The Dave Gray ’33 Truck

A year or so ago, I was cruising the H.A.M.B. classifieds and came across a cute little ’33 Ford Truck. It was Cad powered, Washington blue, and just rough enough around the edges that it could easily be thrown into daily driving duties with little to no guilt. Something about the wheel base seemed off to me though and ultimately, I needed a truck with a more modern bed size… So, I passed.

Now, lets fast forward to just a couple of weeks ago. We had just finished our “super secret Alliance only” shift knob sell and I was busy as hell packing and shipping them. As a weird form of appreciation, I decided to stalk each member that bought a knob in an effort to figure which number (each was numbered 1 to 100) would be most appropriate to them. When I got to Dave Gray’s order, I noticed in his profile that he had both a ’32 Ford (build thread here) and a ’33 Ford truck. The knob numbered ’32’ was taken, so Dave got number 33.

Shortly after Dave got the knob, he posted an image of his truck with it installed. I fell in love with what I saw and sent Dave a convo hoping I could talk him into letting me feature the car. He agreed, but with one stipulation – Hop Up was planning on running the truck in their next issue and Dave wanted to make damn sure we didn’t step on any toes with a scoop.

So, what to do? I reckon a man of normal devices would simply call Tim Sutton (editor and chief of Hop Up Magazine) and ask for permission, but I’ve never been confused for “normal.” So in leu of rationality, I decided to come up with a wildly fictitious story about how Tim had recently become Caitlyn Jenner’s latest love interest. In turn, I sent the story, locked away in thin paper envelopes, to every gossip editor in America with instructions that the envelopes not be opened until I gave them each permission to do so. Finally, I called Tim.

“Hey man, don’t be alarmed. It’s all cool. BUT, there’s a crazy rumor going around about you and Caitlyn,” I said as Tim answered the phone.

“Caitlyn? Who the fuck is Caitlyn?” he asked.

“Never mind that,” I said. “It’s not important. What is important is that you know the repercussions if this story gets out. It will ruin you. You’ll be shooting photos for people like Dog & Pony Illustrated, Fluffy Digest, and The Jalopy Journal for the rest of your life if people know about you and Caitlyn.”

“Wait? Who IS Caitlyn?” Tim asked again.

“There’s good news though,” I said ignoring his obvious ignorance. “I have my finger on the pulse of Hollywood media and can squash this for you without too much effort. It will come at a price though.”

Of course, Tim had no idea of just what it was that I was eluding too… But, he knows me well enough to know that whatever it was that I was up to probably came with some serious fallout and rather than deal with it, he just figured paying up with my demands would be easier and cheaper in the long run. So after a light sigh from Tim, I had Hop Up’s blessing to run Dave’s ’33 feature. Yes, that easy…

But here’s where it gets REALLY interesting. Remember that truck in the classifieds that I opened the story with? Turns out, it’s the same damn truck featured here. Dave bought the truck shortly after I saw it on the H.A.M.B. and while it had recently been re-done, the work wasn’t executed to a standard that Dave saw eye-to-eye with. It was obviously an old hot rod – tons of lead work on the body, a bitchin Caddy motor, and a Merc dash seemed to prove that.  But nothing was cared for in a way that made much sense. This truck just deserved better.

So, Dave made it happen. He, along with his pal Marv, completely tore the car apart and started over. Rather than carry on and on with the technical details of all the work they did in paragraph form with cute little injections and lead-ins, I’ll just paste the build sheet here.

***

Engine Make, Model, Modifications, & Details:

• 1950 331 Cadillac rebuilt by Newman’s Racing Engines
• Edmunds intake 2×4 with 2 WCFB carbs
• Custom headers by Bad Donkee Hot Rods
• Chrome Cadillac Valve covers
• Chrome fan and pulley

Further Drivetrain Details (tranny, rear, etc…):

• ’39 Box with ’40 Ford torque tube rear end

Wheel & Tire Details:

• ’40 Ford wheels with chrome smoothie caps
• 7.50×16 Firestone rears
• 5.50×16 Firestone fronts

Suspension Details:

• Un-split bones with a Dago dropped axle in front (Editor’s note: I’m assuming some crossmember work was done as well. I’m certain this truck had some wheel base issues when it was for sale last year. I remember the front axle being a little too far forward – a problem that has obviously been fixed)
• Reverse eye spring with a few leafs removed
• Stock rear spring with leafs removed

Brake Details:

• ’40 Ford front and back

Body Modification & Paint Details:

• 4.5 inch chop done in lead
• 32 grill
• Custom lengthened hood Top hood top Louvered by Jerry Laboranti
• Custom headlight bar by Bad Donkee
• Custom tail pan and shoe box tail lights also by Bad Donkee
• ’36 Ford tailgate
• Filled stake pockets in the bed
• Custom tailgate mounts to lose the chains
• Paint by Marv & Dave House of Paint

Interior Details:

• ’49 Merc dash leaded in and filled with Stewart Warner gauges
• Chrome shifter with HAMB shift knob
• Black seat with white pleated inserts
• White headliner and kickpanels with black piping
• White door panels with pleated inserts and black piping
• Black rubber mat flooring

***

Back in the mid 1950’s and well into the 1960’s, Hot Rod Magazine did these “parts features” that typically featured a scantily clad broad holding something like a cam shaft while she draped herself over a roadster that sat poolside near some carefully crafted landscape. That’s where this truck belongs. It’s a real period piece with details that can only be noticed after hours spent studying. You can do some of that work with the pictures below that Tim Sutton provided. But honestly, these are the B-side efforts from Tim. His A-side releases are reserved for Hop Up. You can see them soon when Hop Up: Volume 11, Issue 2 is released.

***