Cool 'N' Blue

This is the way you are going...        read full caption This is the way you are going to see Sherm most of the time—cruising the A-bone to the next rod run.

Jaguar rearends and Model...        read full caption Jaguar rearends and Model As are made for each other. This one utilizes a Snow White adjustable crossmember and Aldan coilover shocks. Check out the nice rolled rear pan and the smooth tailgate with a small Ford emblem on the side.

Ford roadster pickups don’t...        read full caption Ford roadster pickups don’t have spacious interiors, so Tom Sewell took that into consideration when he upholstered the pickup. The seat was sculptured to provide plenty of legroom for Sherm and his wife Sharie, and made the interior very attractive to boot. The entire interior is stitched in butterscotch leather. The dash is a Brookville item and houses VDO gauges.

The entire pickup bed was...        read full caption The entire pickup bed was fabricated and features a smooth steel floor with stainless ribs and a frenched gas cap.

If you’ve been reading automotive magazines over the years the name Sherm Porter should sound familiar. Sherm is a photojournalist who specializes in street rods and other high-performance machinery. Sherm is also a longtime street rodder, starting way back in the ’60s, and he has been involved with the San Luis Roadsters car club for the last 29 years. His current ride is an awesome ’28 Model A pickup that has been a consistent show-winner wherever it goes.

The pickup was started in 1989, and went slowly at first. Sherm patiently waited until his son was able to help (and in fact, do the lion’s share of the work). The father and son team started hustling on the car in 1995, and in May of 1996 the roadster was finally finished. Since its completion, the roadster pickup has seen more than 13,000 miles with no problems. Sherm’s son had so much fun working on the roadster, he opened up Mike Porter Street Rods, a fabrication shop that has grown into Central Coast Rod & Custom—an additional shop.

Sherm found the roadster pickup in a local backyard. He retained the body and fenders, but a new chassis was constructed by his son, Mike, out of rectangular tubing in a space frame configuration with a drop-out transmission mount. In the rear, Mike installed a Jaguar rearend using a Snow White crossmember and fully adjustable Aldan shocks. The rearend is outfitted with Wilwood disc brakes. Up front, a traditional 4-inch dropped Super Bell axle was used in conjunction with Vega steering, a four-bar system, a Panhard bar, and a custom buttoned front spring. The chassis was powdercoated metallic silver and candy blue. It rolls on Eric Vaughn’s Real Wheels with 14x6 up front running 185/70R15 BFGoodrich tires and 15x8 in the rear with P255/70R15 BFGoodrich tires.

Motorvation comes from a warmed-over ’70 Chevy 350 engine that was totally rebuilt. It runs a Lunati cam and high-performance heads equipped with Manley stainless steel valves. The engine is topped by an Edelbrock Torker II intake manifold and a 600-cfm Holley carb. MSD handles the firepower, while exhaust flows through a Mike Porter–fabricated exhaust system. The highly detailed engine is backed by a Turbo 350 trans with a Darrell Young 11-inch torque converter and a B&M trans cooler.

The body looks relatively stock until you give it a close examination. It actually has 30 subtle modifications that turn it into a show-winner. Changes include a custom-made front bumper and brackets; the installation of a ’32 grille shell that has been smoothed, peaked, and had the rear reveal removed; and a custom grille insert. The front gravel apron was custom-made. The three-piece hood has been lengthened 2 inches and features one-off hood bracing and hood adjusters. It’s running custom windshield posts that are chopped 3 inches. The cab has been strengthened with a tube structure, and the back of the cab was replaced with a smooth panel. There’s a custom-made smooth bed that was shortened 4 inches, a rear belly pan with a recessed license plate and frenched taillights, custom running boards, and many other modifications. When all of the changes were made, the bodywork was completed by Mike, and then (with paint supplied by Jim Hayworth) it was painted PPG Fleet Blue using basecoat/clearcoat.

Look inside, and you find a Tom Sewell–sewn butterscotch leather interior with tan wool carpets. The stock dash was replaced by a ’32 roadster style from Brookville and was outfitted with an aluminum panel and VDO gauges. A Chevy van donated its steering column to the roadster pickup, and it’s topped by an original ’39 Banjo steering wheel. The interior also features a Gennie Shifter gear selector, Lokar pedals, and a hidden glovebox on the dash.

The truck was finished in 1996, and since then Sherm and his lovely and supportive wife Sharie have been having a lot of fun with it. They can be seen at most of the large events in California, including the enjoyable run the San Luis Roadsters put on every year.