1961 Ford f-100 Shortbox Unibody

[Charly]

So, as the subject line implies, my dad recently bought a 1961 ford unibody. Now this truck is actually in excellent shape for a '61 that's been sitting in a garage for 17 years. It has a 350 police interceptor (that currently has 2 seized cylinders) with a 400 turbo trans.... Aside from the partially rusted out floor (you can get one foot through on both drive and passenger sides), cosmetic eyesores the truck is actually pretty neat. The frame is in impeccable shape from what we can tell, all original glass (windshield may need replaced since it was hit with a BB), original bench seat is on the back, with buckets inside, original(and hopefully functional) dashboard gauges. Now neither one of us are overly familiar with with fords, especially the unibody, this is the first that anyone in our community has seen, my question is, is this truck worth restoring? Or should we go for plan B? Attempt a partial trade out on a early '60's chevy II. This is a very unique truck and I'd hate to see it go, however if it's going to end up being a pain in the long run, I'd rather have the chevy II. Thank you in advance, any info on the unibody or what we should do would be greatly appreciated.
 

[cole in mo.]

If the truck is how you say it is, its very well worth restoring, but take the chevy out and save it for a chevy project.
 

[xragman]

A short box unibody. Must be very rare, I do not remember seeing one. I have a friend that has a longbox (he won"t sell it) If I had your truck I would try to restore it to as near to origenal as possable.
 

[Billy ky]

the shortbox unibody may be rare today, but years ago fairly common.. i've had a '61 and a 62 both shortboxes with 223 engine and 3 speed trans.. the '62 i replaced the 223 with a 302 and gas mileage stayed the same with big increase in power... wish i still had both..