Fred Steiner's '56 Chevy 3200 1/2-ton longbed pickup is like many old trucks we come across in our travels; it's been used and abused, but resurrected and given a second chance at life. Once a simple working man's daily driver, the Chevy is now relegated to a more esteemed lifestyle as a show truck and Sunday driver. But to say it has forgotten its roots would be far from the truth. No, its roots are still planted firmly to not only the truck itself but with its owner as well. You see, Fred's father bought the truck new in 1956 for the hefty sum of $1,911. The Custom Cab truck set the elder Steiner back a cool $38.52 a month, on a 23-month payment plan, which wasn't a bad deal for a union plumber. Fred Sr. opted to splurge on a radio, but turned down other such features as a heater, power steering, automatic transmission, or air conditioning. A simple work truck with a bed big enough to haul his tools and a radio to get him through the working day was all a guy could ask for back then out of his work truck.
But to Fred, that old Chevy was more than just his father's old work truck. When he was just a young boy, the Plumber's and Steamfitter's Union of Southern California went on strike, leaving Fred Sr. with a bit of free time on his hands. Knowing it would be a long strike and with some money saved up, the family decided to use the time to take a vacation. Borrowing a trailer from a neighbor, Fred Sr. built a camper shell for the pickup, with help from an 8-year-old Fred Jr., and the family took off for a lengthy road trip that included stops in Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion, and Yellowstone. Memories from the four-month summer camping trip are still fondly remembered today as Fred recalls catching his first fish and living like hobos during the best summer he's ever had. When the strike was over, the Steiner's headed back to Southern California and resumed their normal life.
In the '60s, Fred Sr. sold the truck to his brother Bob, who years later turned around and offered it back to Fred. The two brothers decided that perhaps Fred Jr. would like to buy it, with the agreement that he would restore the truck. With all the memories of that long summer trip still fresh in his mind, Fred Jr. was more than willing to pay the $1,200 asking price. The years it spent in the backyard of his uncle's home however, had taken quite a toll and the old Chevy was only a shell of its former self when Fred brought it home. It was definitely going to need a complete restoration and while he was at it, Fred decided he might as well put a few more creature comforts into it than his father had years before.
The first step in resurrecting the pickup was to tear it down to the bare frame. From there, a Heidt's Superide II IFS kit was installed by Williams Classic Chassis Works to replace the stock axle, drum brakes, and manual steering box while the original rearend was rebuilt with a 3.38:1 ring and pinion. Taylor Engines rebuilt a 283ci Chevy V-8 to replace the 265-inch original small-block dressed in an original fashion with a Powermaster Powergen alternator, oil bath air cleaner, steel valve covers, and cast-iron intake manifold. The only modern conveyance under the hood is the compressor for the Vintage Air air-conditioning unit. Backing the engine sits the original three-speed manual trans rebuilt by Big 4 Transmission. Once the mechanical side of things was complete, Fred took the truck over to Doug Shelp in Huntington Beach, California, where he knocked the body straight and shot it in gloss black. Jeffrey Huntoon at Hot Rod Electrical pulled the wiring for the truck before a hide or two of black and grey leather was pulled over the cockpit confines by Mark Lopez at Elegance Auto Interiors. A set of 17-inch Budnik Famosa wheels were wrapped in Michelin rubber before it was laid to rest firmly on asphalt.
Fred says he built the truck as a tribute to his father and all the memories he has from that summer trip. Fifty years later and Fred himself just retired from the same pension plan his father went on strike over back in the summer of '57 after putting in 37 years in the plumbing trade. All those years later and the sight of his father's old truck still takes him back to those days when he was an 8-year-old boy.