After much convincing over the past couple of years, I've acquired a piece of history. Not necessarily rod and custom history, but definitely tied to it. This '49 Ford Panel Truck was last parked in '63, and was a service truck for Zupan Enterprises, owned by none other than Johnny and Joe Zupan. The Zupans we're known in the '50's as customers of George Barris. They had purchased the "Flamer" '32 Ford 5 window coupe, as well as the Bettancourt Mercury and a '56 Ford F100 from Barris Kustoms in the mid to late '50's. I had found the panel in a local yard in Pueblo, Colorado and immediately thought I'd build it into the "hot rod panel truck that never was", as if the Zupans couldn't leave well enough alone and had to hot rod their everyday work truck as well. So far I've put a fresh Merc Flathead with dual carbs and headers in it along with an original Edelbrock 2x2 fuel block (one of Vic's first products) and a chrome firewall mount oil filter. Up front I installed a 4" dropped axle and 6.00x 16 Firestones on 4" wide rims and out back 7.00x16's on 4.5" wide chrome steelies. I put new glass in the back doors and an un-cracked original windshield in. Plans are to get it running and leave the patina. I'd like to put a 5 speed in it for driveability and to help get up and down the hills around here. I might re-letter the sides to make it more legible as well. Enjoy!
That's just a great story Pinstriper...it's in very good hands. Congratulations. Perhaps some pics may emerge related to the connections you noted for us.
Here are the cars purchased from Barris, if anyone has pictures of the panel truck back then I'd love to see them!
Yes those are pretty iconic machines...ya got yourself a real special historically connected panel...thats awesome...perhaps pics of the panel itself back in the day will surface.
Thanks Stogy, I realize it's probably the closest thing I'll ever get to a historic hot rod, but nonetheless it needed to be preserved and it is pretty cool! Thanks for the compliments, I can't wait to start driving it this spring!
Thank you! I agree, a little history, a little something different, it's fun stuff! Thank you! One of the reasons I moved from MN to Colorado was for rust free projects! This one still has rust in the front fenders like they all do, but no rust anywhere else! The floors are perfect! Thanks again! The Zupanel made it to it's first indoor show this weekend. It got more attention than the '40!
Makes you wonder who did the sign painting on the sides of the truck. Typically I'd hate the idea of redoing the lettering but considering it's just barely legible now and will probably be totally gone with a bit more age, I say go for it. At the very least you'd be able to recreate it right over the top of the original stuff in the exact same shapes and style, repainting it at this point is more preservation than leaving it alone. Neat truck, I like the historically possible what-if plan.
My thinking exactly, it'll be in an off white/grey right over top of what's there. More to make it legible and keep the history there than anything else. I don't plan on ever completely restoring or repainting the truck, I've got better things to do. Thanks!
Wonder if a CLR bath would help the lettering? Pretty damned faint, but it might help if the rust were gone. Re-letter with a 50-50 of tinting clear and 1shot to keep that nice crusty old look peeking through maybe
I'm afraid of CLR... I'll ask my patina expert buddy Tom this year at Bonneville... For now I'll probably just get it running and driving.
Thank you! The '40 is a whole story in itself... Hopefully it'll be told someday in a publication. Its really just a high school kid's car, because that's what I was when I built it. It's not perfect, but it is bitchin'!
Hope you freshen it up. The patina has overtaken the lettering, etc. great find, make the brothers proud.
The Jalopy Journal
