Part of what makes classic trucks interesting is that you can build them in so many different ways. The red '54 Ford F-100 belongs to Oddie Neal, and the black '56 Ford F-100 belongs to Bob and Karen Kandarian. |
A GM tilt steering column makes driving the '54 through the Los Angeles streets easier for Oddie. |
Show Car Restorations made custom inner bed-panel liners to offset the beautiful wood floor of the Kandarians' '56. Blue and red pearl were added to make the black paint really stand out. |
A highly polished and chromed engine compartment sets off the 351 Ford motor. Check out those milled slots in the smooth firewall. |
The bottom halves of the '54's door panels use the same material as the floor, and the top halves use the same material as the seat top. |
Oddie's truck combines stock items (fender welting, tailgate hinges, taillights) with custom touches (blue dots, plush carpet, lowered stance). |
Gold knockoffs on deep-dish chrome wheels spice up the '54. |
Show Car Restoration designed the interior for the Kandarians' '56. Ray Griggs did the upholstery work, and man!--is it neat. Custom polished trim adorns the door panels and headliner. |
A '79 Chrysler Volare front suspension was grafted to the '56 frame. The Chrysler power booster, master cylinder, and pedal assembly were also used. |
With the rush to eliminate tailgate chains, the good ol' stock look suddenly has a fresh feeling. |
The black '56 is elegant, yet simple. There was a lot of engineering involved to make everything this perfect. |
How many times have you heard the horror stories about a project truck swirling around inside some hack shop for years and no work was ever done? Too many, we're willing to bet. Outstanding shops aren't always easy to find.
We've known John Mangiapane of Show Car Restoration (818/994-5077) in Van Nuys, California, for many years and he's always turning out absolutely beautiful cars and trucks. We've watched the progress of the black '56 F-100 owned by Bob and Karen Kandarian of Bakersfield, California, for quite some time with amazement. Mangiapane is truly an artist, but he's also a competent professional who gets the work done. In addition to insurance collision repairs, Showcar Restoration offers complete frame-off restorations of classics, antiques, hot rods, customs, and trucks. After 22 years in the business, John knows what it takes to make discriminating customers happy.
John is quick to point out that he did not build the '54 from the ground up. He would not want to appear to be taking credit for someone else's work, especially when the owner of the truck did a lot of it himself! But the '56 Ford arrived at Show Car Restoration as a wreck that had been sitting in a back yard for 12 years. John really got the chance to plan and execute every detail. The Kandarians visited the shop often over the course of the project, and John always had new suggestions to make the truck safer, improve the appearance, and increase performance.
It's satisfying to see so many nice trucks coming out of the same shop.