Anybody know the last location of it? His daughter is looking for it. I saw it a couple years ago but can't remember where. Let me know, Thanks Jim
Hey Jim That truck used to show up at Bob,s in Toluca lake a couple of years ago.It was painted some kind of purple.
I have seen pictures of it with some ugly wheels painted red with flames... Cant remember at which show it was. here is a pictures of the truck from His doughters site...
Looks like his daughter was proud enough of her dad to build a web site dedicated to him and his work. I just learned a lot more about him than I knew before. Also, learned that the truck looks sick with its new paint job and what's with those wheel wells Enjoy: http://www.debbyporter.com/ Dennis
theres a picture of it in the book "hot rods of the 1950's" by andy southard Jr, on page 56, shows a pic of the truck in 55, then a pic of it in its current state in 94 at Paso robles car show. In the pic of the truck at the car show theres a poster board with a new and old pic on it, i cant make it out but the new pic on the board has the name of a car shop in it, .aybe they now where it is? JEFF
tell you guys a story of its recent past. around 1990-1993 or so i worked full time for MUELLERS MUSCLE CARS...a family friend who owned a muscle car & classic car shop in sanbernardino california. i did tune ups,body & paint,got beaters that sat for years running again, etc,etc. one friday the owner ed mueller said i'll be right back. an hour later a tow truck pulled in with this unusual looking chopped and channeled ford truck. we got the thing off of the truck and inspected it. mueller found it in someone's garage in san bernardino. hardly ever driven,the truck was covered for years. it was suppose to be this old hot rod. that night i found a picture of it on the cover of hot rod and couldn't believe it, had the nash grill which was very distinct. monday morning we got to the shop and really got to inspect it. full race dual quad caddy engine that had finned alluminum valve covers and everything was chromed,beefed up hydro trans,original pearl white interior with a filled dash that had an array of stewart warner gauges going all the way across if i remember correctly. other than the running boards taken off,the cragar mags, and the red w/ flamed paint job the truck was completely original. we got the truck running great by the end of the day. the truck had a nice shake to it with its wild cam and all. when i put it in gear and drove it out of the long drive way and on to arrowhead blvd. i nailed it and the truck instantly got sideways. i corrected it and shifted in to second and the trans banged hard and the tires churped really loud. i let off then calmly shifted it in to 3rd and drove around the block. when we got back we put the truck up on the racks. the under carriage was once extremely detailed. all of the running board brackets,front suspension,rear end brackets,trans pan cover and brackets,etc were all dirty/oily covered chrome that would clean up if someone spent the time. man, i wanted this truck soooooo fuckin bad i could taste it. mueller told me i could have it for $6,000.00 but back then i didn't have the dough. he took it to paso one year (it is pictured in andy southard's hot rods of the 50's book) and no one but andy really bothered, he took it to pomona swap meet many times and the same thing happened. i really couldn't believe that no one saw the truck for what it was. i remember a co worker told me "i'd stick a big block chev in the son of a bitch and paint it black".finally a year or so later someone bought it and painted it purple. i still think of that truck and if i ever see it i'm going to ask the owner if he'd sell it. probably wont but ya never know.
axle -- I saw the truck at Bob's Toluca Lake about 5-6 years ago. The owner was surprised that I recognized it as Porter's old truck, saying that only a few people had pegged it during the time he owned it. He claimed to have owned it for a long time which was believable, judging by the condition of the paint (purple) which was rather iffy. The fellow was sort of hostile, and when I asked him if he'd consider selling it he set off on a rant about how there wasn't enough money around to get him to part with it, and the "japs" had offered him " . . . seventy thou and I told 'em to go to hell!" and on and on. I would have loved to have seen the engine compartment again, and I don't know if he was the one who added those chintzy, dumb-ass flares to the wheel arches, but I just walked away rather than put up with his unpleasant nature. I still love that truck in its Porter iteration. Mike
i too saw it at bobs ..probably the same night steve dawsett was there, and i do remember the new owner not only giving a shit about what the truck was but not being too talkative.
That truck was in the Tulsa area in the 70s and early 80s and I'm pretty sure it was sold back to porter. I then heard he passed away shortly after he bought it back.
i dont think thats entirely true. when we got that truck it had flat tires and was sitting for years. and, it hadn't been registered in a while.
Herb Glock from Tulsa owned the truck in '73. Sometime in the mid to late 70's it was sold to a friend of Greg Sharp. Greg was one of Chuck Porters best friends and gave the eulogy at Chucks funeral. Greg took myself and Brent Bodily to see if we wanted to buy the truck, and restore it to way it was when Chuck owned it, but it seemed more than we wanted to chew on at the time. It ran well, but the flared front fenders, radiused and trimmed rear fenders, flared doorhinges and some other changes seemed to much work at the time. Wish now we would have done it but there wasn't much interest in resurrecting old customs at the time. Mick
Just noticed that Debby has done a separate website that is specifically about her dad and his many custom/hot rod/racing pursuits. Check it out: http://www.chuckportersbodyshop.com/
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