2009 Primer Nationals Classic Truck Event

When Charles Higgins found his '65 Chevy C20 Fleetside last year, it had been sitting for 21 years and had to be rescued with a backhoe. It's been kept mostly stock, powered by a 327 with a four-speed, but has been lowered, cleaned up, and put back on the road.

The Primer Nats soundtrack was provided by a weekend's worth of live music. The Martini Kings provided some sweet mid-afternoon cocktail music.

Can you see the ghost flames on the fenders of this tomato soup red '55 Ford F-100? Owner Pat Carse is from right there in Ventura, and we've spotted this pickup here before.

Here's more mid-gloss two-tone on this '55 Chevy first-series pickup, owned by Manuel Valenzuela from Oxnard. A pair of '59 Caddy taillights were frenched into the rear fenders of the lowered, shaved Chevy.

The amount of detail in Fidel Ascencio's chopped and slammed custom '51 Ford F-1, from Glendora, CA, make it an inside-and-out knockout.

This channeled '36 Ford is owned by Jim Ramirez of Tustin, and is powered by a 401 Buick topped with three 2-jets feeding an Offenhauser intake manifold. We like the pipes. And the '59 Cadillac taillights. And the bottle of Clamato juice.

The Primer Nats is a magnet for numerous Southern California car clubs. This '54 Chevy 3100, owned by Nando R, was there with the Devils Venice club.

Who knows what the plans are for the finish on Shannon Schroeder's '51 Chevy 3600 (another Ventura truck), but the chrome on the grille and the black paint on the wheels and running boards break up the rest of the completely shaved, brown sheetmetal.

Great two-tone paint, an open-air cab, and the lowest possible posture are some of the elements on Mike Bello's '54 Chevy roadster pickup. The satin gold exterior is contrasted by heavy metalflake copper paint and metailflake gold vinyl upholstery.