1933 Ford Pickup Gets Salty at Speedweek 2009

Posted by Hechtspeed on Aug 15, 2009 in Racing, Vintage Rides | 1 comment

Bonneville Salt Flats Hot Rod:

One piece of the Bonneville Speedweek recipe that can’t be forgetten is the get together on Friday and Saturday night at the Golden Nugget in Wendover. From a Salt insider, the Nugget Car Show is not an official car show. You won’t find any websites announcing the Car Show, but it just sort of happens. It has become a tradition. Enter Jerry Armijo and his 1933 Ford Pick up hot rod.

As I was strolling the Nugget parking lot soaking in the hot rods, I saw this pick up full of Salt. It was not the only hot rod with salt covering it, but it appeared to be the rod with the most.

One of my favorite parts of the Bonneville Salt Flats is how the salt gets everywhere. These open wheeled hot rods are especially good at flinging the salt. I started snapping pictures of this rod and how the salt was basically covering the windshield when I met Jerry, the proud owner.Here’s what I found out about this cool ride.

It’s a 1933 Ford Pick up. When he happened upon it, the previous owner had the cab cut in half to do some crazy custom long cab. He fixed that quick and began to add his own touch. It’s running a stroked small block Chevy mill with Stromburgs. The rebuilt engine had about 15 minutes on it before he and 4 other friends made the 17 hour drive from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bonneville. That’s a builder who has confidence in his skills, wow!

The frame has been lengthened to get the grille behind the front end for the right “look”. You’ll see the cool and unique dual exhaust system which follows the truck bed and is finished with a flame throwing setup.

On the way out to the Bonneville Salt Flats, he had the chance to utilize the flamage. Apparently he was being followed too closely by a crazy SUV driver who was on her cell phone the whole time riding him too close. Jerry tried to get her to pass him but she wouldn’t. Nervous this lady would slam into his just finished hot rod, when they finally came to a stop sign, he flipped on the flame thrower and gave the small block Chevy a few nice revs and out came a corresponding level of fire! The lady freaked out and the SUV may or may not have gotten its plastic grille singed a little. Either way, the lady stayed far back from Jerry’s pickup until she went her way. Hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do to protect your hard earned hot rods, right?!