Editor's Note: Getting your truck into Readers' Trucks is a snap, of the camera, that is. All it takes is a stack of good-quality photos of your ride that are in focus and well lit. Due to the volume of mail we receive, we regret that we cannot return photographs. Please shoot and send photos of your truck only (no people, pets, Polaroids, or printouts) to: CCT, Readers' Trucks, 774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870. It is important that you include a detailed description of the modifications you have made to your truck, including any interesting stories behind it.
Ten Years After
And now, a word from Hank Kwiatkowski, another dyed-in-the-wool hot rodder who builds his rides out of his two-car garage:
"Here are a few pictures of my 1950 F-1; I'm finally finished after almost 10 years. (I'm 65 years young.) I put in a modified Mustang II frontend, a homemade rear frame with a four-bar suspension, and a 9-inch rear. I chopped the top 3 1/2 inches and made the doors suicide-style without a kit. It has a high-horsepower Ford 460 with a C6 tranny. I did all the welding on the body and frame, but I had a professional finish and paint it Flame red. It has an Isuzu front seat, and the interior is half professional and half home-done."
Well, Hank, I guess all we can say is that Rome wasn't built in a day, so why should your truck have been! And the good news is the truck may have taken a year or two, but it turned out killer.
Back To The Future
When Howard Hunt retired after 45 years of work, he needed something to keep him occupied. What better way than to restore the '57 Chevy truck he had at 17 years old? He started with the mechanics. He freshened up the 235 straight-six and installed a new clutch in the three-speed transmission. Next up, he purchased a '57 GMC parts truck and yanked the GMC rearend with 3.07:1 gears. When the truck first hit the road, it used to cruise at 55 or 60 down the freeway, and now it glides comfortably at 75.
A friend of Howard's asked if he could paint the truck, and Howard was in no way going to argue with that. So he began sanding the truck down and found three coats of paint consisting of blue, gray, and white. For the most part, the body was in good shape, but he did have to replace the right front fender. Since the original coat of paint was white, he decided to paint the truck back to white. He also powdercoated the grille, and the wood in the bed is from the old oak tree in the front yard.
As for the rear bumper, Howard called Hudiburg Chevrolet to check if it was original, and he found out it was a dealer option accessory at the time of purchase. The person also told him that since then the bumper had moved from Grapevine, Texas, to Fort Worth, Texas, in '64. The interior kept its original color, but Howard did add turn signals and seatbelts. He even installed a set of original wheels that he eventually found on a nearby horse trailer.