Dick Stevens did what most of us would do after repeatedly eyeballing an old Chevy truck sitting untouched in a yard close to his home: he knocked on the door. After negotiating with the truck's owner, a deal was struck and the '41 Chevy was off to its new home.
The Chevy was an older neglected street rod that was a bit worse for the wear, more than Dick first realized. It sat very high on a '75 C-10 chassis and was home to a 350 motor and trans-the chassis' one saving grace. Dick started redoing the frame so the cab would sit right and to also get the overall stance closer to terra firma. He made use of a rearend from a '99 S-10 Blazer, complete with disc brakes, but this didn't stop several more frame reiterations to achieve the profile Dick had in mind-and he wouldn't stop until it was right. In the end, a custom front crossmember was built for the truck using Mustang II specs that utilized a power rack-and-pinion and disc brakes.
The old sheetmetal was in less than desirable shape and full of rust holes you could steal a stereo through. The bed was junk, so after finding two others, Dick made one good one. Despite this success, he still couldn't find a set of rear fenders that he was happy with, and he eventually purchased a pair of 1-inch widened fiberglass units. The doors came off a donor truck, and the rest of the original '41 was salvaged through lots of hard work. Dick then had the body chemically dipped to remove any remaining rust and paint before it was electro-coated and sealed up. Now he felt good about executing the final bodywork and preassembly. Next, Wayne and Kevin Poe in Jackson, Mississippi, prepped the truck so they could spray it with DuPont's eye-searing Hot Hues Silva paint.
During all this, Larry Farmer went through the engine and trans. The 350 block was bored 0.030-over and its rotating assembly was balanced to help ensure many years of trouble-free service. The small-block now wears an Offenhauser Tri-power like a crown with its perfectly set Rochester 2-Jets. The finned valve covers from Mooneyes and the chrome louvered air cleaners round out the traditional look under the stock center-hinged hood.
Back in Jackson, Anthony Wylie began crafting the red interior starting with a comfy new Wiseguys bench seat. Along the way, the door panels were made and everything else that couldn't be covered in red vinyl got painted to match, like the ididit tilt column, Lecarra Mark 10 wheel, dashboard, and garnish moldings. Of course, all this red goes perfectly with the Silva paint on the exterior. Elsewhere inside, there's the Vintage Air unit, Dolphin gauges, Gennie shifter, and one-piece windshield.
In the end, Dick, his son Brad, and his grandsons, all worked hard to get the Chevy done and back on the road in a mere six months, which was no small feat-great job, guys!