs Kyle.
With that, the truck was shipped off to Smith Concepts, where Kyle and his crew brought the Effy up to scratch. “We did it in a bit of an arse-about way,” he admits. “It would’ve been easier to repaint the truck and then add the flames rather than working around them, but it was never really planned,” he says. Smith Concepts fixed some rust spots, sorted out the beautifully painted and pinstriped interior, and carefully resprayed the black before clear-coating over the whole lot. “Kyle and the guys took the truck and turned it into something it was never meant to be,” says Freddy.
I’VE DRIVEN THE WHOLE EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA IN IT. YOU CAN DO 11 HOURS STRAIGHT AND IT’S STILL COMFY AS HELL
Despite the way the truck looks, it’s probably done more road miles than most daily drivers. “It was built with driveability in mind, and to drive far!” says Freddy. “I’ve driven the whole east coast of Australia, from Mackay in Queensland through to Tasmania every year and then all the way back – you can do 11 hours straight and it’s still comfy as hell.”
Freddy doesn’t have much more planned for the F100 other than just to enjoy it, hinting that there may be an engine swap in its future. “I’d love to maybe put a diesel V8 into it one day; I think something like an LS would ruin this truck,” he says. “It turned into something I never could have imagined it would, so I’m just going to enjoy it and focus on my other projects for now.”