Your first ride always holds a special place in your heart, whether it was a total beater or something you thought really made you "big man on campus." Few can still say they still own their initial means of transportation. Instead, a disproportionately greater number of us just reminisce about it and grumble over "the one that got away." We fantasize about what we'd do to it if we still had it, how much money it'd be worth now, or just miss being able to relive nostalgia at our convenience.
Billy Templeton was 17 when he got his first ride, a '56 Ford pickup. His uncle gave it to him for helping him build a house. It had a three-on-the-tree, drifted like crazy because of the amount of play in the steering, and he had to push-start it to get it running, but hey, it was his. Even then, he knew there was something truly special about this fat-fendered piece of Dearborn steel with the overhung cab. After high school came the inevitable stringent economic times of his entry into early adulthood, and like many of us, Billy had to wave goodbye to his '56 and get something more practical. However, he knew that one day he'd get another.
Some 30 years went by and that day to recapture a part of his youth came to fruition. Billy's wife, Bonnie, decided to get him a '56 for his 48th birthday because she'd heard for years how badly he wanted to get one. About an hour from his home, they found what was to become Billy's second go with his first ride. No, it was not the exact same truck, but it was the same year and even though it was in some rough shape, Billy wasn't about to let this one go.
This time around, Billy wanted to do it right and turn this truck into the fast, red, street rod he always wanted. Bill Legg and Robbie Seals pulled out the tired old 272-inch Y-block and in went a crate 351 Windsor complete with a Holley 750, and all that backed by a C6 tranny. Thanks to Sammy Seay and Paul Newton, the chassis' dropped stance comes from a Mustang II IFS and a notched rear with blocks, with a '79 Grenada rearend that sits on top of the leaf springs. Exhaust is pumped through dual Flowmaster mufflers to rectangular stainless steel tips molded into the left and right running boards.
Billy's '56 didn't have the sleek body lines you see now when he bought the truck. The door front corners have been rounded, the driprails shaved, and the bed is courtesy of Dan Carpenter. The red oak planks in the bed by Roger Brown provide a unique and appropriate finishing touch.
Color choice was an important decision and Billy ultimately decided on '99 Ford Vermillion Red and a custom flame job on the inner fenders. When Billy saw it roll out of Shipley's bodyshop in Greenville, Tennessee, the color was so striking he said that someone could have a heart attack looking at it, hence the truck's name: Heart Attack. Add that to the Mid Fifty's headlights, LED taillights, pinstriping, American Racing Torq-Thrust wheels, and this truck has that subtle, yet classic, street rod look.
The Ultimate Leather interior by Alvin Kane at C&C Enterprises of Kenton, Georgia is anything but disappointing, as well. A billet wheel on top of an ididit column sits opposite a cluster of Haneline gauges. And what would a customized classic be without Vintage Air A/C to keep it cool during those sweltering Tennessee summers?
It took five years to build on top of a 30-plus year wait, but Billy is living large with the best birthday present he could ask for. And believe it or not, the uncle who gave him his first truck was around to see the finished product. His reaction almost gave the truck's nomenclature a literal status. We think now that Billy has what he had to part ways with; Thanks to his wife, Bonnie, and friend David Bailey it'll be getting lots of miles in the near future. At least the rest of us can live vicariously through someone else's ability to relive their youth.