Hot Rod pickups...objective or accident?

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Sedans suck...coupes are cool, wagons are too big but pickups kick ass...
I'm comfortable in a truck. Kinda like the feeling I get wearing an old pair of jeans that fit just perfect.....with my rodders digest hat on and a HAMB shirt..I'm right with the world.
I suppose I'm showing my lower/middle class upbringing, learning to drive a 41 chevy pickup through the cherry orchards of north central Oregon while my dad sits over on the passenger side of the pickup with a half-a-Blitz beer, workin on his drinkin problem while I'm in heaven, driving that old uclid green pickup.
I know pickups....I love pickups. I buy pickups on purpose.

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Yup.........me and Rocky musta had the same old man.......I learned to drive in a 1963 GMC 1/2 ton pickup,w/ladder racks and tool box's on the side. God I miss that truck,,,,,,AND my Dad........
And yes......I buy pickups on purpose also.......

 

Just an every day truck for Hank for the past 4 or 5 years,,,,

 

I like pickups, so I guess it isn't an accident. I remember standing in the front seat of the pickup between my parents so I could see out the window of a 49 Willys, and Grandpa's 56 GMC. I've had new ones and old ones - used them for work and play. I think they have as much to do with taming the west as six-shooters. Now I have this 86 GMC I bought and used as a shop truck because the owner was moving to Hawaii and only wanted to take one car. He built it to race the Silver State 100 and got it to go over 124 MPH average . I would like to start another '55 or '56 Chev, and have been gathering parts, so one of these days this one will have to find a new home.

 

I bought and built my Stude so I could haul my bikes(not to mention all the other shit I need to haul) I'd like to build a car, but I'll always have a p/u. My 33 ford p/u was based on the fact that it was cheaper to buy, and I want a bare bones hot rod. Light as possible = fast.

 

brjr51 : I think I removed 4 blades, the shorter ones does not do much anyway. It drives fine, if I slam it in to one of thoses nasty Seattle pot holes, it may bottom out, but crusin' aroung town or highway it's fine. A clip would obviously be better, but I am spending every cent on my A build up.

Peter: Thanks, they all look good on pictures, that why I dont buy cars on eBay, unless they are local.

 

FatHack I pmed you.

 

<font color="green">MONKEY

FTF

Lil Toot

FLT-BLK


Always have thought of these AS HOTRODS.

RASHY</font>

 

Thanks Rolf,it looks real nice. By the way, my sis lives in Bothel and my little 5 year old nephew keeps talking bout a blue truck like his uncles'. Could be.

 

Rolf -- Your Chevy is a stunner! It reminds me of the work that was being done to new pickups in the early and mid '50s, bright non-truck paint, wide whites, simple and tasty restyling.

I've always thought of pickups as hot-rod worthy and never thought of them as a compromise. Although they've traditionally been less costly to get into than coupes and roadsters I don't think that that's what motivated most folks to hot rod pickups.

I've had two distinctly different pickup projects on my design pads for a long time, one of them approaching 30 years and the other 8 years old at this point. The first, a roadster pickup takeoff of Frank Mack's '27 T roadster, will probably never be done by my hand -- just not enough time. The second is an homage to Chuck Porter's F-1 and this looks doable at times because Kent Fuller is interested in collaborating to build it, but it's also a low priority for both of us.

I've had a couple of interesting "opportunity" trucks along the way but wasn't sufficiently in thrall with them to expend the time and effort to pull them off. Then, a few weeks ago I began collecting pieces for another pickup project, a Deuce-style highboy -- a concept I've liked since the '50s. I have a nice '34 cab, hood, and radiator, '40 front wishbone for a spring-in-front suspension, spindles, etc.

That project went on temporary hold today when I learned of a pristine '48 F-1 for sale locally. This one is a sweetheart that needs no more than a rubout of the oxidized but otherwise excellent paint, a dropped front axle, dual exhaust, a tonneau cover, and big and little wide whites to turn it into a worthy shop truck/push truck for Fuller's 'liner and a fine daily driver.

Yes, I'm a pushover when it comes to hot-roddable pickup trucks, and I admit that some of my very favorite hot rods over the years have been pickups.

Look for pictures in the weeks ahead!