Goodguys 2025 Dakota Digital Truck of the Year, Late!
We’re closing out the year with a review of the Goodguys 2025 Top 12 of the Year winners presented by BASF! Congratulations to Troy Peck for being named the Dakota Digital Truck of the Year Late title with his 1969 Ford F100 built by Scott’s Hotrods N’ Customs!
When Troy Peck commissioned Scott’s Hotrods ’N Customs to build out his ’69 Ford pickup, he proclaimed he wanted the “baddest, most detailed 1969 F100 on record.” What followed was a near-decade-long journey of metalwork, machine fabrication, and meticulous vision that culminated in one of the most radical Ford bumpsides ever built.
Christened “Time Capsule,” the truck was incubated in Oxnard, California, and born again in Knoxville, Tennessee, after Scott’s relocated their shop. According to Justin Padfield, the shop’s owner, he deliberately kept the truck off social media during construction, determined to leverage “shock and awe” when the truck debuted.
And it caused quite ruckus. Unveiled at the Scott’s Hotrods ’N Customs open house and then formally introduced at the Triple Crown of Rodding in 2024, Time Capsule swiveled heads and generated a buzz with a YouTube video that clocked over 200k views. It clinched the Best of Show at the F100 Super Nationals and earned a coveted invite to Dino’s Git-Down, a Chevy show no less.
The truck’s metamorphosis began when owner Troy pivoted from the original plan and switched from a coil-over chassis to Scott’s Super Slam frame setup, allowing it to lay out dramatically over 20-inch Coddington Sub Zero billet wheels packed with Wilwood 13-inch disc brakes.
From there, the countless metal mods took the spotlight, including a revised bed floor, reshaped bed rails, custom inner bed side panels, flush-mounted bumpers, and machined taillights. The firewall mimics the bed design, and behind the custom grille and machined headlight bezels is an engine bay that features custom sheet metal panels, bespoke billet hinges, and an actuator-driven hood opening.
Under said hood lies a 465hp, 5.0-liter Coyote V8 paired with a 6R80E overdrive transmission delivering modern motivation, while Ridetech shocks and Slam Specialties ’bags ensure the altitude matches the attitude. The custom exhaust, valve covers, and engine bay details contribute to the truck’s one-of-one status.
Inside the cab, the party continues. Every surface was reshaped, shaved, or custom machined, from the flush-fit glass and massaged roofline to the brass moldings sheathed in brushed chrome. The dash and console are handmade, with Dakota Digital gauges and a custom shifter. Even the mirrors, pedals, and control panels were custom-machined. Pro Auto Interiors stitched up many hides of tasty peanut butter and charcoal leather and fitted the perfect counterpoint to the foot-deep Axalta “Ice Crystal Blue” paint sprayed out by Alan Palmer and the Knoxville crew.
The truck is still making its rounds on the show circuit, but Time Capsule might just live up to its name and become the perfect automotive snapshot, capturing what may be the new high-water mark for Ford bumpside trucks. (Check out the pics below for a glimpse of the truck in progress!)
Photos: John Jackson
