Old School

Nowadays ready-built, show-quality hot rods from builders like the late Boyd Coddington are easily available . . . if you want to pay the price. In the old days, however, you built your own, often from whatever parts you could scrounge up. And that’s what Mike Chatfield did. First he picked up a rusty ‘50 Chevy pick-up at a swap meet. Using the frame, doors and bed from that, he added a cab from another truck. He rebuilt a 350 CID Chevy engine from a ‘67 Camaro he had lying around his shop and mated it to a Turbo 350 trans he had pulled from another car years ago. They hooked to a Caddy rear end with a 3.23:1 ratio. After he lowered it and added a Mustang II front suspension with disc brakes, he dug out some Ansen Sprint aluminum wheels he’d had since the 60's. With a lot of elbow grease, he made them shine like new. After adding power steering and brakes as well as air conditioning for comfort, his “new” truck was ready to roll. With a coat of suede-look paint and new upholstery, it was ready to “rock ‘n roll.” Just like in the old days, Mike did almost all of the work himself, although some fellow Roamin Angels did help. Eric from Sierra Custom Upholstery did some of the interior and Rod Mullen assisted in the painting. And just like hot rodders of the Fifties and Sixties, Mike built his truck to drive rather than show. In any weather, he enjoys cruising around in it with wife Diane. Even the paint he used, which is non-gloss, makes it so that he “could drive it rather than spend time polishing it.” After all, that’s what the “old school” hot rodders did: they built and drove their cars.

Curved quarter windows in the back of the cab were used in Chevy pick-ups from 1947 until 1954. With parts from ‘47, ‘48, ‘49, ‘50, ‘51, ‘52 and ‘53 Chevy pick-ups on his truck, Mike says that 1950 is just the year on the title.

When he rebuilt that engine, Mike did it right. It is bored and cammed, with “double-hump” heads. The tri-power carburetion is nostalgic, with Rochester carbs and an Offenhauser intake.

While simple, the dash has everything needed including modern gauges and a Kenwood CD player. The tilt wheel makes long drives more comfortable.

Story & Photos by Ron C. © 2008