Tim Sutton did his magic and captured both the latest offerings from South City Rod & Custom in one shot: The Giovanni ’56 Chevy and Tidwell ’40 Ford.
378 E. Orangethorpe Ave. Placentia, California 92870
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f you happen to be one of the thousands who attended the 13th Annual Dino’s Git Down this past November 10-11 in Glendale, Arizona, and were able to get to the Classic Truck Performance booth to hear the unforgettable “Get a free T-shirt …” pitch by our beloved peddler, Tom McGill (who was hopefully wearing a shirt, period, at the time!), you also got a glimpse of our 2024 project collaboration with my buddy Shane from All American Billet/All American Chassis: the “All Aftermarket Squarebody!”
With the emergence of C10 sheetmetal—from hoods to tailgates and everything in-between, including cabs—I’ve been wanting to take on a project that promotes just that: all the aftermarket products from hood to gate, top to rocker panels, everything there is available in which to build a complete C10 truck. Well, after some serious discussions with Shane and Jason and Eddy from Auto Metal Direct (AMD) last year, we came up with a game plan—and we’re doing just that … building a complete first-gen Squarebody.
At the time, AMD was still working out the final details with their ’73-87 GM cabs, but fortunately, Shane had a cherry ’76 Chevy donor in which to start with (that will also help toward titling in certain areas of the country), but even that will get some AMD replacement sheetmetal love.
Parts Dept.
For more info, contact Classic Industries by calling (855) 357-2787 or visit classicindustries.com.
For more info, contact ARP by calling (800) 826-3045 or visit arp-bolts.com.
For more info, please contact TMI Automotive Products by visiting tmiproducts.com.
hen the entrants began lining up for the inaugural World’s Most Beautiful Truck (WMBT) award judging process, in my mind I’d already narrowed down the competition to maybe a half-dozen or less … and the more I paced back and forth as the owners/builders buffed chrome and paint equally, that number quickly shrank down to half of that … and this was well before the actual judging even commenced. But there were a half-dozen judges doing the same visual sizing up, and I knew once “judgment day” came, there could be just as many differing opinions!
Gary & Cindy Giovanni’s ’56 Chevy
f you’ve been a reader of Classic Truck Performance for any length of time you know that we/I have special relationships with quite a few builders, and none more so than Bill Ganahl et al. at South City Rod & Custom (if you do a genealogy test, I’m convinced somewhere down the line Ganahl and I are related!). When SCRC had just finished up the Tidwell ’40 Ford and Gary and Cindy Giovanni’s ’56 Chevy, I texted Ganahl and told him I wanted both shot for the cover. His answer: “No, no you don’t.” My response is not worthy of print.
Tech
InTheGarageMedia.com
ne of the benefits of using a late-model engine, such as the venerable LS-series of GM powerplants, is the fact that they came equipped from the factory with a reliable, serpentine belt setup. Unlike the V-belt systems of old, the serpentine-style requires reduced belt tension, resulting in less stress on the various components’ bearings and seals and increased belt-to-pulley contact ratio, resulting in less belt slippage. Reliability in the upper-rpm range is also a benefit of the serpentine belt design over the old V-belt. Unfortunately, the packaging of many OE serpentine systems can leave something to be desired, not to mention their rather utilitarian appearance. When it comes to building a custom truck with a tidy engine compartment, a stock pulley system just doesn’t cut it. Thankfully, Eddie Motosports (EMS) saw the writing on the wall when they introduced their line of S-Drive serpentine pulley systems a few years back and successfully filled the void.
Since then, EMS has continued to improve upon the S-Drive product line by introducing an eight-rib version in an effort to reduce belt slippage in high performance applications. Their latest offering, dubbed the Pro Touring Kit, expands upon that performance aspect by utilizing not only an eight-rib belt and pulley setup but an additional idler pulley for increased belt wrap on the alternator and power steering pulleys. An oversized pulley on the power steering pump helps slow the pump down during high-rev maneuvers on the autocross track.
s I’m physically recouping from the last four days spent out at the Fairplex in Pomona, my mind is still trying to wrap itself around the events that transpired … actually, the EVENT that transpired: the first-ever Grand National Truck Show put on by our friends at Rod Shows (the same folks behind the Grand National Roadster Show).
While the show itself was two days, myself and quite a few others were onsite early Thursday for the judging of the first World’s Most Beautiful Truck—which, if you haven’t read by now, went to Greg Tidwell’s South City Rod & Custom–built ’40 Ford (see page 12). Eighteen trucks of all shapes, sizes, colors, and denominations competed for the coveted award sponsored by ARP (whittled by my buddy Mike Curtis/Curtis Speed), and the judging took the better part of the day. Friday of course was spent setting up displays and vendors, not only in Building 4 as originally planned but the adjacent Building 6 as well to accommodate the excess number of indoor entries (not to mention the formal Corn Hole Contest!).
hen it comes to building a classic truck, there are many avenues you can take. Some go all-out for a show truck with customized details on every square inch of the body and chassis, others gravitate to the budget-friendly side with the goal of just getting it on the road. Many of us find ourselves somewhere in the middle, which is why the popularity of shop trucks and patina paint continues to grow. When Jack Fillers decided he wanted to jump into the truck world in February 2022, he wanted a truck he could jump in and use on a regular basis but with a nice stance and some practical upgrades. For this, he worked out a plan with his nephew Bryan Harrison at Harrison’s Rod and Custom, and together they found the ideal truck to fit his build plan: an aged ’71 GMC Stepside.
Tech
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Camren Beattie
haven’t built headers in five or so years, and even then I haven’t made very many. I also wasn’t even supposed to be the one building them! I remember asking Justin if I could build the headers for the truck a long time ago and he outright said no, but the time came where I needed to have them built and our foreman, Sev, who usually builds the headers and exhaust for everything in the shop was still too busy to get to them, so I just started building them myself from the excess material we had on hand.
When it came time for headers, Justin had told Sev that he wanted them to be as equal length as possible for maximum performance. That stuck with me, and I bothered Sev about doing the headers several times before the time came where I really just needed to get them built. With Sev so busy, I grabbed the header modeling blocks that we have from icengineworks (I highly suggest you get these if you’re building headers often as they are a huge time saver) and started building out the runners on the driver side first. I feel like I have kind of a weird process of building headers. I mock up the collectors where I want them in the framerails (in this truck they are mirrored) and then I like to see what the first 6 or so inches of every runner is going to look like (because this is what you see the most in the engine bay) before building the forward-most runner completely out to the collector.
Full-Custom F-100 Shop Truck
andy Pierson of Montgomery, Texas, is a self-proclaimed custom Ford junkie. He says that even before he could speak, he was infatuated with cool cars and trucks—a trait that has stuck with him into his adult life. “Basically, I build up every vehicle I own, mainly because stock sucks,” he says enthusiastically. “Both my grandfathers were car guys, so they helped instill an appreciation for customized vehicles in me as far back as I can remember.”
The game of buying, building, and selling old cars isn’t anything new for Randy. He’s been doing it for so long now, a solid chunk of his free time is spent turning wrenches on vehicles of all types in hopes to make them as awesome as possible. “Back in 2014, I was in the process of building a ’65 Ford Mustang G.T. 350 replica,” he adds. “The car was keeping me pretty busy, but I really needed a shop truck to help make trips back and forth to the hardware store much less of a hassle.”
This is the time frame when Randy picked up this ’72 Ford F-100. The truck was located in North Carolina and was listed on eBay for $7,500. For the price, the old Ford appeared to be in pretty decent shape based on the photos and description of it online. It was in decent shape, was said to run, drive, and stop OK, and looked to be rust-free. That was enough for Randy to pull the trigger on the F-100 and arrange for delivery to California where he was based at the time.
rt Morrison has a long history of building performance vehicles. As a teenager he collected a number of trophies with his homebuilt, big-block–powered, straight-axle–equipped ’54 Chevy. Morrison’s passion for performance ultimately led him to open Art Morrison Enterprises (AME) in 1971, which quickly grew into one of the leading drag race chassis and component manufacturers in the country.
Ever the innovators, AME grew in size as the company broadened its scope by including components for high-performance street vehicles. That led to the revolutionary direct-replacement chassis for ’55-57 Chevrolets. Introduced in 2002, the all-new suspension design gave these vintage vehicles the best in contemporary ride and handling characteristics. Today AME offers direct-replacement performance chassis for a variety of cars and trucks, custom one-off chassis for virtually any vehicle imaginable, and B-body Mopar K-members with coilover suspension.
After 51 years in business, Morrison decided to step down and turn the reins of AME over to Matt Jones. Jones has been with the company since 2004, serving first in the engineering department, then as operations manager, and now as president. Under Jones’ leadership AME continues to develop new products, the latest being a new 4×4 chassis for ’73-87 Chevrolet/GMC pickups and Blazers with ’67-72 applications to follow.
n our current world of social media, we are allowed to glance into the shops of builders from around the world. If you have a teenager in your life you may know how annoying this technology can be, but when harnessed properly it can be used to both motivate and inspire your own personal build. I kept tabs on the build of this ’51 F-1 by Jeff Jones of Monroe Center, Illinois, through social media. I was intrigued during the metal and bodywork phases, but when Jeff laid down the perfect tone of blue on the Ford’s massaged body I knew I had to see it in person. The ’51 made its debut at the Vintage Torque Fest show, one of the Midwest’s premier traditional hot rod events. As soon as I laid eyes on it, my camera trigger finger started twitching and I couldn’t wait for the photoshoot, utilizing downtown Dubuque, Iowa, as the perfect backdrop.
e’ve been following along as Paul Wilson has been in the process of transforming a random pile of parts into a complete ’52 Chevy pickup. So far in the pages of Classic Truck Performance we’ve shown how a mildly tweaked ’55 Chevy pickup frame has been straightened and stepped in the rear. It was then equipped with a C4 Corvette independent front and rear suspension by way of kits from Flat Out Engineering. With a rolling chassis (albeit on wooden mock-up wheels) the next step in this evolutionary process was installing the engine and transmission.
While LS engines and overdrive transmissions are all the rage, Wilson decided to take the old-school approach and go with a Gen II 350 Chevy from BluePrint engines coupled to a Turbo 350 transmission. Speaking of the evolutionary process, the engine Wilson chose is virtually all aftermarket with BluePrint’s own cast-iron block, aluminum heads, and internal components. Equipped with a single four-barrel carburetor and roller hydraulic cam the engine dyno showed 341 hp and 371 lb-ft of torque, which will make for a good daily driver. The transmission has been rebuilt and equipped with a mild shift kit and a “tight” stock stall speed torque converter for efficiency.
he F-100 Supernationals has gone through many phases in its 46-year existence. While the event venue has moved, and organizers have come and gone, the long-running Ford truck event has found a great home at the Sevierville Convention Center in Sevierville, Tennessee. Event organizers Danny and Jeff Blackwell have poured their hearts into growing this legendary event with the help of many folks. Their efforts are noticed by the Ford truck community, as hundreds of trucks poured into Sevierville for the three-day event in September.
Inside the convention center are the sponsor and vendor displays, including Scott’s Hotrods ’N Customs, Dennis Carpenter, and many more. Select show truck spots are also available inside. Outside, Ford Performance was set up just outside the swap meet, which was packed with vintage parts, project trucks, and body panels. Other outside vendors included O’Reilly Auto Parts, the F-100 Supernationals DJ, and the merchandise trailer.
For the 2023 event we saw a huge variety of trucks on the property. The award format offered a nice selection of classes for both shiny trucks and patina trucks. The show field covered all generations of Ford trucks, from pre World War II street rods to modern trucks and everything in between. Bumpsides continue to be the hot ticket in the F-100 world right now. We saw every configuration you can imagine on hand, ranging from slammed patina trucks to high-riding 4x4s.
Ad Index
- AFFORDABLE STREET RODS79
- ALL AMERICAN BILLET19
- AMERICAN AUTOWIRE9
- AMSOIL33
- ART MORRISON ENTERPRISES27
- AUTO METAL DIRECT35
- AUTOMOTIVE RACING PRODUCTS21
- BEDWOOD AND PARTS69
- BOESE ENGINEERING97
- BOLING BROTHERS EARLY IRON87
- BORGESON UNIVERSAL CO.37
- CHEVS OF THE 40’S75
- CLASSIC INDUSTRIES29
- CLASSIC PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS4-5, 93
- DAKOTA DIGITAL99
- EATON DETROIT SPRING, INC.93
- FITECH EFI87
- FLAT OUT ENGINEERING91
- FRONTIER SHOP SUPPLIES79
- GEARSTAR PERFORMANCE TRANSMISSIONS91
- GOLDEN STAR CLASSIC AUTO PARTS6
- GRANATELLI MOTOR SPORTS, INC.75
- HEIDTS SUSPENSION SYSTEMS89
- HEINZMAN STREET ROD SHOP97
- HEMMINGS59
- HOT ROD INNOVATIONS97
- KUGEL KOMPONENTS97
- KWIK PERFORMANCE91
- LEGENS HOT ROD93
- LMC TRUCK100
- LOKAR2, 41
- NATIONAL STREET ROD ASSOCIATION57
- OLD AIR PRODUCTS77
- PERTRONIX11
- PHOENIX MACHINE PRODUCTS89
- POWERMASTER PERFORMANCE77
- PREMIER STREET ROD55
- PRO’S PICK93
- ROD SHOWS61
- SCOTT’S HOTRODS69
- SPEEDWAY MOTORS45
- THERMO-TEC AUTOMOTIVE91
- TMI PRODUCTS89
- VINTAGE AIR7
- WILWOOD ENGINEERING43