Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes-from songs, movies, paintings, aspiring beauty queens, and, yes, Chevy trucks. When Laurence Fairey set out to find something to boost his own morale, he never dreamt that his new venture would also bring some sunshine into others' as well.
It all started in November 2005. Laurence had just lost his job, and his good friend Glen convinced him that building a truck would fill his downtime void and act as therapy as well. Being an enthusiast, Laurence had no clue about what it took to build a classic truck, yet once again Glen stepped in and introduced Laurence to Garvin Harvey, the owner of Rod Shop of Memphis in Cordova, Tennessee. The meeting couldn't have come at a better time due to a recent slump in Garvin's business. It was clear that Rod Shop of Memphis was the perfect fit for the build, yet one concern still remained: what kind of truck should they build? After some deliberation, they decided the truck for Laurence was none other than a 1949 Chevrolet.
It took the Rod Shop a year to build what appears to be a basically stock '49 Chevy; however, underneath the yellow paint, the truck is anything but stock. When Garvin and Laurence talked about the Chevy's direction, Laurence wanted a truck that looked classic on the outside but had all the mechanics of a state-of-the-art street rod. Following Laurence's words, Garvin begin by fabricating a custom chassis. Everything about the stock chassis mechanics was thrown out the door, and Rod Shop of Memphis drew up plans to build a chassis with four-corner independent suspension. The new chassis is based around a front and rear IRS from Kugel Komponents. The front IFS is based around new tubular control arms that mount to a weld-in crossmember. The IFS also comes equipped with disc brakes and Carrera coilover shocks, and Garvin ordered 500-pound springs for the coilovers. To update the steering, Garvin also incorporated a Flaming River rack-and-pinion unit into the new chassis. Out back, the Kugel IRS features tubular stainless control arms, a Ford 9-inch member, and four Carrera coilover shocks. The stock Kugel IRS comes with two shocks, but due to the truck's weight, they ordered the additional coilover package. For added handling, Garvin also ordered an IFS with the additional Kugel Torque Arrest radius rods. To highlight the wicked awesome IRS, Memphis laid down a polished stainless bed floor instead of traditional wood. Now when one looks under the chassis, the first thing they see is double vision.