Theodore Rocha’s “Slightly Modified” 1948 Ford F-100

Theodore Rocha, a lifelong hot rodder for all of his 67 years, has an impressive resume of custom and hot rod builds. He currently lives in the quiet, little hamlet of Madera Ranchos in California, an area that is ripe with hot rodders that call this central California community home.

Almost 20 years ago, Rocha got the desire to build a hot rod of his own after a few of his friends began driving open wheel rods. “The wheels started turning,” said Rocha. “I had a 1948 Ford F-100 frame and cab behind my shop as a future project. It was one of my favorite Ford truck years and ironically, was the same year I was born.”

Starting The Build

Rocha started with the chassis. Wanting a short wheelbase, he decided to modify the frame slightly. Cutting off the frame at the firewall and at the rear of the cab, he welded in a Mustang II front crossmember he purchased from Speedway Motors. “This allowed me to use Ford factory stock components to complete the front suspension,” he explained.

Wanting to get the ride height as low as possible, Rocha used two-by-six box tubing and stiffened the frame by welding a custom “Z” brace in front, about six inches from where the original frame was braced. He completed the steering with a Flaming River rack and pinion steering unit.

Rocha used a Speedway Motors' Mustang II front crossmember and two-by-six box tubing for the frame. He engineered his own triangulated rear suspension.

Wanting the rear suspension to be triangulated, Rocha spent some valuable research time on the internet and found all the specs he needed to build his own rear suspension. “I Z’d the rear frame members 18 inches from the original frame,” he said.

Planning on a shortbed, he knew that the wheelbase needed to be right at 100 inches. “I had a 1988 Ford Thunderbird 8.8 positraction rearend with 3.83 gears and disc brakes,” he said.  “With the addition of coilover shocks, the rear suspension was completed.”

The Drivetrain

Obviously a Blue Oval fan, Rocha wanted to keep the drivetrain in the family. “Lucky for me, a friend had a 1980 Ford 302 with a manual overdrive transmission attached,” he stated. “I rebuilt the motor with a few internal goodies and serviced the transmission for power.” At this point, he had a pretty solid running chassis complete with a modernized Ford drivetrain.

Rocha, whose two replacement knees make comfort difficult in some short wheelbase, low ride height, custom builds was concerned about leg room. When it came time for the cab modifications, he knew that channeling the cab was out of the question.

A rebuilt Ford 302 with stock OE transmission was used in this modernized Ford drivetrain.

“I chopped the roof seven inches, splitting the roof panel into four sections,” he said. “This was done in a way to maintain the A and B pillar angles.” Patching the dash to give a fresh surface to work from, he then cut holes for a new set of gauges. “The only thing I farmed out was the upholstery, which was accomplished by Antonio’s Mobile Upholstery of Fresno.”

The Body

Wanting to maintain as much of the original body lines as possible, Rocha used a stock hood but could not find a stock grille panel to match. “I fabricated the front grille panel from flat sheetmetal to match the contour of the hood panel, then used a nose piece from another 1948 hood panel as the chin piece,” he explained.

The roof is chopped seven inches which required the roof to be split in four sections to maintain the pillar angles.

He fabricated the grille insert out of half-inch square tubing and sent the unit out to be chrome-plated. Looking for uniformity, he also fabricated nerf bars out of half-inch round stock to match.

The hood side panels were built to blend into the grille shell, giving the front a pleasant free-flowing look. Rocha then repurposed some headlight buckets for the build, but could not identify the origin of the parts.

“I had an original 1948 Ford tailgate that was massaged back into shape and narrowed by two inches to fit the slightly modified chassis,” he said.

The truck cab and body fabrication was a labor of love for Rocha.

In the space of one afternoon, Rocha completely built the truck bed. “I made the pickup bed panels from flat sheetmetal,” he said. “A good friend had a bead roller and a metal brake so I cut out the panel pieces, then drew on the bead lines. With the addition of 1950 Pontiac taillights, this section was completed.”

Paint That Matches The Build

“A hot rod is not finished until it has paint,” Rocha said. “Being that my little ’48 was slightly modified, I wanted a paint color to define it. I selected Chrysler’s Plum Crazy Purple to make that statement.”

Rocha disassembled the shortened ’48 and planned to use a friend’s booth to spray the exterior color. Unfortunately, some unforeseen problems arose and the booth was not available. “So, I applied the paint in my shop,” he said.” Not having a paint booth, I made a temporary plastic one. I do plan to reshoot the paint in the near future. My plan is to enjoy the truck this hot rod season and reshoot the exterior in the winter off-season.”

Vehicle Statistics:

  • Vehicle: 1948 Ford F-100 Custom
  • Engine: Rebuilt 1980 Ford 302
  • Transmission: OE Manual transmission with O/D
  • Rearend: 1988 Ford Thunderbird 8.8 positraction with 3.83 gears
  • Brakes: Ford factory disc brakes
  • Front End: Mustang II
  • Steering: Flaming River rack and pinion
  • Rear Suspension: Custom
  • Body Work: Custom fabrication by Theodore Rocha

Rocha’s Other Builds

“One of my all time favorite trucks is the 1955 Ford F-100. I built my current ’55 almost 20 years ago, and still drive it to many hot rod functions and shows,” he proudly claimed. “I chopped the roof six inches, channeled it nine inches over a 1977 Mercury Cougar chassis, and sectioned the front fenders six inches.”

“My favorite car is the 1949 Ford Club Coupe, of which I have one ‘under construction,’ but still drive it daily.”

We found Rocha’s builds to be the epitome of the traditional do-it-yourself street rodder. With a combination of parts that he had on hand, and a few that he sourced by horse-trading or repurposing other parts, he has built a stable of very desirable rides. It was a stroke of luck to cross paths with this amazing man at the Bakersfield NSRA event. We can hardly wait for next year’s event to see what he has in store for us then.

About the author

Bobby Kimbrough

Bobby grew up in the heart of Illinois, becoming an avid dirt track race fan which has developed into a life long passion. Taking a break from the Midwest dirt tracks to fight evil doers in the world, he completed a full 21 year career in the Marine Corps.
Read My Articles

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