To view a picture full-size, click on it, then use the browser's BACK button or menu to navigate back to the current page.

Bottom of Page

TRUCKS

Two for the price of one - a pair of '57 Chevy pickup trucks! Custom pickup trucks are massively popular the world over. In the USA new pickups often out-sell cars, probably because they are just so useful. You can cruise in them, collect the groceries, haul engines, bikes and other stuff, tow a trailer, go off-road, and with a king-cab, even take the family out for the day. In the fifties, they were still sold as working vehicles, and these two mild customs are enjoying a much more sedate life than likely when new. They are seen here in the format of a typical Chevrolet sales brochure of the day.
We don't usually change our pictures once uploaded - in fact this was the first time we'd done it - but there was a good reason in this case. The maroon truck in the foreground appeared in summer 2001 with only minor changes - the white-walled chrome smoothies and copper-coloured scallops - but they make such a difference that we had to update the picture.

Pickups are cool. Early Fords are cool. That means a '32 Ford roadster pickup must be one of the coolest! Also pretty rare, as we're not sure that many Model B's left the factory with a bed but no roof? Rare or not, roadster pickups are not the most weather-proof of vehicle, and the louvres in the removable hardtop probably don't help this one. Trick flames over a satin black paint job, early-style mag wheels, and a lakestyle-headered V8 motor make for a hot rod that most people would put up with in the rain.

We're back to a couple of fifties pickups now: the first being a bright orange Ford F100 - one of best looking trucks ever made by Ford. Mid-fifties F100's, despite their slightly front-heavy look (or perhaps because of this?) are very popular with hot rodders, and can be found in many combinations. Small block motors - Ford or Chevy - are favourite, and it is common to add the complete front chassis clip from a car. This gives good handling and ride comfort, and your new engine should be an easy bolt-in. Spliced to the back half of the chassis correctly, the new clip will lower the front, and the rear step-side bed will allow just about any rear wheel and axle combination imaginable.

The second one, a '59 El Camino is one of the best-looking trucks made by Chevrolet. Although almost every Chevy pickup built since WWII looks good. Except perhaps '73 El Caminos (if you drive one of these, at least it it isn't a Ford Ranchero, eh?). Back to the plot: El Caminos were based on the current Impala car models, rather than being built on specific truck chassis. This gave a combination of good looks, with a capacity to carry (small) loads.

Although Chevrolet produced El Caminos, with the odd break, right through to the Eighties, it has been pointed out to us that Ford could probably be credited with inventing the concept of the car-truck. The '57 Ranchero pre-dated Chevy's version by a couple of years, and it could be argued that the Model T Ford beat this by four decades or more. Still, we like ElCo's, so . . .

Perfect flames.
Perfect stance.
Perfect lines.
In 1964, Chevrolet re-introduced the El Camino, after a 3-year hiatus. Now based on the mid-sized Chevelle chassis rather than the original full-sized cars, this 'down-sizing' resulted in probably the cleanest styling ever seen in a truck. Our personal favourite is the '66, but the '65 model like this one runs a very close second. Add the flawless body and paintwork and a set of polished Americans, and you're in pickup heaven.

About as low as you can go, this '47 Chevy pickup combines simple pale grey paint applied to dead straight metalwork, with large-diameter billet wheels and low profile tyres. Not as popular as the later fifties Chevy trucks - possibly because they are not the prettiest of vehicles - this is nevertheless a hot rod that anyone would be pleased to have in their garage.

On the subject of 'not the prettiest of vehicles', we don't know if F100 panel trucks were as common as the pickup version in the mid-fifties, but you certainly don't see as many nowadays. This - err, we won't call it pink, perhaps mauve - panel probably doesn't have the load capacity of a modern van, but the tunnel-rammed vee-eight means it should be able to blow the doors off any challenging delivery driver.

Ah-ha! An English commercial!

Technically, this is a Thames van, Thames being English Ford's commercial badge up until the 70's. However, anyone who was around in the sixties or seventies would have just called it an Anglia van, after its saloon car stablemate. Everything about the little van looks just right, from the purple metallic paint, to the big'n'little slot mags, to the ally-tubbed interior. The home-built hot rod also has a pleasant surprise under the bonnet for all-Ford fans: a twin-carbed 4-cylinder crossflow engine provides ample power for the street.

The 1939 - 1940 Fords are, in our humble opinion, the best looking of the early 'fat-fender' cars, so obviously they also make the ideal pick-up truck. This satin black stealth-bomber rolls along to the rumble of a smallblock Chevy, skimming above the tarmac on a set of red-painted steelies and wide white-walls.

Model A Fords are great. And the best thing is, there are roadsters, pickups, roadster pickups, coupes, sedans, and sedan deliveries to choose from. This means that we can squeeze in as many as possible, without (hopefully) being accused of getting monotonous! This '29 sedan delivery racks up the miles, as we have seen it around at many shows. It also seems that the red-oxide primer finish is permanent, which is cool: lettin' the shape speak for itself, while the undercarriage is a combination of shiny paint and chrome detailing.

Fordson vans were destined to transport all manner of goods around the roads of Britain, used by butchers, bakers, candlestick-makers, and countless other tradesmen. We don't quite see why Ford sent them to the USA, though - you could probably carry more in the boot (trunk) of an average 50's American car! Nevertheless, a few were sold, most of which probably eventually found their way to the drag strip. This beautifully-finished and upholstered smallblock Chevy-powered panel van also spent some time on the strip, before its re-incarnation as you see it here. It was also sent to America for a while, its owner taking it for a holiday tour of Route 66 in 1999.

Ford or Chevy? Which one would you choose?

Given the pick of these Ford F100 and '55 Chevy pickups, it would be a hard one to call. The '54 - '56 F100's are our favourite 'late-model' Ford trucks. Whether stock-style beater, or full-on custom, we love 'em. As long as they are in the weeds. Any higher off the ground than a Dachsund's belly is too high for an F100.

It is probably fair to say that Ford rules the roost for pre-1950 hot rod material, but in the mid-50's Chevrolet took over, helped in no small way by the introduction of their overhead valve V8. The new smallblock was available in the '55 half-ton pickups, also a complete re-design over the previous year. The trucks' new looks echoed those of that year's passenger cars, especially the egg-crate grille. And, unlike Fords, they can look good at any height.

Well, we can't decide - we'll just take one of each, please.

In Britain, we are used to 'cab-over' pickup trucks - especially since the Ford Transit was introduced in the Sixties. American versions are much less common here, probably because they offer no advantage over models like the Transit. But we are not talking builders' hacks here. We're talking customs, and here we have a cool Dodge - an early Sixties' A100 (behind it is a camper van - no sign of Scooby Doo though!). We caught it running 16's at the 2001 Nostalgia Drags at Avon Park: not to be sneezed at, but not quite in the same league as Chrysler's wheelstanding version, the Little Red Wagon. Theirs was powered by a set-back 426ci Hemi, and clicked off 10-second quarters back in '64.

Although not as popular with hot-rodders as their mid-Fifties F-100 successors, earlier in the decade Ford's F-1 pickups were prettying themselves up. Introducing big, sculptured, grilles to replace the plain-looking horizontal bars of the previous years was a big step in the right direction, even more so when chromed like the one in this blue daisy-cutter, white-walled, '51.

This little Fordson panel has been a part of British hot rodding for more than two decades. Its first magazine appearance, as far as we can tell, was in Custom Car, Stardate June 1980 (it was a special 'intergalactic' issue!), following a five-year build-up. It was powered by a small-block Chevy, and was painted white with two-tone red graphics. Then, later in the 1980's, street car drag racing events like Gary's Picnic and Doorslammer meetings were fast gaining in popularity, and the revamped van, now with big-block Chevy motivation, was a regular 10-second runner. The body received a coat of shiny black gloss, with the addition of some subtle graphics, and a set of Centerline wheels were installed.
And that is pretty much how it remains in 2001, as pictured here at the NASC season-opener at Drayton Manor. We don't know the story of the intervening years, except that in the last couple it has suffered from an engine bay fire, and some minor rear body damage when someone drove into it.
However, that has all been made good now, so let's hope it still looks this clean in another twenty years.

As far as we are aware, this Morris Minor van, seen next to Mr. Torquer at Drayton Manor, has a much shorter history. In fact, we know less about it than we have forgotten about Mr. T! We don't even know what engine is fed fuel and air by that blower, so we'll just have to say that it's a shiny purple colour, and rolls on big'n'little Centerlines.
When we know more - we're sure we'll see it about again - we will let you know.

There must be a million 70's Chevy pickups still out there. An awful lot of them will be rusting hulks (the voice of experience), but a few will have been looked after - or restored - and be as clean and straight as this Stepside C10. Other than the polished slot-mags and soft tonneau cover, the truck looks fairly stock, but would nevertheless turn a head or two on the street - especially in these days of aero-fronted trucks.

And now for something completely different . . .

Who came up with the name 'Big Job'? Was it another of Edsel Ford's bright ideas? OK, so it is a fair description of the truck cab, especially when compared to the F100 that it appears to be based on.
It's an amusing name, but that's what the badge says, and, funny name or not, what better base for haulin' hot rods than a hot rod hauler?

The staple diet of hot rodders in the UK, when things were starting to take off over here during the 'Seventies, was the Ford Pop and the Morris Minor. There were other cars - for example Model Y Fords - but for availability, Pops and Moggys were favourite. Of course, Pops were only available in one basic body style, but Minors could be had in a variey of flavours: as two or four door saloons, Traveller estates, vans, or pickups. Like all old tin, none of them are as easy to find as they were twenty years ago, but there are still enough around for a constant stream of new ones to appear.
We seem to remember seeing this little Pro-Street pickup on the M25 a couple of years ago, but we caught up with it, stationary, at the 2002 Hot Rod Supernationals at Knebworth in August. It has all of its original trimmings, and if it wasn't for the big'n'little Centrelines, could be mistaken for a stocker - hey, it might even have the original 1000cc four-pot under the hood! OK, that's unlikely, but we haven't a clue what is under there.

Something old, something new . . this Austin pickup (an A60? - we can never remember for sure), retains most of its bright trim, with the addition of a visor seeming to contradict the use of modern large-diameter rims and ultra-low profiled tyres.
Finding one in nice condition is pretty unusual, as they were never known for their resistance to rust, and were bought purely for work: using pickups for leisure was not a concept known in 60's Britain. The builder of this truck may have had to rebuild or replace every panel on it, or he may have been lucky and found a low mileage, looked-after original. The registration suggests around 1970, so we'd guess it must have been one of the last of them, which may have helped its survival. Whatever, the result is a cool ride that won't find itself parked in a sea of identical Austins.

These two sites are truck-related - see the links page for more to visit:

HOT TRUCKS UK - hot rod trucks - in the UK

TRUCKWORLD - loads of stuff on all types of trucks and racing

Car Gallery Menu - Top of Page