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Customs The Custom Shop Truck

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Ryan, Mar 22, 2010.

  1. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,632

    Ryan
    ADMINISTRATOR
    Staff Member

  2. Moe
    Joined: Dec 2, 2003
    Posts: 197

    Moe

    "I guess I’m going to Vern’s version of hell…"

    Sounds like its going to be a party .... Count me in ... Cool truck ...
     
  3. To me, I think that there is a line in the sand when it ceases to be a truck and becomes a full custom(think copper kart)..the featured truck has not lost it's ability to be utilitarian/useful...the bed is in-tact still. it's a beauty for sure. Why does a shop truck have to be a grimy beat-up beast? I guess that answer depends on what you do with it it i suppose.Using it to pull a car from a bog, I could see you wanting to have the afore-mentioned beast, and not this shiny example. Sure, form follows function to most, but as someone who loves good design and all things beautiful, if i want some comfy dress shoes, i'd rather have a great pair of steve maddens than a pair of rockports, dig?
     
  4. I can't leave things alone so for me as far as a "custom shop truck" the outcome would be a certainty. Usability and Vanity all the way.
     

  5. after using a lot of modern trucks the lowered bed on my 46 quite nice.
     
  6. My thoughts... Why are there not more of these out there? :D
     
  7. GEBHARD
    Joined: Nov 10, 2007
    Posts: 1,159

    GEBHARD
    Member
    from TX...

    i like em stock to wild, but i think no matter what weather it be custom truck or 29-34 hot rod truck
    when it comes to lowering and kick ups and all that i think everything possible should be done to make at least part of the bed usable
     
  8. JeffreyJames
    Joined: Jun 13, 2007
    Posts: 16,628

    JeffreyJames
    Member
    from SUGAR CITY

    I'm sort of with you. On paper I say a truck is a truck and should perform like one. I don't even get excited thinking about custom trucks and for the most part I walk by them with out raising an eyebrow. But every once in a while, I hit one that stops be dead in my tracks and have to rethink my whole point of view.

    Sandy Wachs truck is one that I always have to reconsider my thoughts when I see it. That thing is just plain old cool. But for the most part, the idea of a custom truck plays a bit more into the late 50's early 60's style customs where is was about superfluous stuff. The very shape of a truck should exclude it from the idea of a custom.....but every once in a while like I said, you just can't write them all of.
     
  9. Kripfink
    Joined: Sep 30, 2008
    Posts: 2,040

    Kripfink
    Member Emeritus

    I'll meetcha down there,with the biggest bucket load of vanity you ever done seen.My truck is an expression of the flashy egotistical Rockin' Hepcat I was before the wheelchair,and it wouldn't be worth getting out of bed if I didn't have my KUSTOM to look forward to.
     
  10. Tuck
    Joined: May 14, 2001
    Posts: 5,780

    Tuck
    Tech Editor
    from MINNESOTA
    1. Early Hemi Tech

    I can't seem to leave anything alone... even my trucks. Kustom pickups are RAD... that truck you pictured from the side has fantastic lines... Those era fords look so good with quads-
     
  11. SanDiegoJoe
    Joined: Apr 18, 2004
    Posts: 3,519

    SanDiegoJoe
    Member

    I wonder if the pickup in the article is still kicking around somewhere.
    Those GM fenders look amazing on there!

    - Joe
     
  12. Scrumpy
    Joined: May 31, 2006
    Posts: 85

    Scrumpy
    Member
    from NH93 Exit1

    I like trucks from that period and that shows some restraint which is good - But how do you push anything with it? That is a function in my mind that needs to be retained.

    Scrump.
     
  13. Pinstriper40
    Joined: Sep 24, 2007
    Posts: 3,602

    Pinstriper40
    Member

    I've always said that if I get my greedy, sticky paws on my Dad's '56 F100, I'll have to change a few things... Get rid of the E/T mags and Radial T/A's, lower it, and give it a nice grille/headlight treatment along with a freshening up.

    I didn't think too seriously about GM rear fenders, but this truck has me thinking... I would need to put in some time on the bed sides anyway....

    Where are the pics from Ryan?
     
  14. Big Mac
    Joined: Sep 12, 2007
    Posts: 1,565

    Big Mac
    Member
    1. Utah HAMBers

    That's a good looking truck...
     
  15. exactly!! that is one bitchin shop truck!
     
  16. DrJ
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 9,419

    DrJ
    Member

    I always looked at the customized shop truck as tax deductible advertising for the shops talents.
    Some got carried away and the truck may have ceased to be a "parts hauler" but they retain the "look what we can do with even an ugly truck" advertising factor.
    Ryan, v wrong! v
    I may not see it clearly but those look like '59 Chevy headlight doors, not Chrysler, although the tucked front fenders suggest that it may have had the canted Chrysler headlights in a previous variation.
    I wouldn't nit-pic that except some of you youngsters are still learning this stuff and hopefully want to get it right! :cool:

    EDIT! OK, I found the enlarge button and they aren't '59 Chevy. They don't have the 4 screw holes. I guess was only thinking of the '61 canted headlights when I thought that one up.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2010
  17. Depends on how the truck was used in it's life leading up to it's customization. My F-1 was used by a machine shop and then spent its retirement on a farm. I really wanted to do a custom job on it, painting it white with gold Watson style scallops and this and that...but the truck was used hard the 40 years or so before I got it, so I decided to keep it practical so as not to undo any cosmosis.

    Also: Somewhere in time there was an article on Frank Marrattas shop truck. Anyone got that article they can scan in? As I remember, it was pretty cool.
     
  18. Kripfink
    Joined: Sep 30, 2008
    Posts: 2,040

    Kripfink
    Member Emeritus

    I forgot to say,IMO midfifty F100s are to kustomizing trucks what Mercs are to kustomizing cars
    Paul
     
  19. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,632

    Ryan
    ADMINISTRATOR
    Staff Member

    Humm... They look chrysler to me. You sure? I'll see if I can dig up some shots.

    I have no idea where these images came from. They were just in my archive... It must have been featured somewhere.
     
  20. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,244

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well Ryan, I have a lot of respect for Vern and his work but nothing beats a custom (kustom) shop truck. I'll add another factor...Bonneville. How many bad-ass tricked out or hopped up push/shop trucks have eaten more than their fair share of salt? What better way can a shop, custom or otherwise, display their wares in action, huh? I've know many since my pre-teen years. My dear departed Dad always, ALWAYS had some kind of tricked out truck and most of em were Cadillac powered. I recall a pretty kool 59-60 Ford that had the wide wheels off the back of his race car, a fresh coating of burgundy metallic paint, and pinstripes from hell. There was also a V-8 stick shift Elcamino in burgundy metallic all stripped up with slick white tonneau cover and some form of "cone" styled wheel covers.

    Oh yeah man, shop trucks are it. Form follows function? Absolutely, but 180 degrees different from the focus of the Vern discussion you describe. It's like this too. You need a truck, you like kool and custom and fast, can't drive 2 cars to work everyday, 1/2 ton trucks can be made to drive as good or better than a car, screw it this could go on and on. I'd post my sketches of the 54 AD Chev I'm building but I need to keep the public eyes off of it for now.
     
  21. guitarmook
    Joined: Mar 8, 2007
    Posts: 256

    guitarmook
    Member
    from Austin, TX

    Just because a truck serves a utilitarian purpose, does not mean it can't have some style.

    Give me a truck that's still wholly usable, but with some nice custom touches anyday.
     
  22. To me the beauty of a custom truck is the fact that it is not a Merc, Chev, Cad etc. I find that Custom trucks tend to be more unique because they are not common custom fodder. I may be biased as I am in the process of building one now (albiet from an earlier time frame) but the uniqueness of custom trucks makes them very appealling to me.

    [​IMG]
     
  23. 1950ChevySuburban
    Joined: Dec 20, 2006
    Posts: 6,187

    1950ChevySuburban
    Member Emeritus
    from Tucson AZ

    If you work on cars, and are proud of your work, why the hell not have a truck that reflects that?
     
  24. Well said 1950chevysuburban.<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_5047724", true); </SCRIPT>
     
  25. Wildcycles
    Joined: Sep 17, 2007
    Posts: 335

    Wildcycles
    Member

    OK, so I'm probably a little biased in my opinion, as I have a "custom" '56 Big Window that I have owned since I was 12... Now 40, I'm working on my first 3-window coupe. I don't particularly like the radically custom trucks myself. Never really heard the thing about the bed remaining usable, but that's just folks applying some sort of definition I guess. My truck doesn't haul 55 gal. drums anymore, but remains usable to some degree, goes like hell and looks cool with louvers in multiple panels, a few subtle body modifications, including shaved emblems and door handles, radiused stake pockets, forward tilting hood and more. I have been thinking about changing the look of my own truck with addition of a pair of fender skirts I've had for years and maybe some wide whitewals, etc... Alot of these trucks were being customized when they were new... It's been going on for a long time now, so to each their own. I've always enjoyed the contrast of utility and KUSTOM....
     
  26. T-Time
    Joined: Jan 5, 2007
    Posts: 1,627

    T-Time
    Member
    from USA

    From a different perspective...if you want a custom, go get yourself a truck to customize. Don&#8217;t screw up a perfectly good Merc, Buick, or Cad just because your vanity needs some release.

    There's been a whole lot more screwed-up attempts at customizing Mercs, Buicks, and Caddys, than there have been successful attempts. (Remember that saying about gilding the lily?) On the other hand, its pretty hard to screw-up customizing a truck (but it is possible).

    gilding the lily:
    1. To adorn unnecessarily something already beautiful.
    2. To make superfluous additions to what is already complete.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2010
  27. Agreed.

    I also think that driving around in a beat up truck doesn't say much about the pride you take in your shop from an outward appearance. I am not saying that anyone who has a shop truck that is beat up doesn't take pride in their shop but that it would definitley give a better outward appearance if you did have a nice well built shop truck.
     
  28. Busted Knuckles
    Joined: Dec 1, 2004
    Posts: 1,731

    Busted Knuckles
    Member

    I hate custom shop trucks! [​IMG]
     
  29. Lil' Billy
    Joined: Dec 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,088

    Lil' Billy
    Member
    from Georgia

    I think most people here will agree that as long as you can use it like a truck, custom trucks are all cool. Once it's lost that ability to haul things, it's good too far into the full custom realm. Not that, it is a bad thing. I like full customs as well.
     
  30. THE-SYNDICATE
    Joined: May 13, 2003
    Posts: 823

    THE-SYNDICATE
    Member

    I think I'm dragging home my new custom shop truck this weekend.... I can't wait... No more driving around in a Toyota. Time to roll in a Chevrolet again!
     

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