At 11 years old, Oklahoma City classic truck enthusiast Kirk Hager learned how to drive behind the wheel of his grandfather Arthur Cross' '52 Chevrolet pickup. In fact, Kirk loved the old truck so much that he kept after Grandpa Cross to let him have his prized pickup when he reached legal driving age. The old gentleman wasn't quite ready to relinquish the title just yet, but ended up doing the next best thing. On Christmas Day 1982, Arthur presented his grandson Kirk with the keys to a '49 Chevrolet 1/2-ton pickup of his own.
"I named the truck 'Nytmare' because it has gone through just about every type of disaster you can imagine," Kirk says. "Aside from normal wear and tear, the truck had been stolen and recovered, and once vandalized. Then to complicate matters, the original builder who was contracted to rebuild the truck messed up most of the work he did. It all had to be done over again."
Kirk credits Kevin and Randy Cox, from Moore, Oklahoma's Custom Concepts, Inc., and Oklahoma City fabricator Gary Lewis for righting all the wrongs. "After a friend of mine, named Bob Nicols, donated a '78 Chevy Monte Carlo, we were off and running," Kirk says.
For beginners, Gary Lewis installed the Monte's front frame clip, which immediately upgraded the Chevy with IFS, power steering, and power front disc brakes. Gary also clipped the back half of the '49's framerails and installed a 2x3-inch rectangular rear subframe. Attached to it is a pair of Aldan coilovers and an Elite Chassis four-link suspending a 3.89:1-geared 9-inch Ford rearend narrowed to 41 inches. Rolling stock consists of a set of Weld Racing Flame wheels (15x7-inch front, and 15x14-inch rear,) running a combination of 205/75R15, and 31x18.50x15-inch Hoosier Pro Street rubber
Powering this beauty is a blown, vintage 1971 350 (bored to 355 ci) built by High Performance Engine Service in Oklahoma City. The stout small-block sports a GM Performance Parts crank, "pink" rods, forged 9:1 TRW pistons, Clevite bearings, a Melling oil pump, and an Iskenderian hydraulic blower cam. A set of HPES Bow Tie cylinder heads were ported and polished, and feature a complete Isky valvetrain. A Weiand 6-71 supercharger (underdriven 12 percent), and intake are part of this combination, along with a pair of 750-cfm Edelbrock Performer carburetors. Lighting things off is a combination ACCEL and Mallory ignition system, while the exhaust consists of HPC-coated block-hugger headers and Flowmaster mufflers. Cooling is handled by a Walker Z-Series aluminum radiator. Backing all that up is a '78 TH350 outfitted with a 2,100-rpm stall-speed B&M Holeshot torque converter and TransGo shift kit.
Custom Concepts, Inc.'s Randy Cox gets the credit for preparing the half-century-old Stovebolt sheetmetal. Modifications to the truck include the installation of a pair of '79 Chevy 1/2-ton inner wheel tubs and a rolled rear pan. When the bodywork was completed, Randy sprayed the '49 in PPG Candy Purple and Burnt Orange. Cox also performed all the pinstriping-done in contrasting yellow, red, and pink.
Kirk wired up everything on the inside himself, and added such creature comforts as a '78 Monte tilt-steering column with a Weld Flame steering wheel, VDO instrumentation, a Kenwood/Polk audio system, Sanden/Vintage Air A/C system, and a Billet Specialties Bow Tie rearview mirror. Finishing off the cabin is gray tweed upholstery, cut pile rugs, and a molded headliner, with credit going to Todd Haygood at Upholstery Unlimited. All told, Kirk says he has around $25,000 invested in Nytmare, and it has the trophies to prove it.
Sadly, Grandpa passed away recently, but not before passing on his prized '52 1/2-ton to his grandson. At the present, Kirk is updating the '52 with late-model suspension and powertrain, and "Grandpa's '52" will be used to haul Nytmare to car and truck shows. Somehow, we can't help but think that Grandpa Cross probably knew that would happen all along!