Bakersfield March Meet - Bakersfield's Best

There were plenty of nice trucks to be found in the swap meet area, including this half-hidden '59 GMC 1/2-ton.

Bill Keithley didn't care that his 14-second '74 VW was "the slowest car at the Meet." This was the first March Meet for Bill and his wife Lana, who have been pulling the Beetle with this propane-fed-350-powered '74 Chevy for three years. Back home, the truck is driven daily.

There's probably a little more satin black paint in store for Tim Carpenter's '48 Ford F-1, from Ojai, California. We spotted it in the Grove, and liked the painted wire rims with rings and caps, and the nice pinstriping on the hood.

Rough on the outside, nice on the inside, Matt Saar's '41 Chevy panel gets driven all over. A 350/350 combination and Heidt's front-end are part of the package. Matt's wife, Stephanie, takes the kids to school in the truck, including 7-year-old Trinity, who picked it out.

Maybe next March this swap meet Willys will be a push truck, or show truck, or a cool Gasser pickup running down the dragstrip. We'll come back and find out.

The history of the March Meet begins with Art Chrisman, who won the first U.S. Fuel and Gas Championship in Bakersfield in 1959, driving The Hustler. Fifty-one years later, Chrisman and The Hustler are still active and were both back in Bakersfield, joined by Art's '57 Ford Ranchero push car. Art's owned the Ranchero, now running a 428 Super Cobra Jet engine, since 1968.

This '55 Chevy with 10-year-old paint runs 15s with a V-6 engine and TH350 automatic, but it's getting ready for a blown small-block any time now. Underneath there's a Camaro front clip. It did belong to "Papa Joe" Fuentez for a few decades, but now belongs to son Jeremy Fuentez. They were racing in the Hot Rod bracket class, until an oil leak ended their day.

This two-tone '58 Chevy in the swap meet area is dressed up, for a moment, by the cute redhead. That's gonna make a nice Christmas card.

Another Bako farm truck-and onetime sometime street racer-this '51 F-1 was owned by Randy Oliver since 1977. His son Bryan now owns it, and finished it a of couple years ago. The engine is a Ford 400 (factory stroked 351) with a C6 automatic, and a Ford 9-inch with 4.11 gears.