Darrell Moseley’s ’54 Chevy Pickup

We dig post-War Chevy trucks around here, no big secret there. But here’s the thing: So many seem to have been built using the same formula. Don’t misunderstand us, it’s a great recipe—start with a nice shortbed, splice in one Camaro subframe (substitute Nova if necessary), season with a mildly spicy small-block, add a side of 9-inch rear end, and garnish with a smoothie bright-red paint job. Bitchin’, yes. Unique? Not so much. Sure, we’d own a fleet of ’em just like that, but wouldn’t it be cool to stand out from the crowd, too?

Case in point: During the ’01 running of the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour last May, amid a sea of nearly 2,000 killer rides, we were able to home in on Darrell Moseley’s ’54 pickup within minutes. The blazing paint job is an obvious draw it demands attention, even amongst countless other flame jobs. The raging licks are intense, and continue onto the roof, the rear fenders, the toneau—it’s even got licks on the dash. In print it sounds excessive—in person it’s just right. Kinda like the 3 ½-inch chopped top, which somehow isn’t blatantly obvious, but definitely appealing. Imagine our delight to find that it was urged by an inliner, and that it has a Muncie four-speed and a Ford 9-inch—and when was the last time you saw a slammed truck with a straight axle? Darrell credits his brother-in-law, Jerry Husers, for helping bring the project to fruition, and also his grandfather for giving him the truck after he was done with it back in 1985—that was after driving it daily for the nearly 30 years that passed after grandpa bought it from his uncle, the original owner.

Drivetrain: The hot Six is a ’70 292 that Darrell and Jerry had rebuilt by Fuzzie (“That’s all anybody calls him”) in Lewisville, Texas, to mostly stock specs but with a slightly warmer cam (only Fuzzie knows the actual grind). There’s a Clifford aluminum four-barrel intake topped with an Edelbrock Performer carb, and a Clifford split header feeding custom dual exhaust. An Offy finned aluminum rocker cover and air cleaner give a sharp vintage speed feel. Power feeds through the Muncie M-21 four-speed to a 4.11:1 geared 9-inch Ford rear end.

Chassis: The Chevy still rides on a straight-axle, though this one’s from Mor-Drop in Oakland, California, to give it a 2 ½-inch drop. Darrell didn’t settle for ’40s brake technology—the Mor-Drop piece accepts Chevelle spindles to allow bolt-on 11-inch disc brakes. The truck also uses a Chevelle manual steering box. The rear end is suspended by custom monoleaf springs and provide another 2 ½ inches of slam.

Wheels & Tires: American Racing Torq-Thrust IIs in 17-inch diameters measure 17x7 up front and mount 245/45-17 BFG Comp T/As, while the rears are 10 inches wide and mount 275/40-17 meats.

Body: All body prep was performed by Darrell while the custom work was handled by Frank Palmer of Old World Customs in Mansfield, Texas. Frank frenched the antennas and the headlights and then chopped the top 3 ½ inches.

Paint: Darrell handled spraying the black paint, and laid the clear over the killer flame work laid down by Mike Dusold of Dusold Designs in Lewisville.

Interior: Some Chevy ¾-ton truck bench seats include a recess expressly for floor-mounted Hurst shifters, so Darrell had Craig’s Interior Design in Rockwall, Texas, stitch one up in black leather. Craig went on to create the flamed door panels, headliner, and matching rear cab panel. United Speedometer refurbished the original gauges and then re-screened the faces in white with black characters—the opposite of the original design. Neat, huh?