The 4 Wheel Parts Canfield Truck and Jeep Fest last July was a premier event and we hope you enjoyed the coverage in the November issue. If you closed your eyes to snap pictures and fired off the camera aimlessly, you could hardly not catch a cool truck or happening. We shot so many interesting rigs that we decided to put some into a "Best-Of" collection.
Our choices run the gamut from the cost-was-no-object, way over the top, to some really nice daily drivers, the kinda weird and some sweet vintage iron.
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Rick Heinze, the Junior, of Morenci, Michigan, has been mudding this resurrected '53 Chevy 3100 in competition and fun for the past seven years. It's homebuilt and powered by a big bad 454 Chevy. The body has been mounted onto a later model GM truck chassis and with 8-inch Superlift springs, it mounts a set of 44 inch Interco Boggers. The rear axle is a "Lincoln-Locked" GM 14-bolt and the front a Dana 60. The old Bowtie managed a fourth place finish in the mud bog competition in a spread that was only three tenths of a second from second to fourth. As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by THAT much!"
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Three Bears Rubicon
A well built rig sometimes strikes you as Just Right. Not too much of anything but with all the right stuff to make it look as capable as it is. David Swiger's '06 Rubicon struck us that way. David hails from Flemington, West Virginia and his Jeep mounts a set of 37 inch Cooper STTs. To get there, the Jeep is fitted with a Rough Country 6-inch X-series suspension combined with a body lift, Skyjacker Rock-Lock sway bar, Nth Degree Slider and Rubicon Express rear driveshaft. Rugged Ridge flares keep the big Coopers under cover. A MileMarker 9500 winch rests on a custom fabbed bumper by Swagweld Inc. and Hella lights to turn night into day.
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Robert Malec's '62 Chevy K10 Sharknose marks the era when the last of the old "Stovebolt" style Chevy sixes were sold. Showing only 34,000 miles, it had lived and worked on a New Jersey farm most of its life and was fitted with a snowplow. The tan house paint, applied by brush, preserved the body and made the resto a lot easier. Mechanically, little was needed but a major service and some carb work. The big 261ci six runs like a top and has the grunt to turn the 33 x 13.50 Interco TSLs on Pro Comp Rock Crawler wheels. The interior is factory stock and original, as is the drivetrain.
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This rig shows that it isn't the number of things bolted onto a Jeep, it's which ones. Kevin Killmier's '06 Rubicon mounts 37 x 13-50-16 Mickey Thompson Baja Claws. To get there, Kevin installed a 6-inch Fabtech kit and a body lift. Other details include a Hanson winch bumper with a Warn XD900i winch and OR Fab tube doors.
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In 1967, GM rolled out a completely redesigned line of trucks but Bob Walter's bears only a superficial resemblance to the C-10 that rolled off the line at Chevrolet that year. To start with, Bob turned the two-wheeler into a four-wheeler. Beyond that he went max performance. The powerplant is a very built 355 smallblock with a tunnel ram with dual 500cfm Edelbrocks. It's lifted with a Superlift 12-inch kit and mounts 44-inch Interco Boggers on Mickey Thompson wheels.
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Willys Overland engineers wouldn't believe the treatment Christopher Fritch gave their work truck some 60 years later. The '48's most obvious mod is the nicely executed tilt front that covers an equally nicely done 350 that mounts an Edelbrock Performer intake with a Holley 600 feeding the fire, Hooker block hugger headers and a custom exhaust provides an escape route for the digested gasoline. A GM drivetrain, including a Turbo 400 trans and Dana 44 disc brake front axle carries the power down to 35 x 14.50-15 Super Swamper SSRs on American Racing Outlaw wheels.
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Judging by his "Bowhuntin" license plate, Doug Dove, of Chillicothe, Ohio, likes to hear the twang of a bow in the woods. If so, he has the perfect Jeep. His '83 Jeep Scrambler has a mildly upcammed 350 Chevy transplant in front of a basically stock drivetrain. With a 4Wheel Drive Hardware 4-inch lift, the truck mounts 35 inch Mickey Thomson MTZs on Champion beadlocks. The paint is a bed liner kind of material Doug didn't identify but it looks to be just about bulletproof and perfect for avoiding brush "pinstriping" from 'wheeling in the woods.
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Steve Rollins enhanced the normal Ram intimidation factor with his '99 Dodge Ram 2500 build-up. Sitting on 39.5x16-16.5 Pit Bull Rockers on Weld Typhoon wheels, it took a Skyjacker 6-inch lift and a bit of body lift to reach the right altitude. The V-10 and drivetrain are both stock but this shows how just a little can go a long way with the right truck.
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Nineteen-seventy-two was the last year for a GM truck body style that soon went on the books as a classic. Jay Snyder captured all of that class with his '72 K20 resto-mod. Painted in Hugger Orange and White, it's powered by a 0.060-over 400ci smallblock and has many factory comfort and convenience options. A 4-inch Skyjacker lift with a dual shock conversion leaves room for a set of LT315/75R-16 Pro Comp XTerrains. To enhance the look, he added a custom wood bed floor. Evidently, people know how to recognize treasure because this truck earned a coveted Show-n-Shine award.
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There's just something about a World War II jeep that always turns heads and often makes eyes get a little misty. This '45 Ford built GPW belongs to PJ's Jeep and Auto Sales in Waynesburg, Ohio and is almost bone stock. It mounts a set of locking hubs, to make showing off the heroic sailor a little easier, and it mounts taller 7.00-16 tires in place of the stock 6.00-16s. Many jeeps were used by the Navy and this one commemorates that fact. Many were assigned to ships and all this one needs is a particular ship name across the front bumper. The trailer is a '64 M-416 cargo trailer, similar to the type used in WWII.
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This 6.2L diesel powered '83 K3500 Jimmy drew a lot of looks. The truck reaches altitude on a Superlift 6-inch kit and mounts 35 x 14.50-16.5 Boggers on AE 589 wheels. The drivetrain is the stock front Dana 60 and 14-bolt mated to a Muncie SM-465 and NP-205 t-case. The diesel exhales via a dual Flowmaster exhaust system. The bumper/winch mount is custom and carries a 10,000 pound Ramsey worm drive winch.
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This '76 Chevy shortbed stepside bears only a superficial resemblance to it's original self. Dave Gwin designed and built a custom air suspension on a pair of GI deuce-and-a-half Rockwell axles. If we read his spec sheet right, he has a total of more than four feet of travel available at the flip of a switch. It mounts 425/65-22.5 Goodyears on custom 22.5 rims. The 350 smallblock is enhanced with a hot cam, intake and carb, as well as a custom exhaust. The 350 hands off to a TH-350 trans and NP-203 t-case. The Rockwells carry 6.72:1 cogs and steers from both the front and rear via hydraulics. Obviously, it has a tilt bed. The superb paint and graphics come from Randy McFarland. Just behind the cab Dave mounted a screen on the chassis and was playing monster truck DVDs for the fun and edification of the crowd.
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Trying to get a photo of Marty and Kathy Miozzi's Dodge just about required armed guards to keep people away for the few minutes needed. The compelling part of this truck is the custom made suspension. It offers 22 inches of lift on the fabbed four-link setup. The truck mounts six 49 x 21-16.5 IROKs on custom built rims. The V10 is stock but for a 3-inch dual exhaust system. No doubt when climbing into this truck, it's wise to stop halfway and get used to the altitude for a while before proceeding. This truck was a serious crowds pleaser, as evidenced by garnering a people's choice Show-n-Shine award.
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Bob Russ's '74 Datsun 620 was an eyeful just walking by, but you needed to get up close the be truly dazzled by the level of workmanship and engineering that went into it. The cantilevered coil spring setup is a work of art and features the ability to adjust the spring rate. The welding and metalwork is positively artful. The little Datsun is well endowed in the power area, fitted with a supercharged 350 with dual 4-bbl Holly carbs and Nitrous injection. The blown smallblock hands off to a built TH-350 and NP-205 that's chocked 42 degrees. From there power goes to a pair of steerable Dana 60s attached to a custom built hydraulic steering setup. The truck sits, rather Tonka-like, on a set of 44 x 18.5-15 Ground Hawgs on American Racing wheels. This truck was built to show but beyond all the purty stuff, it has some seriously creative engineering elements.
