54 Chevy Truck – 9 Years in the Making

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1954 Chevy Pickup -Chopped and Dropped

Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. A truck is a truck, right? It’s meant for only one thing, to be beat to death on the local farm or sentenced to a life of hard labor. If only the designers of the ’54 Chevrolet truck could see how this one fared the test of time. They just might pass a peach pit. There’s a nifty little story attached to this former hay hauler and it all began south of the border and we’re not referring to the Mason Dixon line.

Decades ago Mateo San Martin, living in Mexico, pieced this truck together one part at a time. Almost like that Johnny Cash song and just like the hot rodders here in the USA – a scrounged part here and there over a span of time had the truck all back and working again. Only this truck wasn’t built for any aesthetic reasons, it was built to handle life’s daily chores and experience more hard labor. But things don’t always work out the way they were intended… sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. In this story definitely for the good.

A few decades later the truck ended up in the USA and was now in the possession of his grandson George San Martin. There were no dreams of turning it into a stocker farm truck when George was around. Hells Bells, not even close! Chopped, dropped, shaved and customized. That’s all George could envision. He was still too young to drive it, but why let a technicality like that stop you?

The way he tells us this story, he’s had the truck for going on nine years now. Nine years of planning, nine years of collecting and saving parts. Nine years is enough time for ideas to revolve, evolve and dissolve in the minds eye. Obviously when he was still a kid the customizing work was pretty stagnate. Even in high school, the custom Chevy truck was still in the construction stages, but not many high school kids these days drive a ’54 Chevy truck do they?

Once High School was over and George settled into his career, the money situation made it easier to pursue the ideas floating in his mind. George’s father and grandfather helped in the rebuild process of the 236 Chevy inline six. In his own words, the head has been “milled to the max” with forged rods, stock crank, .60 over pistons and an Offy dual pot intake. Forget the Hydra-Matic transmission, a ’67 Muncie four speed is more fun to drive, and that inline six, when properly rapped, will send the decibels out the tailpipes and modern car alarms will be howling like banshees for an entire city block.

Of course it takes an entire crew of friends when it comes to customizing any vehicle. Jim Savage, Steven Aviles, Gabriel Aviles, Sergio Nevarez, Ernie Valle and countless other helped to drop, chop, shave, weld, paint and suicide the truck.  While George claims that the vehicle still is not entirely finished, he says its pretty close and will soon be done. Our question is: Are they really ever finished?

Before this story comes to an end, one thing we wanted to point out is the unique interior of the truck. The dash and instruments, with a mix of Stewart Warner gauges for good measure, come from a 59 Chevy Impala, the steering wheel is a cut down ’60 Chrysler wheel, the bucket seats are from a ’65 Chevy Impala, and of course, the tall shifter is hand made. We can’t wait to see what it will look like when George declares it “finished”.

Here are the rest of Michael’s great photos including more of this lovely lady. Who is she?

Speed Week 2010 Getting Schooled in a Jeep

Bonneville Salt Flats Race Truck

I met Pete and his son (the driver) at Speed Week 2010, but we had been talking through email the last couple months.  I was cruising through the pits at the Bonneville Salt Flats on day 1 when I saw Pete and his Comanche heading to the Tech Inspection area to check in.  I followed behind them and then went over to say hi.  Before we get into the Jeep’s performance at Speed Week, first, let’s see what it took Pete to get there.

In Pete’s own words:

“At this point I have more time than money. The Bonneville truck was to be a budget build but that didn’t quite work out…  I consider myself to be a good mechanic and a reasonable engineer.  I have worked on my cars my whole life  and was a mechanic in the Army.  All of that said, I had never built a race car. I had re-built engines, but never built a race engine.   So what made me think I could build a record setting race truck?  Maybe it was more balls than brains.  And why a Jeep?   That question I know the answer to.  I could have built an S10 using 4.3L parts.  They had a NASCAR series that used the V6, so a whole bunch of speed parts are available for that motor. But what fun is that!?  Building something from a catalog was not me. Like most car guys I wanted something  different.”

Hmmm… sounds like My Ride is Me!

“I finally found a 2WD Comanche with a 4.0L engine and manual transmission on Ebay in Texas.  We won it for a top bid of $930.00    It had 256,000 miles on it, but my son was able to drive it home to Illinois from Texas with only 1 roadside repair.

In the production racing class that the Jeep fits in you have to use a version of the engine that originally came in the vehicle.  So I had to build a Jeep/AMC inline 6.  Some street performance stuff was available to give you a 20% or 30% gain, but for Bonneville we would have to at least double the horsepower.  We were in uncharted waters.”

Check the blacked out look of this Jeep… Looks like Darth Vader!  Mean!

“We had a Plan, we had a vehicle, we had a date we had to meet (Bonneville Speed Week 2009).  The weeks and months that followed were crazy.   I was doing the engineering and project management.  My (23 year old) son was doing most of the fabrication.   As Speed Week 2009 got closer everybody was wrenching.  We did make it to Speed Week, but were unable to run due to a lubrication issue.  Also I probably over did things and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia during Speed Week.   We did get the truck through tech, and a good time was had by all, even the guy in the hospital.

The story does not end there.  Over the winter the engine problems were resolved, things were fixed on the car. We attended Maxton in May and found a steering issue.  The next stop was to be Bonneville Speed Week 2010 in August.”

“To say the least this was a challenge.  Maybe we should all challenge ourselves a little more, like the President that thought we should go to the moon.   I could say I am doing this for myself, but I think that’s not completely correct.  I think I wanted to show my son that we are surrounded by opportunity and that in many cases you don’t know what you can do until you try.  Our goal for this year is to go 185 mph at Bonneville, and in the next year or two to join the 200mph club.  Hey! why not?”

Here’s a close up of that sexy inline 6.  I love the snakey header.  It’s a one-off custom piece of course.  If you’re gonna go 200 mph Pete, this engine looks like it is a great base to reach your goal.  I was blown away when Pete mentioned that he didn’t think he had enough compression to get the record.  I asked him how much he had and it was like 13-14:1.  Whoa!  Talk about a serious motor!

I chatted with Pete for a few minutes, snapped some pictures of the Jeep and headed off.  Pete later shared his Speed Week 2010 experience and related it to getting “schooled”.  I’m sure his experience at Speed Week is not unlike most at Bonneville.

“It was the first time on the salt for the truck, and for my son and myself as competitors and we learned a lot.   We did go 155 MPH, but the record is around 173 MPH for the D/PMP class.   I guess you have to have a pretty big ego to think you can just build a car and go out and set a record (guilty as charged!).  If we changed the rear end gears we could probably get it to 163, but that is still 10 mph shy of the record.   One thing I learned is that it is not just about the engine and setting a record.  I saw lots of spins. I met people that had all kinds of problems, ignition, handling, fuel problems, etc.   I saw they had the engine out of the Blowfish.  Not sure what the problem was.   My point is that people with a whole lot more money and resources had trouble just getting a car down the track. We got through tech without a problem, the car did everything we asked it to do, it went straight, the chute worked.  We just didn’t have the right gears and enough horsepower.  We have a whole year to work on that.

All and all we are proud of ourselves, we did not achieve our goal of setting a record, but we understand now exactly what it takes.  We get a passing grade on “Salt Flats 101″.  The next course is harder.  For “Salt Flats 201″ you have to set a record to pass.  For “301″ you have to get into the 200 MPH Club.  I’m not sure what you need to graduate, maybe the big Hot Rod trophy for the fastest run of the meet.   All I know is I went to Speed Week 2010 and got schooled.”

A big thanks to Pete for sharing his Bonneville story with us at MyRideisMe.com.  I felt inspired by his comment that life is full of opportunity and that we should just go for it.  The Hechtspeed family is in the planning stages to build a Belly Tank Lakester and if we follow Pete’s advice, I know we’ll get there.

If you missed Part 1 of this Bonneville Racing Jeep, see it here

For the Best of Bonneville Speed Week click this link.

2010 Carlisle Truck Nationals Pictures

Carlisle Car Show: 2010 Truck Nationals

The 2010 Carlisle Truck Nationals was, once again, a great event and MyRideisMe.com was there to enjoy the show. Truck enthusiasts from around the country were there competing for trophies and just to hang out with like-minded individuals. There was something for everyone including sky-high monster trucks all the way to frame laying minis.

One of the highlights of the show was a display of Vietnam Gun Trucks from the reunion of Vietnam-era U.S. Army Transportation Veterans who were in Carlisle for their meeting known as “The Gathering.” All of the vehicles present looked very impressive with their machine guns mounted up high.

As a different form of tribute to our soldiers, Malibu Customz had their 2009 Ford F-150 truck that they call the “Freedom Truck” on display. This spectacular truck was airbrushed by Mickey Harris and depicted scenes from all the U.S. military branches.

Over in Building Y, Dan Little organized a group of Rat Rodders to fill the entire building with all sorts of creative rides. Some people have an issue with the term “rat rod” but not George and Corey Green. Their entire 1936 Plymouth was covered in rats of all types. They even had the term displayed proudly up front on their bumper for the entire world to see.

Rat Rodders are definitely a creative bunch. What do you think about a real shotgun shifter? Hope it isn’t loaded.

Speaking of dangerous, if I saw a soccer mom rolling down the highway in this lifted mini van I think I would make a bee-line to the nearest exit. This driver actually needed a six foot tall step later just to get into the van.

Over at the topside of Carlisle Event’s 100-acre facility, the members of Rausch Creek Off Road Park were showing off on the rock crawling course that was built for the event. There were Jeeps, trucks, and rock buggies taking turns all day.

Diesel trucks can make gobs of power and the air near the dyno booth was constantly filled with black smoke as these beasts competed for bragging rights.

We ducked back inside briefly to escape the blazing afternoon sun. Actually, for a mid-August day the temperatures were perfect and the humidity was bearable. Inside, we found Scott Kauffman’s 1974 Chevy van called “Emerald Express.” I was really digging all the green lace paint.

Would you like to go for a ride in a monster truck? Every year the Virginia Giant returns to allow passengers to “experience the power and car crushing action of a monster truck.”

I have a soft spot in my heart for all things truck. I guess much of it has to do with the fact that, being 6′ 5″, I don’t fit in too many cars comfortably. It may also be the reason why I own 3 trucks. So, do you own a truck? Is it lifted? Dropped? Stock?  Let us know, we would love to hear about it.

A few more photos are available in the Picture Gallery.

Makin’ You Sick – Clint’s Pepto Pink Frontier

Custom Truck: Nissan Frontier

Sometimes you’ve got to go against the grain.

Take Clint McDowell, for example. If you saw the 20 year old on the streets of Phoenix, you’d wonder how one person could get so many piercings in their face, and how they were able to dig up a set of Max Headroom style glasses out of the 1985 parts bin. To say Clint is unique is an understatement in its highest form. Seriously on his tech sheet under “other interests” he put: “Hockey and Monkeys.”

It’s probably  no surprise then to know that this bright pink Frontier used to be a Desert Runner. Yes, Nissan’s factory pre-runner truck was in Clint’s driveway just a few years ago, really high off the ground with a funky blue color. It was neat for a while, but seriously, Clint doesn’t go for what regular people do. He couldn’t leave the truck stock, that’d be too… normal.

He wanted to reduce the daylight underneath the truck, and knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. After searching far and wide, he came across Kevin Blysdale from Just Plain Trick in Mesa, Arizona. Kevin’s not a normal guy either, and he’s pretty handy with a plasma cutter and a welder. It was a match made in heaven.

The factory suspension is based off the 4X4 Frontier, so that had to go. Kevin cut off the front clip like it was nothing and in its place installed a front frame section from a ’94 Nissan Hardbody. After that, all of the crossmembers were raised up, and the rear end was swapped for a ’97 Hardbody axle. Now it was time to get this thing on the ground like it needed to be.

Up front, a set of 2-inch dropped spindles were paired with Slam Specialties bags to get the new front crossmember on the concrete. Kevin then built a custom 4-link to attach the new axle to the frame, then bridged and bagged the back half. Now the truck was laying frame and good to go, right? Nope. Clint wanted to go lower.

Out came the sawzall and the next few months were a blur. The truck was bodydropped 3.25 inches, the interior was done in black tweed and zebra print, and then the body was fully shaved and prepped for paint. Now the only question was, what color?

We asked Clint at our shoot that very question. “Dude, this is a sick color, but what made you pick pink?”

Clint turned to us, looked up from under his bowler hat and said, “Pink is my favorite color.”

Yeah, he’s different alright.

The resulting truck not only breaks stereotypes but also looks cool as well. Yes, the pink is a bit out there, but then again, so is Clint. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

A Touch of Class – Rick Dore’s Hot Rod Lincoln Pickup

There are a lot of famous street rod builders out there. Guys like  Chip Foose get a lot of the press, but out of one quiet shop in the corner of Phoenix, Arizona, Rick Dore has been building some of the cleanest rides in the country.

It’s not like his name is unheard of. Rick is in 6 hall of fames, has won tons of awards at the prestigious Oakland Rod & Custom show, and has even been on TV a few times. The man is huge in the hot rod world, having built dozens of immaculate vehicles over the years, even before he opened his shop. For the past 10 years he’s been building head-turning rods, customs and trucks.

For 9 months out of the year, Rick and his crew of customizers are building customs for customers. High profile people such as rock stars, athletes and others come to him when they require that one-off look. And then, for a three-month span, the shop shuts down to regular customers and becomes a factory for SEMA cars and trucks.

Rick does a lot of image work for major manufacturers like Ford and GM. He regularly turns out up to 10 cars a year at the show of all shows – the SEMA show. One of his projects was this 2006 Lincoln Mark LT.

It was just a few months before the SEMA show when Rick took delivery of the truck. The options were limitless – bodydrop and shave, lifted to the sky, but Rick wanted to go custom without taking away from the classy lines of the truck.

There are tons of little details on the truck that most people would just glance past. Like the custom radius and sculpting done to the license plate box on the custom rollpan. Or the machined spears done down the side of the truck that were built out of aluminum and then chromed. It’s the little touches like that which really make this truck stand out.

True to his word, Rick had the Lincoln on the floor of the SEMA show on time, and looking awesome. It was just one of the many rides he built for the event, and each one was just as unique.

You may not have seen him on a weekly TV show, but if you ever get the chance to meet Rick Dore,do it. He’s building killer rides; trucks, customs, you name it! Here’s a fisheyed look at a Rick Dore custom Caddy showcased at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show. Click on the picture for more pics.

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