Customs The Custom Shop Truck

[Ryan]

Vern Tardel once told me that a "custom" shop truck is nonsensical. "If you want a custom," he said, "go get yourself a Merc, Buick, or Cad... Don't screw up a perfectly good work horse just because your vanity needs some release." As seemingly alway...

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[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 ...

[lucky]

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?

[Stutz]

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.

[nate]

after using a lot of modern trucks the lowered bed on my 46 quite nice.

[Carbs & Chrome]

My thoughts... Why are there not more of these out there?

[GEBHARD]

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

[JeffreyJames]

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.

[Kripfink]

Originally Posted by 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 ...

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.

[Tuck]

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-

[SanDiegoJoe]

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

- Joe

[Scrumpy]

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.

[Pinstriper40]

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?

[Big Mac]

That's a good looking truck...

[HOTRODSURFER]

Originally Posted by Carbs & Chrome

My thoughts... Why are there not more of these out there?

exactly!! that is one bitchin shop truck!

[DrJ]

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!

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.

[GreenMonster48]

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.

[Kripfink]

I forgot to say,IMO midfifty F100s are to kustomizing trucks what Mercs are to kustomizing cars
Paul

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by DrJ

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,
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!

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.

[theHIGHLANDER]

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.