History Hot Rod truck thread!

^^^^^^^Nice exhaust outlets in back. What are those trim rings?

 

There from a company on eBay and there for turbo and large exhaust outlets thru fenders

 

Well, they look good on yer truck! I thought about doing a rolled rear pan and using 65 mustang exhaust rings. I did that to a 72 stang in a previous life and I liked it. A few years back dodge Ram started coving the rear bumper for the exhaust exits. Not a new idea, but a cool one.

 

Hello,

I am forever thankful for the experiences that I was able to learn and endure as a fledgling teenager. I loved sports and was getting good at baseball, football and basketball. There was tennis, using those heavy thick wooden racquets as young kids, too. All sports led to decision making and it helped elsewhere.

Through my brother, I learned an aspect of life that not too many of my local Westside of Long Beach friends had any interest. Cars were just a step above the local bus service and it was a way to get to school, a job, and vacation road trips. We saw plenty of trucks in our neighborhood and at the time, thought everyone had a truck for daily use. Gardeners, construction guys, plumbers, junkyard collectors on early morning trash pickup days, my mom’s favorite local peddler of the freshest fish delivered to our street, straight from the harbors. Even the Helms Bakery guy had a panel truck.

Of course, our first encounter of a custom car was a 56 Ford custom pickup truck. It was a sight to see among all of the standard transportation vehicles roaming the neighborhood. One, it was a custom. Painted a bright candy apple red or perhaps, a Tahitian red it stood out in a field of grey/black/blue/white cars. Our introduction to custom cars/hot rods was this custom truck in our neighborhood.

Over time, as we expanded our knowledge of hot rods and drag racing, we went through stages of what to do and how to go about building something we both could do to get some experience. As we got better, we ventured out to our most challenging build. A dual purpose street/drags car with a powerful motor. It could and would have been our second car, which meant I would be the recipient of my brother’s current car or this build we were doing.

But, the mention of a parts runner truck was mentioned and we saw all kinds of trucks that would fit the build. All of the push/tow trucks at Lion’s Dragstrip gave us a start as to what and how the parts truck could be built and used.

Our 58 Impala was designated as a parts workhorse vehicle, but, it was not the most efficient for larger items. A tow vehicle for short trips, but for long distance workhorse, a truck would be much better. The pick up bed would have been a vast all purpose delivery/pickup item that would have come in handy.

Jnaki

After our 40 Willys explosion and fire in 1960, we were in a state of shock / limbo as to what to do next after the recovery. My brother and I talked about building a different gas coupe and hit the big time. We wanted to go after the A/Gas and AA/Gas supercharged racers with a vengeance.

There were a lot of choices, but we found a 40 Willys pick up truck in another sideyard being neglected, again. But, this time, it was going to cost more money. The medical recovery was not going as well as possible, but the idea of us starting again kept coming back into our conversations.

Time passed and we had moved on to the next level of adventures for both of us. But, in the back of our minds, the drag racing/hot rod experience was difficult to let go. So, we both dabbled in ideas for a possible next project.

In a far away college apartment, several ideas popped up. One was this funky drawing I did to see what it would look like. We still wanted to stay with the small block 671 Chevy, but bored and stroked, and with Hilborns, M&H, Halibrands, and a B&M/C&O Hydro. (no more clutch housings for us) Also, it was everything we were going to do to our Willys coupe. A successful build the first and second time allowed us enough confidence to, perhaps go to the new Chevy 396 motor for more power.
(not a nose in the air stationary stance, it was supposed to be firing off of the starting line, I could not draw smoke very well.)

My brother’s first choice was to go up a class or two in the street legal Gas Coupe/Sedan Class. From our 671 SBC Willys Coupe to the A/Gas Supercharged Class. By this time, the A/Gas class was almost as popular as the top eliminator FED race cars. Those gas coupes still made spectators envision driving those modified hot rods on the street, 671 hemi motors and all.

So, both of us started drawing what we thought we would like to build. A Model A Coupe, a Willys Pick up, and Model A Roadster Pick Up were some drawings that popped up now and again. Now, the favorite SBC motor would be substituted with a big block Chevy motor 396/427. The A/Gas Class was almost limitless. So, the 1940 Willys pick up with a 671 427 Chevy motor would power the pick up truck for our finished version. The roadster pick up was next on our list.

We had the build experience, now it was the effort behind the future build, that we had to get over. Besides, finishing college with its expenses, the hot rod build would have put us in a deep financial dark hole. Satisfaction, yes, but being in a deep dark hole is not conducive for a happy life.

The new shapes, pattern sheet, a new curvy pattern sheet, a circle sheet and different pencils as well as my limited computer skills now make drawing a little easier. Now the supposed, future Willys pickup looks a little better and somewhat detailed. The only problem we never discussed was if we big teenagers would have fit in the “smallish” truck cab, without modifications.
An extended cab? Maybe?

 

My HS ride..

 

My 53 under construction.Hope to be finished before summer is over.

 

Here is my 31ford