The Shop Truck.
2002 Ford F-350 7.3 + FWC Hawk.

Basil here. This one's a personal favorite of mine. I've got some serious love for the 7.3L diesel after owning and living in one for a few years a while back, so when it was time to build a new rig to haul the family, I went straight to the dumb old diesel I loved and built my dream rig.

As you can tell, I didn't cut any corners on this build. I wanted it to be reliable, have plenty of power to tow, be comfortable on and off-road, and able to comfortably haul the family anywhere I wanted to go. I wanted the older pre-emissions diesel for simplicity’s sake. I know it won’t ever make the same amount of power that a new truck makes, but it should never leave me stranded or have electronic issues in the middle of nowhere.

The truck was purchased in 2023 from a customer who had it in his family since new. It was in great shape, prime to start a build on. When I bought it I had plans to keep things simple — but as many of you know, things snowball quick around here, and I went nuts on it.

Last time I owned a 7.3, I didn't have the financial capability, shop space, or skillset to build what I wanted to. So this time around I took FULL advantage of where I was at in life and built a dream vehicle. I picked the best of the best for parts and got to work.

The build has been evolving over the last few years — from hauling a slide-in camper to where it is now with the flatbed FWC. The current state is about where it's going to stay, and it's honestly perfect. It does everything I want and more — plus there's not much more I can do to it, hah!