So one morning I wake up and decide I miss my Camaro and drag racing and having a project out in the garage to tinker with.  I always thought that it would be the most utterly badass thing ever to build a hot rod. From scratch. By myself. I didn’t want to just buy a kit to do it, buy someone else’s finished car, or pay some shop to build it for me.   Better learn how to weld I guess…

…and as most of my bad ideas start, I was browsing craigslist and came across this ’37 chevy truck cab. Liked the looks of it and drug it home in the back of the Silverado. (it’s funny how many trucks i’ve hauled IN a truck)

Yeah, just like that only with more doors and rolling parts… What’s the worst that could happen?

This.  This is the frame from an ’89 Suzuki Samurai that I found fairly local on eBay for $25 with title.  Perfect size for my little truck. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that, I should have bought a plasma cutter on the way home.  I think I single handedly kept Lowe’s in business buying cut off disks and sawzall blades.

Had Jason teach me how to weld (very patient boy…) and I fabbed up these nifty control arms for the front. Lets just say this isn’t going to be a “traditional” looking hot rod.  I like how mechanical these look. Like a tractor on steroids.

This is what it looks like right now sitting in my garage taking up more space than such a small vehicle should realistically require.  I designed and built a custom parallel 4-link rear suspension, modified the frame, found and rebuilt a solid front axle from a ’49 Chevy panel wagon, bought some wheels and new tires, and added suicide hinges to the doors.  It’s going to have a 383ci small block chevy and a turbo 350 transmission.  Still a work in progress but I’ve come a long way from just having a really large collection of car parts.  I walked out in the garage the other day and realized that I almost have a real, functional truck.  Pretty big sense of accomplishment.

Thanks to Kelsey Lane Photography for the totally awesome photo of me and my truck! you’re a rock star Kelsey!

http://kelseylanephotography.com/

Also thanks to Laura Delong Photography for the photos I keep stealing from you and posting on my site. Keep coming over to my house.