March 2012 / Hawaii Motorhead Magazine /9
“I
Get Around” from the Beach Boys would be the perfect theme song for this sweet little rat ride that started life as a shop truck for the “White Lines Storage Company” in Washington state. And yup! That’s the original company logo and patina paint on the doors. The 1936 Ford pickup was sold to a gentleman in Oregon and then to another in Canada where the truck under went the transformation into the rat rod truck you see here. The truck then spent some time at the Bonneville Salt Flats where it was a show piece and a calendar car before returning to Canada where the current owner Derick Matias of Puna acquired it. Derick then had the truck shipped back to Washington to a family members place and finally home to the Big Island. Whew! Now that’s some frequent flyer miles! When Derick got the truck home he didn’t waste any time putting his stamp on it and started work on it by first pulling the tired flat head out (which he is rebuilding and plans on putting it back into the truck). He stuffed this rebuilt 1952 Ford Flat Head with reground cam, Edelbrock heads and dual Stromberg carbs. Its bolted to a Chevy S10 5 speed tranny which makes it great for cruisin’ while out back, the stock 1936 banjo style rear end takes care of business. The wheels are also 1936 16” units wrapped in wide whitewall bias ply rubber. The straight front axel, front grill and side mirrors as well as the 4 wheel drum brakes are all 1936 hardware too. The top has been chopped a whopping 8” while the body was channeled 6” and the bed shortened 6”. I like how the welds are still visible in true rat rod fashion. Derick touch up some of the original patina color on both the interior and exterior. The rear has been Z’d a total of 14”, which is evident by how high the wood floors in the bed now sit. The blue DELCO box in the bed is an original ‘50’s DELCO battery pack that now houses the battery for the rat ride. Derick also did some mods in the interior removing the ’36 speedo, filling the dash and replacing it with a ’51 Chevy speedo mounted in a fabricated center console. The rest of the gauges are mounted in the overhead console to keep them out of site. The seats are cut down VW seats! “I knew you’d get a kick out of that” say’s Derick as he told us more about his work. Look for Derick and his 1936 Ford Truck we dubbed “Raked, Ratted & Roll” at Cruise Paradise this summer. He’ll be easy to spot. He’ll be the one grinnin’ from ear to ear!