It all began back in 1999 when then 14-year-old Jeff Huntoon spent a day at the Temecula Rod Run in Temecula, California, with his dad Craig and a family friend Roger Westby. The trio weren't there but for a short time when Jeff realized that it was about time to trade off his then current go-kart project for a full-sized hot rod. After eyeballing nearly every kind of street rod, hot rod truck, and muscle car on display young Jeffrey found that he was most impressed by the many modified tri-five Chevy pickups on hand. And, before the day was out he'd pretty much made up his mind that as soon as he got home, the go-kart would go on the block and he'd begin the search for a Chevy pickup to replace it. Family friend Roger Westby piped up that he knew of a '56 stepside up in Signal Hill, California, that just might be available, so with Craig and Jeff in tow, the trio set out to check it out. Well, to make a long story short, Jeff picked up the truck and began what turned out to be a three-year learning experience and a lifelong love affair with classic trucks.
Jeff's new project was a six-cylinder, four-speed workhorse that'd seen better days, and after a month of planning (and playing around with the truck in its stock form) Jeff realized that his pride and joy was actually a bit too rough to easily be restored by a novice. It suffered from a ton of rust (the right door literally fell off), and the bed was just plain beyond help. So, he searched around and soon found a solid '55 longbed donor truck that was perfect for his needs. At this point, withall the major components at his disposal, Jeff began his project in earnest.
The first order of business was to strip the truck down to a bare chassis and rebuild the steering, brakes, and suspension. The original rearend and solid front axle were retained but re-hung using new mono-leaf springs. The front drum brakes were replaced with ECI 11-inch discs, and the original steering box rebuilt and outfitted with a power assist unit.
With enthusiastic guidance and encouragement from his mom, dad, and friends Roger and Darryl, Jeff continued working on the pickup during every spare moment. Mom and dad had surprised him one Christmas morning with a second-hand small-block Chevy/TH400 combo which he, without hesitation, tore into and rebuilt himself. And, after fashioning engine and trans mounts, Jeff soon had the fresh engine and trans combo in place in his newly rebuilt and modified chassis.
Basking in his newly acquired skills (thanks to the aforementioned guidance by family and friends), Jeff was ready to move on to what ended up to be the most extensive and educational part of the whole project-the bodywork. Jeff's dad and friend Roger were ready, willing, and able to guide young Jeff and continually offered advice on not only possible modification and customizing ideas, but how to go about performing them, as well.
The donor cab was soon festooned with fresh new patch panels and ready to play host to a myriad of custom touches. The most notable of those are frenched headlights, rounded door corners, modified (pie-cut) door window frames (to accept new one-piece power side glass), and a smoothed and filled firewall. And, not only did the cab receive more than its fair share of concentration, but the donor longbed was treated to its own dose of attention. Along with the loss of a full 10.5-inches of its length, it also received filled stake pockets, rounded rear bed rail ends, a filled tailgate, and a helping of wheel tubs and custom oak bed wood, as well