Dream Truck inspired 56 Ford F100

thats one jaw droping colour

That's certainly a nice ute Kynan....and those wheels look great on it!

Carps, I'm jealous with the friends you keep and the tin they own. I now feel insignificant! Okay, that's passed.

Truck looks fantastic!! Great colour and great shine.
I like the last pic the most, with all the panels open.

New wheels look way better!!! and it's looking sweet all over!!

Wow thank for all the complements on this up date Paul is machining up the pulleys for the engine soon cant wait to get them am about the start the pluming tomorrow I hope to have it finished before I have to go back to work otherwise will be to way to long till its done

Carps can I sneak into your suit case next time you go?
i was planing to run the exhaust though the rear Buick port hole but after looking at the rear number plate area I felt that needed some thing else to help fill it in. and you are not a smart ass as you are more of an authority on the dream truck since you know the bloke and I only wish I did. Ha Ha
What would be the chances of getting Kurt to have a look at it when it finished would love to see what he thinks of it, It would be one of the biggest thrills of my life to get his feed back.

I Have been trying to think up a name to put on the number plates any one have any ideas ?

Queensland plates? How many letters do they allow?

If it were mine i'd have DRM FRD on Vic plates.

That is just frickin' ace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So glad you changed those wheels - it's in a whole different league now!

this is coming along great.

Kynan wrote:I Have been trying to think up a name to put on the number plates any one have any ideas ?

The real truck has a Missouri vanity plate with the number (letters?) ARINCEE, which was a name dreamed up by Tom Medley for one of his cartoon characters who stared in the magazine during the period Tom was editor.

I'm sure Kurt will be only happy to give his feedback, he has a damn fine collection of models too.

Looking great. Not sure how QLD number plates work not a great suggestion but how about TRIK TRUK. What is the moulding on the rear lid?
On a side note how lucky are you carps I would love to see all of those kustoms. I would like to see a list of Kustoms and Show Rods that still exist and then go see them.

Qld have a maximum of 6 letters like most other states guys, and they probably have the best selection of personal plates in OZ.
http://www.ppq.com.au/

......can't help ya with a name yet, though I've been thinking about it!!

So without trying to hijack this thread, I guess it's timely to fill you in on the story of Spencer Murray's magazine project, which became the world's most famous pick-up truck.  

My all time favourite custom was conceived just a few months before I was born, in the September 1953 issue of Rod & Custom magazine. That first feature story was about the installation of an OHV Olds' V8 into a 1941 Chevy chassis. 

Not long after I was born, Rod & Custom magazine editor, Spence Murray, purchased a brand new '54 Chevy Pick-up cab which was to be mounted on that chassis. It was delivered on a pallet to Sam's Auto Body, where proprietor Sam Gates, chopped the top 4 inches. It was then taken to Valley Custom in Burbank, where the body was sectioned 4 inches and chanelled an equal amount over the '41 chassis. 

Here it is outside Valley Custom Shop in 1954. 

 


And at home with Spence Murray early in 1955. 



 

Before the bonnet was sectioned and scooped, sometime in 1955 

 

Over the next five years, the truck was worked on by a veritable who's who of customising. It went through Gene Winfield's shop, Barris Kustom City, Moon Automotive, Geraughty Automotive, Offenhauser, Hedmen Cragar and Colgan Upholstery. 

The Rod & Custom Dream Truck incorporates every customising trick in the book! Because it was the vehicle on which 'the book' is based. 

After 2,500 Rod & Custom Magazine reader suggestions and at a cost of almost $10,000 the truck (it was not yet called the Dream Truck) was finally completed. The truck's construction was published in 24 instalments and the '41 Chev chassis was replaced sometime during that process by a heavily modified '50 pick-up chassis. Front and rear grille openings are made from 1953 Studebaker lower front pans, the headlamps are aftermarket units with open mesh backing and tube framework over which the hoods were formed. The bonnet and roof scoops are fully functional, and antennas are mounted in the rear fenders, with the rear-most of the three Buick portholes in the lower pick-up bed sides being the exhaust outlets. 

Here it is at an outdoor show in Los Angeles around 1957, in primer almost ready for painting. 

 

The first paint-job in lavender pearl, striped and scalloped by Dennis Rickleffs. 

 

It was later painted pearl white with Purple scallops, interestingly, the shortest lived was also the most remembered and popular paint scheme.

It was not until the June 1957 issue of Rod & Custom magazine tafter the fins were added, hat the truck was finally given it's name, when the headline banner proclaimed that at long last the '"The Dream Truck' Is Finished!" 

The truck 'finished' in candy lime green & purple pearl paint-job, by Larry Watson. 




Over the next two years the truck was displayed at 44 rod and custom shows across America, being viewed by over 2,500,000 fans. Then, on October 22nd 1958, whilst being flat towed to a show in Des Moines, Iowa it was destroyed after a tyre blew on the tow pick-up and both trucks rolled down an embankment at the side of the highway 90 miles west of Wichita, Kansas. 






Spence had the wreck shipped back to California where Barris quoted $3,500 to repair it. In 1958 that was a serious pile of money! So, unable to fund the repairs, the mechanical components were stripped out and sold off. Then the remains of the body and chassis were sold to a guy in Pasadena for $150. 

The wreck changed hands a few times over the next couple of years, each time for $150 and then it simply disappeared. 

Wind the clock forward 20 years and freelance photographer John Lamm snapped these shots of the truck's remains in a street in Stockton California. The shots eventually found their way to Rod & Custom magazine where they were published. 




 


Seeing the remains of the Dream Truck spurred Bruce Glasscock on a mission to track down and purchase the wreckage. In 1983 the truck was eventually purchased and quickly 'restored' by Glasscock, and painted in the white pearl and purple scallops as it was after the lavender and before the lime colour it was when wrecked. He then drove it extensively, including to the first KKOA Nationals where it was as big a hit as it had been in the 1950s, 

In 1985 it was purchased by Kurt McKormick of St Louis Missouri, who performed a full chassis off restoration with drive-train and a new interior done to match perfectly the truck's final 1958 condition. The paint remains as it was done for Glasscock's restoration. 

My first encounter with the Dream Truck was about 1957 when I was given a copy of the June '54 Rod & Custom magazine that details the chop and section work done to the body. It includes a neat picture of the truck cab sitting on the pallet beside a stock pick-up. 

I'm inclined to believe it was that magazine which turned my head and lead me on a lifetime of involvement with hot rods and customs, I still have it as well as the Sept '53 issue. 

I followed the truck in R&C magazine stories from it's beginning to demise and then the discovery of the wreck and subsequent restoration. In 1990 I met and made friends with a great bunch of guys from the St Louis Street Rod Association, of which Kurt McKormick is also a member. In our all night bench-racing session I told my new friends of my passion for the Dream Truck and could not understand why they just laughed. My good buddy Mike Keehn each time I stayed at his home in St Louis over the next few years would say we must visit Kurt's home, but somehow the planets never seemed to align and make that possible. Then in August 1996 all the planets came into alignment and through a rather humorous series of events I found myself in Kurt's driveway as he opened a garage door to reveal two vehicles draped in car covers, but only one instantly had my total attention, it's shape unmistakable to me. After drooling over the truck, I got to take it for a spin around the block, I was more nervous doing that than on my wedding day or any time I've driven a million dollar prototype. 

Here's my all time favourite Custom as it appears today.

Great story and background Carps, and to be able to drive it as well.

that is an amazing story Carps, thanks very much for sharing it! Iv got a 50something chevy truck in bits, you and Kynan have inspired me to try something like the model and the dream truck... Kynan thats an amazing model, the paint is unbelieveable!

Cool story Carps - thanks for sharing!

Carps I have a ROD & CUSTOM magazine dec'1990,with a story the Dream Truck Lives!there is 8 pages on the truck by Spence Murray,colour photos by Pat Ganahl,I remember seeing a photo of it in old car magazine and said one day I would build one,but never did,The Dream truck is one of the customs that I like with a few lead sled cars,Its one custom that I would like to see in up close.

How cool is this Kynan, personal history about your build. Carps your one lucky dude.

Carp thank for the info and your story about the association with vehicle that inspired me not only for this build but the whole customizing life style and I only hope that I have done this inspired build justice to the original greatest piece of auto history
this started out as a trail piece but has taken on a life of its own which I'm so pleased about I will build a replica of the Dream Trucks in all of its important stages.

Slowly when it come the building a customized vehicle I have only one thing to say and that is just do it and don't be afraid to ask questions here, Their are some good books out that you might find helpful like CUSTOM CAR MODELING by Mark s Gustavson This is one book that I find that I flip through all the time. The other thing that I would say is take your time and get a good set of metal Vernier and a template former and fill as much as you can with scrap plastic not filler as it can come back to haunt you at a latter stage

And Carp's I still want to sneak away in you luggage next trip . Lol with luck I might get to see it one day. thanks again to everyone for the comments.

Thanks for the History lesson Carps

Thanks for the info. I knew that Dream Truck was in an accident bue I never saw any pics of that. I only remember it being white as well.
Re number plates SA now have 7 digits not sure about custom plates but the state plates have 7 digits all start with an S3Numeric and 3Alpha.

thanks kynan, Ill have to look into that book and the other thing (?). yeah i learned my lesson with body filler, no matter what i do it just shrinks and you can see the outline of whatever you filled... will be sacrificing a few minor dead builds for scrap plastic for sure, might even dip into my stash of plastic binders as they have a wierd plastic-ish cardboard texture about them... cant get enough of that model, the paint pops so well!!

The Motor is done now I do have to say a big thanks to Paul for the custom pulleys, As I think that they make the motor,
The carbs and the vale covers are white metal that I picked up in Sydney years ago
The pulleys are from PAUL
the distributor, Air cleaners, Oil drain bolt, Timing Indicator,Carburetor linkage & Hardware are from Detail Master
the fuel lines and etc will be added when the motor is in the truck. The dip stick and oil breather pipe are guitar string other fitting and are BMF and wire is from my stash
Hope you like it as much as me I all most fell like displaying out of the model. LOL

That's what I call fully detailed!

Bloody fantastic thread - loved reading every bit of this story and love the model too.

Man that looks sooooooooooo sweet!!
I agree with Tezza, always look forward to the updates on this build.