Bruce Percelay always loved model trains and pickup trucks as a child. Realizing that owning an actual train was not quite feasible, he turned his eyes to classic trucks. Percelay fell hard for a fully restored 1957 Chevrolet painted signature cardinal red and Bombay white. The truck had worked the orange groves in California for its first 23 years, and then was ignominiously retired to a barn filled with rusted tractors and obsolete farm equipment. Almost three decades later, it was purchased and received a two-year, frame-off restoration, putting this truck in showroom condition. Some liberties were taken during the restoration, including the installation of a
Chevy
Corvette 327 engine with camel hump heads and Edelbrock fuel injected carburators. In addition, the truck features air conditioning, and a discretely hidden stereo. Apart from these alterations, the vehicle was largely brought back to life as original. “It’s too bad you can’t photograph sound,
because this is one if its most beautiful features,” Percelay says. “Of course, its looks are also quite spectacular.” This hot Chevy will be seen around town this summer, but as with most pristine collectible cars, only when the sun shines. Percelay’s truck is as American as baseball, football, and Chevrolet, and is thus perfectly suited for Nantucket summers.