1947 Ford COE - Contemporary Cab-Over

Scotty Gray is one of those guys who seem to have it all: a family, a successful business, and a place in the forefront of our hobby. But it wasn't always that way. Even though he showed an interest in cool cars and trucks from an early age, Scotty went the college/suit-and-tie route and did his best to leave the hot rodding to someone else. Fast forward to the late '70s. Scotty had been through a divorce and was working as an accountant in the downtown district of Dallas. One day, he got up and quit. It was time to follow his dream and make his living in the car business.

He began as a wholesaler--buying and selling just about anything you can consider a vehicle. Scotty also started dirt track racing, and for the next several years, he tore up the dirt ovals of the South. Eventually, the race car gave way to powerboats, and, after a few years on the lakes, that hobby was scrapped when Scotty rediscovered street rods. By 1991, the wholesale business had evolved into a full-blown auto action house, the Lakeside Auto Auction, which continues to thrive today. The street rod hobby has evolved for Scotty as well. In the last ten or so years, he has either built, bought, or sold dozens of high-profile street rods. By doing so, he has become pals with some of the biggest builders in the business, Bobby Alloway and Boyd Coddington, to name a few. The latter of which is responsible for the fine looking '47 Ford COE you're looking at.

While visiting the Boyd Coddington garage last year to check the progress on another project, Scotty spied the partial cab-over that Boyd had just found at a swap meet. He had been looking for a unique vehicle to build that would rattle the cages of all his street rod cronies and also stand out in the crowd--all the while holding its own among the competition. After talking Boyd out of the truck, the two collaborated on the project by passing ideas and renderings back and forth from California to Texas. Within a year, the truck was finished beyond anyone's expectations and ready to debut.

The truck was purchased with the majority of the chassis completed. The stock frame was boxed from front to rear and fit with a beefed-up Mustang II crossmember and front suspension with 11-inch GM disc brakes. The backend uses leaves from a Ranger with help from a set of Airlift airbags complete with an on-board compressor. The rear is set-up with a Ford 9-inch sporting 3.89:1 gears. Naturally, the wheel of choice was a Boyd Coddington, 15-inch Intrigues to be exact. They were shod with big ol' General tires at both ends.

Under the cab rests a mostly stock 429 Ford powerplant. It runs 9.5:1 compression and an RV cam, and it is topped with an MSD ignition and Edelbrock carb for reliability. The chrome is limited to just the air cleaner and valve covers. The stock exhaust manifolds are hooked to a 3-inch dual exhaust featuring Flowmaster mufflers. The clean and simple 429 is backed by a heavy-duty Ford C6 controlled by a Gennie shifter.

Since the cab was untouched as of yet and there was no bed to speak of, this is when the crew at Boyd Coddington Garage sprang into action. The nearly 50-year-old cab was finished to Pebble Beach standards; the only noticeable modifications were the filled holes for the front bumper. The bed was built from 2x4-inch box steel tubing, which was bent and proportioned perfectly to match the truck. It was finished as finely as the cab before Charlie laid on the two-stage "Boyd Coddington Black" paint. Detail was added to the truck by adding garage logos on each door and striping the cab's bodylines in red. A custom grille was built and installed, along with the stock hood trim and new stainless mirrors. The bed floor was finished in maple, and a canvas runner is buttoned down the center and over the backend. Clear windows are sewn in for the '39 Ford taillights to shine through. The dash was fit with VDO gauges in a custom panel and an ididit column was topped with a Coddington steering wheel before the COE was handed over to Mr. Gabe Lopez. Gabe custom-built the seat and covered it, along with the headliner, door panels, and everything in between, in lipstick red leather.

After much anticipation, the '47 was loaded into the Coddington big rig and hauled out to Texas for delivery to Scotty. It is so tall up front that the mirrors and front wheels had to be removed. Boyd happened to be in the area at the time, and one of Scotty's favorite stories to tell is how Boyd came over and reinstalled the mirrors and wheels himself. Since Scotty has a pretty extensive collection of antique scooters and carts, Boyd also mentioned a kids mini-midget racer from the '50s he had found. With a little help from Greg Coddington, it wasn't long before the aptly named "Boyd Coddington Special" was fully restored with a '58 Continental engine and sporting Scotty's old dirt track number from his racing days--37. Needless to say, the racer was the perfect addition to the flatbed, and it gathered a ton of attention when the two debuted at Goodguys Fort Worth. Although the cab-over still has many more shows in its future, Scotty and Boyd have already turned their attention to their next collaboration: a '36 Delahaye replica designed by Marcel DeLey that debuted at this past Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale. With vehicles like these and the fact that Scotty makes his living playing with cars, we'd say he was smart to quit that accounting job.