I've seen your truck around the So Bay. Do you ever stop in at "Ricky and Ronnies". Me and my buddies have dinner there, every Fri night. Welcome to the site.
Don't know who "Ricky and Ronnie" are so unless the diner has a different name, no.
Captain M.
I did use some of the steel from the rear fenders to make the right front panel but the left one is mostly VW squareback roof steel.
The original front fenders were all ripped up and smashed, and hotrods don't have fenders anyway
so I just cut them off a couple inches away from the hood sides and fabricated what you see on the still original inner fender panels.
I fabbed the headers and chopped the top too.
In fact, here's an updated version of a rightup I did on it a few years ago:
DrJ's Beer money and rolling stamp collection.
* **** One day back in 1988 I was looking through the PennySaver and spotted an ad for a 1940 GMC long bed pickup. I didn’t have the grand the owner was asking for it so I offered to trade the 1955 Olds --a $75-beater that I had been “gonna fix it up some day” for the last 12 years. He went for it.
* **** The GMC was driven to my one car apartment garage where, without ever driving it, I started its slow transformation. Having started reading R&C in 1961, I’m partial to the '60’s style of chrome wheels and Caddy taillights, so I planned a “traditional” hot rod of that era. By traditional I mean: If it doesn’t make it go, stop, or handle, or make it safe, it probably isn’t on the truck. I either hand made parts, adapted them from something I already had, or used the least expensive available that were of acceptable quality and would work. For example, smoothie wheels are cheap and traditional, ’59 Caddy taillights I already had so I used them, and the total chrome shop bill was 20 bucks! A friend gave me the halogen headlights, and I got the shock absorbers and gauges on sale at Chief Auto Supply.
* **** I performed ALL work including engine and transmission building, metalwork, painting, woodwork, upholstery, wiring, and assembly in the garage at home. I modified the chassis as follows: a 1973 Malibu donated its entire drive train from the fan to the 10-bolt rear axle. Lowering blocks on the stock GMC springs stagger the axle 3/4" forward. I used the Malibu drive shaft as- is. The 400 small block got new heads and intake, and home made headers now reside where the running boards were. After that engine's crank went south I bought a brand new in the GM crate 262" Monza short block from Joe Reath and put some World Products S/R 305 heads and a '69 Z28 Qjet on it, just in time for the gas price insanity. I reversed the front spring shackle mounts and removed two spring leaves to bring the front end down and soften the ride, then I put an ECI disc brake kit on the stock front axle. I’m glad I put brakes on that STOP. A ’46 Chevy steering gear mounts a 1954 Chevy wheel and one of them CheapChinese turnsignal switches. The homemade brake pedal and bracket carry a 1984 Mustang booster and master cylinder. 185/14 and 235/15 Pep Boys whitewalls carry the load in style and comfort.
* **** Most of the body had green enamel paint put on with a roller but where the paint wasn’t, the metal wasn’t either! I had to replace the bottom 5" of both doors and the lower cowl area with good German steel from a VW roof. I chopped the top 3 1/2" in the process of repairing the rust at the belt line. I leaned the back of the cab forward to resemble a coupe profile while retaining the stock size rear window. The front fenders were a shredded mess so I reshaped them into frame-hugging fairings with ports to allow the headers to exit to the side pipes.
* **** The paint is '91 Geo Metro "Competition Blue" lacquer with custom blended colors on the ‘40’s-style flames. I made the bed and the storage box out of birch, using several hundred brass screws and over a dozen coats of spar varnish to hold it together. Originally I upholstered it with some Guatemalan serape material, but I wore it out. Last month I gave it the natural leather treatment on an Astro Van seat frame-fits nice!
Thanks for the welcomes,and here's a stern view of my grocery getter, really.
It hasn't seen the inside of a garage in a decade.
