Originally, this 1959 Ford F-100 just needed the brakes worked on, but Scott Oshinksi just decided if he was going to restore the brakes, he might as well just restore the whole thing. The truck brand-new was sold by Bowen Ford Co. in Metter, Georgia for $2314.67. In 1984 the truck was purchased from a friend for $2,500 in Atlanta, Georgia. The truck seemed fine in terms of rust and paint but in 1990 the truck started experiencing some problems with the overdrive transmission. As a result, the truck was put into storage until one day Scott’s father-in-law, Art Carney, asked for help on the brakes. This is where the project was born.

Tony Brothers is a truck guy. When he’s not building a truck for himself, he’s horse trading for trucks he likes. Buying a truck and making a few changes can be a rewarding way to own some really cool hot rod haulers. His most recent acquisition is this 1981 Chevrolet C10, and much like Tony, we are impressed at how well these ’73-87 trucks take to some pretty traditional hot rod tricks.

When Samuel Washington decided to build a vintage F-100 he had a pretty good vision of the finished product. Being a fan of the Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson trucks of the recent past, Washington couldn’t help but wonder what the Harley-Davidson Special Edition might have looked like were it produced in 1966. In particular, the Night Train Harley Davidson was appealing, and so after locating a good 1966 Ford F-100 Samuel set about completing his vision.

For Hilton Vail, it all started on the family farm, where he got his driver’s license at age 14 and owned his first hot rod—a ’40 Ford two-door sedan—at age 15. Ten years of fast street cars were followed by 28 years of oval track modified race cars. When Hilton stopped racing in 1990, he had amassed a pretty good collection of serious go-fast parts, the perfect fuel for a lifelong gearhead who loves to design and fabricate “things that vary from the norm,” as he describes it.

Whoever said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” might have been working on a custom truck project at the time. In fact Charlie Lewis, the owner/builder of this ’48 Chevy 3100 ½-ton, might have said it a few times during the course of the project. From start to finish, the truck changed shops, changed owners, and changed direction.

Growing up hot rodders, there are certain “rites of passage” we all undertake, and at some point, we all delve into George Lucas’ masterpiece about a bunch of kids, cars, and cruising: American Graffiti. Although there are several iconic scenes from the movie, perhaps none is better than when the Pharaohs show up. For any hot rodder, the Pharaohs personified who we wished we could be, and more importantly, what we could get away with! Yet, for guys like Dennis Reeves of Oklahoma City, it was just another reminder of a chance encounter more than 50 years ago.

People are turned on to hobbies and pastimes in all sorts of ways. Through some sort of explainable and not-so-explainable osmosis, the idea of something implants itself into our brains and takes hold for good. For those in the hot rod community who prefer beds to trunks, the source often stems from fathers and grandfathers.

Parked alongside the road in Niles, Michigan, is this late-’50s big-window Dodge ½-ton pickup. Surface rust abounds and no glass is visible in the windows.

The older you get, the more you cling to things from your youth. Sometimes it's enough to sit down and watch a movie from your childhood that came on TV or hang out with some friends from high school and reminisce about the mischief you used to get into. Other times you want to have something tangible. Many of us regret getting rid of a car or truck from our youth, be it whether it was by obligation or choice at the time, and later start thinking about what it'd be like to have that vehicle again and do the things to it we couldn't when we had it originally. Jim Stone of Alto Pass, Illinois, is one of those guys who wanted to catch up with his youth and relive those good times once more.

This rare 1942 Ford Shorty fire engine was hidden in a five-door corrugated steel utility shed deep in the woods behind a trailer park in rural Northern Indiana.

Looking at this '54 Chevy 3100 pickup it's hard to believe the owners, Jeff and Julie Matauch of New Hudson, Michigan, live on a dirt road. But having to cope with less than ideal conditions to go for a cruise didn't keep Jeff from his obsession with building a perfect truck.

How long does it take you to fill up your truck at the gas station? The handbuilt stainless gas tank in Mark and Angie Eddins' custom Cameo holds 15 gallons, but refills sometimes take longer than if Mark was gassing up a semi truck. It's not filling the tank that keeps him at the pump so long-it's the conversations that are inevitably struck up whenever people see the icebox white '55 Chevy. "Everybody wants to talk about it," he tells us. Questions can lead to stories of other trucks "just like it" (except for the year, make, and color, of course). Before long the camera phones are out and photographs are being snapped. Quick fill-ups are rare for the Cameo, but Mark doesn't mind. It comes with the territory and is a side effect of driving a remarkable truck.

The automobile-when you think about it, it's nothing more than an ever-evolving machine designed to commute from point A to point B in the most efficient, quickest, and safest manner possible. Yet, somewhere along the way the automobile was taken under the wings of the American culture and transformed into something more prominent than just metal, rubber, plastic, and glass shuffling down the highway.

It’s hard to argue for a better vehicle to promote one’s own business than a shop truck. They’re useful, make great signage, and are usually driven all over town on a daily basis picking up parts and supplies for the day-to-day operations. They get around and they get the business’ name out in front of the community. Promotion is the name of the game, and for that, shop trucks are perfect.

What makes a hot truck? Is it the classic lines, low stance, flawless paint, nicely detailed interior, and clean bed? Of course all of these attributes are important, and after putting them together, the parts make a great whole. Craig Wetzler has an eye for these things. His latest venture has something a bit more unique. Lurking under the hood of this rig is its hidden identity.

Inspiration can grow over time and then be ignited in a moment. For Sammy Trout of Whittier, California, the moment came when he was on the way to work. He saw an old stepside, lowered and rolling on 20s, and immediately started thinking how cool his grandfather’s ’77 Chevy would look with a similar setup.

This late ’50s Ford COE shows the remnants of an early Southwest Michigan snowstorm, but pervasive rust still manages to shine through. Some old-time COE drivers complained about the physical effort, all day long, to climb in and out of the cabs of these trucks.

One of the biggest advantages to choosing an early ’60s theme for his custom ’58 Chevy Apache is that it gave Pete Wittenberg a lot of freedom and flexibility. By that era, custom styles had become wild and diverse. Build a vehicle with a ’40s or ’50s theme, and you’re inviting criticism from people eager to insist that “they didn’t do that back then.” When you move up into the ’60s, comments like that lose their clout because the whole point of ’60s styling was to do something different.

Kyle Black spends lots of time with trucks one way or another. For a living he drives one around his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, delivering Coca Cola products and for daily transportation he can be found in the ultra-clean 1985 Chevy C10 pickup shown here.

There’s nothing more gratifying than driving cross-country, especially while motoring past the endless miles of farmland in America’s heartland. At its essence is the nurturing of land as crops are raised and harvested, while the use of classic commercial vehicles brings it all together.

When Steve Pace bought this ’56 Chevrolet, it was a running, driving, solid pickup. The former owner had installed a Fatman IFS with a power rack and disc brakes. There was a 350 Chevy under the hood backed by a Turbo 350 and the paint and bodywork were decent. But while the truck was nice, it wasn’t nice enough.

Lots of things can trigger the urge to build a custom classic truck, but hanging out with friends already in the hobby tends to speed things up. Mike Snider from Honea Path, South Carolina, is a restaurant owner who has always enjoyed classic trucks. The dream gathered momentum thanks to several of his friends who owned classic rides and before long, Mike decided it was time to build one of his own.

To get the full effect, you’d need to come up from behind Greg Stanton’s ’67 C10 Stepside shortbed on the highway. From the rear, there’s plenty to admire: the low stance, the modified tailgate and bed, the roll pan and flush-mounted taillights, the small-window cab, and the conservative gray paint.

People who’ve spent their whole lives in the Sun Belt might not be familiar with the concept of a “winter driver.” To people in the Snow Belt, it’s as familiar as the sight of a rusted tailpipe lying on the highway.

It is not unusual for one man to accumulate a collection of cars in his lifetime. It is also not unusual for a wife, after that man’s passing, to sell off his collection. What is unusual is when the family wishes to sell the collection to an old family friend only for what the original owner had invested in it—with no intention of making an easy profit.