4x4ords: A Birthday Truck That Became a Career

Shared by @4x4ords. The timeline and plans reflect the owner’s original account.

The first full restoration started at Arizona State, where the man behind 4x4ords was playing college football. He saved part of his monthly stipend to buy his grandpa a 1979 F-150 for his birthday. Before college, his experience had been small jobs on his daily driver. This was something bigger.

Working on the Ford became the first thing he wanted to do after practice. He bought every Ford catalog he could find and stayed up for hours learning. He had grown up with a dad and two grandpas who liked Fords. His dad preferred first-generation Mustangs, but some of his own favorite memories came from riding in his grandpas’ pickups.

The work and the years behind it

He finished the truck and surprised his grandpa for his birthday. About a week later, he wanted to do another. By the time he shared his story, he had been working full time for almost two years and estimated that he had worked on or sold around 50 rigs since college. That included large builds, small projects and finding dream trucks for customers.

Two crew cabs stood out as his favorites: Clifford, his 1976 F-250 Highboy, and a 1969 Highboy crew cab undergoing a full restoration when he spoke with BBHB. One birthday truck had opened the door to a career.

Read the owner’s original account and build details

It all started when I was in college playing football at Arizona St. I was using my monthly stipend to save up to buy my grandpa a 79 F150 for his birthday.

I had never completely restored a vehicle before, but the more time I put it, the more I fell in love with the process of restoring and building classics. It ended up becoming the first thing that I’d do when I got home from practice.

When I finally finished his truck and surprised him for his birthday, it only took me about a week before I had the itch to go find one and do it again. Now I do it as a living and love every second of it!

My dad and both of my grandpas were ford guys. My dad was never into the trucks. He liked the first gen mustangs. Some of my favorite memories are riding in my grandpas old ford pickups.

I’d done small jobs on my crappy daily driver back in the day but nothing major. Once I got to work on my grandpas truck, I bought all of the ford catalogs that I could and would stay up for hours reading so I could keep learning about these things. It quickly became an addiction.

Ive been doing this full time for almost 2 years now and in total, since my college days I’ve probably worked on or sold around 50 rigs. Some big projects, some small, some just finding dream trucks for customers.

My two favorites so far are my crew cabs. Clifford - my 1976 F250 Highboy And my 1969 Highboy crew cab. It’s getting fully restored right now.