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MSRA Back To The 50's Show - Back '50's To The WeekendIt's Sturgis For Hot Rod Trucks From the October, 2009 issue of Custom Classic Trucks By John Gilbert Photography by John Gilbert
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The summertime is the right time for hopping in the cab of your truck and hitting the road, but unfortunately there's a million different events all going on at the same time. A case in point was the weekend of June 21, the first week of summer when the MSRA folks were throwing their 36th annual Back to the '50's event. On the same date out in California, not more than 10 miles away from our Placentia offices, the 27th annual F-100 Western Nationals were taking place, and just a little farther north, the L.A. Roadsters were holding their 45th annual show. It was a shame to miss 'em but Tim Bernsau and I had been talking about hitting Back to the '50's for some time, so we decided this year was going to be the year we went. What a great time we had, it was like climbing into a time machine and going back 50 years in time. Back to the '50's Weekend is held on the 320-acre grounds of the Minnesota State Fair which opened for the first time on September 7, 1885, so as one can imagine there's a lot of great old buildings, and established landscaping to make it the perfect venue to hold over 100,000 attendees and over 11,500 vehicles. For information about next year's show please check out www.msra.com.  Here's "Wings" Kalahan, the...  Here's "Wings" Kalahan, the voice of Hot Rod Radio in front of his '38 Chevy set up to haul his 40-foot mobile radio station. The Cruisn' with Wings show went nonstop all weekend long and was the perfect rock 'n' roll catalyst to trigger massive amounts of nostalgia. Longtime friend "Big Daddy" Roth striped the flames on Wings' '38 in 1994, good stuff Maynard!  From Lakes Country MN, Jamie...  From Lakes Country MN, Jamie Gjersvig rolled up in his Torch Red '52 Chevy by Frazee Auto Body, powered by a souped-up 235-inch Chevy Stovebolt.  Power parts include a Fenton...  Power parts include a Fenton split exhaust and dual-carb intake manifold with an HEI robbed out of an '84 292-inch GM truck motor.  Dale McBain's '46 Chevy is...  Dale McBain's '46 Chevy is sporting Moon "Cool" eyes, a design penned on a napkin by pinstriper Lator Fator while having lunch with Dean Moon.  Dean liked the design so much...  Dean liked the design so much he went straight to the printer and cranked out a bunch of decals with dirty artwork.  We could have shot Brock Shimon's...  We could have shot Brock Shimon's aqua and white '56 GMC extended cab from Corcoran, MN, for a full feature if the interior had been done.  By done we mean finished,...  By done we mean finished, so maybe we'll catch Brock at next year's show.  Minnesota must be the customized...  Minnesota must be the customized Chevy Cameo Carrier capital of the world.  Bill Weikert drove his restyled...  Bill Weikert drove his restyled '55 Cameo in from Forreston, MN.  This '51 F-1 was bought brand-new...  This '51 F-1 was bought brand-new by Roger Brown's grandfather, Hans Jordahl of Sissteon, SD, and then passed it on to Roger's dad, Daniel Brown, in the '60s. In 1997 Roger's parents gave him the trusty F-1 farm truck. Because of its history as a sheep farmer's truck it's affectionately known as the Hay Ewe pickup.  Mike and Janet Cooper didn't...  Mike and Janet Cooper didn't fill anything in on their participant card other than their names and their Cameo custom is a '58 Chevy pickup ...  ...We kind of knew that.  Mike Hagel from Andover, MN,...  Mike Hagel from Andover, MN, chose flat black for his '36 Dodge, and didn't miss a dent when he cherried the old Mopar out.  Dan Hole and his wife, Brenda,...  Dan Hole and his wife, Brenda, cruised their '35 Chevy in from Erskine, MN, to enjoy the fun. Dan rescued his '35 from the scrapper, the farmer who owned it had passed away, so the family hauled everything off to the scrap yard.  Dan paid a premium price to...  Dan paid a premium price to save the '35 from becoming scrap-iron and then got busy.  He used a wrecked '90 GMC...  He used a wrecked '90 GMC for its TBI 305 and 700-R4, and then cleverly grafted the GMC gauge cluster into the '35 dash, complete with the GMC wiring harness.  An aerial view of Ken Chouinard's...  An aerial view of Ken Chouinard's '49 Stude from Andover, MN.  Dan Terfehr from Fairmont,...  Dan Terfehr from Fairmont, MN, owns one of the nicest stock '58 Cameo Carriers we think we have ever seen.  Notice the Cameo also sports...  Notice the Cameo also sports Apache emblems. 1958 was the first year for the Apache model in Chevrolet's truck lineup.  Paul and Bonnie Mohagen drove...  Paul and Bonnie Mohagen drove their Vermillion Red '62 Ford F-100 in from Grafton, ND. Paul hauled the Unibody shortbed in from York, NE, and then spent four years putting his "shop" truck together. Power comes from a 302-inch Ford with a five-speed manual transmission. The front suspension is sourced from Fatman Fabrications and Vintage Air keeps the humidity out, and the air cold.  Wayne Lussman of Fort Dodge,...  Wayne Lussman of Fort Dodge, IA, bought this '56 Ford F-100 when he was 18 years old for $50, it was his first truck. Thirty-two years later the '56 has Vintage Air, Volare frontend, a 390-inch big-block with a C-6, and 2.75:1 freeway gears in the rearend. The paint was done by Snyder Autobody in Storm Lake, IA, and the bitchin' interior was done by Gord Upholstery in Dakota City, IA.  Henry and Sheila Weber bought...  Henry and Sheila Weber bought their '63 Chevy C10 at Back to the '50's in 2008. It has Vintage Air and a 350 with a 700-R4 automatic transmission. They are members of the Classic GMC Chevrolet club of Minnesota.  Rick and Gina McShane of Shakopee,...  Rick and Gina McShane of Shakopee, MN, have a custom paintjob on their '64 Ford F-100 Flareside that has to be seen to be believed.  What's unbelievable about...  What's unbelievable about the DuPont Candy Orange Hot Hues job is it was done at the Macco in Burnsville, MN, by Jason Liesenfeld for a little more than Macco's standard top-of-the-line paintjob. Under the hood is 400-inch Mercury with a C-6 transmission.
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The Thinker??? - Haul Monitor
Ryan talks about the friendly badgering that goes on around the shop and overcoming obstacles that seemly pop up out of nowhere during a project....
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