Salesman

Initially, Dennis decided to put as little money into the truck as possible to get it going and keep it pretty much the way it was born. However, he soon learned a valuable lesson about rust and the problems that come with it. “When I bought the truck, I thought, ‘What’s the difference if it is rust or dents, it still needs to be repaired.’ Now I’ve learned to avoid rust at all possible cost.” Once he got the body issues under control, the drivetrain was rebuilt back to stock in preparation of other things that needed to be addressed. However, after two or three years of a frustrating on-again, off-again process of getting the truck ready for the road, the Chevy then took a back seat to other needs and activities,” Dennis states.

Then in 2000, the owner got the urge to build a street rod. Dennis then started thinking about his truck that was now sitting under a tarp back behind the house, just waiting for someone to pay it some attention. “I then figured why not use the truck for my street rod project. So, I got my nephew, Troy Gutshall, and my son, Colby, and we brought the Chevy into the garage and immediately tore into the chassis. We added a Mustang II front suspension, a Chassis Engineering rear leaf spring setup, and an 8-inch Ford rear to put the power to the pavement. Up front we added a built-up 327ci small-block backed by a Turbo 350 transmission and installed a frame-mounted gas tank by No Limit Engineering.”

When it came to the body, Dennis had a plan. “I live less than an hour from two of the biggest automotive swap meets in the world, Carlisle and Hershey, so I thought I should be able to find better sheetmetal there at the shows.” He was right. Dennis procured some nice original fenders, a tailgate, grille, and a complete rust free cab, which was brought in by a seller from Kansas at the events. From there he reassembled the truck with his new parts and got it into black primer. That’s the way he drove it for the next two years.

Hue Will Love It

After some road time, the truck was sent over to Leon “Smitty” Smith in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, for the final bodywork and paint. Custom touches included shaving the driprails, peaking the hood, and removing the door handles. But that’s not all. “He also extended and smoothed the Smoothie Fabrication running boards, built a custom roll pan with ’56 Chevy taillights, frenched the headlights, narrowed and filled stake pockets. [Smith] finished it off by removing the tailgate hinges and contouring the front of the bed to the back of the cab.”

Once finished, Smith laid out the Imron Corvette Torch Red paint on the laser-straight flanks. He then narrowed a 1949 Cadillac dash Dennis found in a salvage yard in preparation of a complete custom interior and even mated a set of Cadillac door panels to the original window garnishes. Out back, the bed floor is made of wood-grained aluminum boards from Smokey Road Rod Shop in La Grange, Georgia. That sweet, custom-made gas cap is cast aluminum and was designed and machined by Crafty-B Nostalgic Speed.

Next up, the frame was boxed and C-notches were added to get the truck to sit the way he wanted it. The frame was then powdercoated silver-gray. The transmission was also ditched in favor of a 700-R4. More updates came to fruition, including a suspension upgrade using Heidts tubular control arms and airbags with a Ridetech compressor and controls. At the corners, an Engineered Components (ECI) Mustang II–based “Big Brake” conversion kit consisting of 11-inch rotors and GM big-piston calipers, controlled by a remote master cylinder, do the stopping on this hot rod truck. Lastly, a Total Cost Involved four-link replaced the leaf spring setup Dennis installed a few years back.

In the cockpit, that Cadillac dash works seamlessly with the Chevy cab. All the switches and controls are mounted at the bottom of the dash to keep the clean look. For creature comfort, cruise control was added along with HVAC from Vintage Air. The seat and headliner were purchased from RodDoors out of Janesville, Wisconsin. Classic Instruments supplied the All-American Series gauges that tie together perfectly with the vintage Caddy dash.

Once that was taken care of, Dennis set his sights on the aesthetics of the interior. “An upholsterer was needed to stitch a clean, contemporary interior. After months of searching, the name Mike Haverstock, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, came to the forefront. [Haverstock] and I came to an agreement on colors and styles and came up with a dark tan hide for upholstery and matching suede for the headliner and a contemporary square-weave carpet.” Haverstock also created a panel to cover the area behind the seat housing the American Autowire fuse panel, battery, and speakers, and built an overhead console that houses the sound system by Kenwood. The center floor console that Dennis made from the original hood ornament was also covered in leather by Haverstock.

Consistent Chevy

The small-block powerplant mentioned previously is still with this truck and has never failed the owner. The build started with a vintage Chevy 327ci powerplant that was put together by Dennis himself and done the right way from the start. World Products cast-iron heads cover the cylinders and an Edelbrock Air Gap intake and 1406 carburetor feed this mill the go juice it needs. A Comp Cams hydraulic flat-tappet camshaft gets the valves jumpin’ and a GM Crossfire HEI distributor cap sends out the spark. Billet Specialties supplied the valve covers and air cleaner and Bill’s Brackets made the chromed bracketry to tie it all together. Spent gases are sent through a pair of tubular steel shorties to a custom bent steel exhaust, built with Flowmaster 40 mufflers.

After the dust settled, Dennis got to put his freshly built Chevy through the paces. “This truck was my first frame-off build. I put a lot of thought into executing the restoration, knowing I wanted to drive it as much as possible. From the frame up, my comfort was first and foremost. From the modern Goodyear radials to the custom suspension and the fantastic interior (that was hand crafted to fit my posture), it has been a dream to drive on the many 8- to 10-hour trips I have taken in comfort.

Dennis is proud to say this Chevy gets driven often and has covered plenty of miles since he finished it. “The truck has about 42,000 miles since I built it. Been to Nashville; Columbus, Ohio; Syracuse, New York; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Knoxville, Tennessee; Ocean City, Maryland; Wildwood, New Jersey; Dover, Delaware; and York, Pennsylvania, mostly attending Goodguys and NSRA shows. I have attended each of these shows many times with my new-to-me Chevy.”