1956 Chevy Truck - The Family Plan

As I reflect back on this 10-year project, I am often reminded that I was not only building a truck, but, more importantly, I was raising and building a relationship with a son. My son was only 12 years old when we found this '56 Chevy truck in a field in Southern California. Our $1,400 got us a project that wasn't running and was three shades of faded blue. It was pretty rough, but most of the important pieces were there. We loaded it onto a trailer and brought it to our home in El Cajon, California. Over the next several years we spent hundreds of hours together in the garage turning wrenches, scouring swap meets for missing pieces, putting miles under our feet at car shows looking at finished trucks, and cruising the Internet gathering even more ideas and parts for the truck. That time together meant more to me than the finished truck ever could.

The '91 Chevy pickup bench...        read full caption The '91 Chevy pickup bench dressed up in gray leather and tweed still retains its stock headrest and fits perfectly. White-faced VDO gauges in a billet insert stand out on the smoothed stock dash.

An underdash panel was built...        read full caption An underdash panel was built to house the Kenwood headunit and A/C vents. The '81 Chevy Malibu tilt column was cleaned up with a custom cover to conceal the mount and help it flow better into the floor.

We also enlisted the help of other family members in the buildup of the truck. My brother Rick helped in various ways, including the complete wiring of the truck, and my dad Herb (who's in his eighties and still gets to as many car show as he can) helped with ideas and, most importantly, the work to the bed wood. We not only have a cool truck that we are both proud of but have hundreds of priceless memories as we dreamed, planned, and built the '56 pickup together.

Our family could only do so much so when the time came to set-up the foundation. So we enlisted the help of Brian Bright of Santee, California, to graft the '81 Camaro subframe to the stock frame, as well as C-notch the rear rails. My son and I then installed the suspension components. The result is a truck that sits down low and rides nice without the assistance of airbags.

One of the most difficult challenges during the buildup of the truck was keeping all the parts together as we made three moves. Each time we had to carefully move the '56 and its parts to our new home. We finally settled in Gilbert, Arizona, and really started making headway when we finally drove it for the first time under its own power in March of 2002.

Since then we finished all the little things, detailed it, and worked out the bugs. We drive it as often as time allows; the first year we put 2,000 miles on it. The finished product turned out better than either one of us could have hoped, but the road to competition is what we'll always cherish the most.

Smart Parts armrests covered...        read full caption Smart Parts armrests covered in leather from RB's Obsolete and the raised flame pattern accent the door panels.

Jeff's dad Herb is responsible...        read full caption Jeff's dad Herb is responsible for the unique bed wood, which is red oak, that was white-washed with Torch Red to give it an even redder tint to match the exterior paint.