Bringing the Courier's body back to life was a project that took over four years for Larry to complete, mainly due to rust. Washington is a real nice place if you like lush green scenery, but the state's heavy rainfall takes its toll on vintage tin in a big way. After Larry dealt with the rust repairs and minor customizing, such as frenching the license plate into the tailgate to get the '55 closer to paint, the finishing bodywork was handled by Leonard Wanke of Sumner, Washington. With the bodywork out of the way, Leonard then sprayed the '55 in Kenworth orange Dupont Imron polyurethane paint. Once the '55 returned from paint, it was time to put the interior back together, but not before Glenn Thompson had a chance to string in a Centech wiring harness and hook it all up.
For the '55's seating arrangement, Larry stuck with the original driver's bucket seat along with the optional passenger bucket the '55 came with. In place of the Spartan brown vinyl upholstery with painted Masonite paneling and door panels, Pat O' Grady of Spokane reupholstered the interior from the top to bottom in two shades of gray Naughahyde, taking special pains to sculpt intricate flame designs into the panels.
After investing all the time and money that Larry has into his '55 Courier, one might assume he wouldn't consider selling it at any price. Funny enough, this was what Larry thought until he recently discovered another project he'd like to undertake. Next time around, Larry has decided to sell his '55 in order to build a '57 Ford Courier that has been stored indoors for over 30 years. When we asked Larry about the engine he intended to run, he surprised us by saying he was going to try something a little different this time: a blown 427 Ford.