This isn't the beginning for us...we'll get to that another time, but by way of a more in depth introduction to who we are and what we do we thought we'd bring you one of our past projects. Our one owner from new...(yes can you believe it!)...1930 model A truck.
Having spent its entire life on a farm in Northern California, this truck saw duty hauling road stone to everything else imaginable that this dependable workhorse had thrown its way. At some point in time the canvas roof gave way to a crudely nailed on piece of tin....that said with the amount of nails used there was no way it was coming off in a hurry. After many years of hard service and at an undetermined time we believe the motor let go. The truck was pushed aside to slowly become entombed by the undergrowth. Fast forward to the early 2000's. Now in the hands of the original owners Grandson, he had plans of rodding and restoring this diminutive truck himself. Deeming it too far gone he passed, leaving us to step in and give this little old truck a second chance.
Shipped to us essentially as a pile of parts, it was clear this truck was going to need a helping hand. With rust in all the usual places this was duly sorted before moving forward with our plans. After some considerable time (and coffee,) deliberating on how we were going to bring this model A back to life, we settled on an original A chassis. to Get the truck To sit just right we z’d it front and back and step boxed it over the entire length.
With this dealt with the body was channeled the depth of the chassis with the top getting a healthy 4 and 3/4 inch chop. “Motorvation” was to come in the form of a 331 Desoto hemi backed by a '39 three speed box through a closed driveline to a '40 banjo rear end.
With some parts for the hemi secured he motor proved to be a longer term project in itself than we wanted, so this gave way to a 1956 265ci Chevy V8. Equipped with an Edelbrock triple Rochester intake and Isky solid lifter cam, this high winding little motor proved to be the perfect match for the truck. On further investigation the little 265 had seen some serious service as a race motor at some point in the late 50s/ early 60's. The internal rotating assembly as well as all the ports were beautifully polished with the care and attention to detail of a true craftsman. With that taken care of the block had been sprayed in the deepest purple/blue metalflake. Still in good condition this paint set the tone for the rest of the build. With the motor restored and all the major work taken care of it was time to piece the truck back together and shift focus toward some of the more detailed elements of the build. If your anything like us,....and were guessing you are, its the little things that we goof off on. For us details like rolling and forming radiused arches on the the now fenderless bed, or the formed ally recess to accommodate the setback Chevy motor, the one off hammer formed dash, or indeed the fact that roof chop was perfect to the point where it was metal finished with no filler whatsoever...for us this is the level of perfection we strive for and what makes a vehicle hang together as a considered package rather than just a collection of parts.
With this taken care of all that was left, was to use it. For sure there were things we changed and altered in order to get it running just the way we wanted, but it didn't take long before this model A was wrenched back to life and put back on the road where it belongs.
Now with a new owner this truck continues its story, with the little V8 providing the soundtrack. It's out there...beating down the mountain roads somewhere on the French Italian border.
