Words: Tommy Parry

The motivation for Dewey’s ambitious build came in the form of a small drawing:

It’s amazing what a condensed snout and brawny haunches can do for inspiration. Poised like a charging bull, this stylized cartoon rendering gave Dewey the gusto to get his project to the point where it could lay black stripes on the blacktop.

A consummate metalworker, Dewey also wanted to build a machine completely from scratch, something he’d never tried before. Sure, he’d put together a partially-assembled roadster a decade prior, but he wanted to go all out and craft something with a sumptuous interior and a hand-shaped exterior. Despite his experience with car building, this would require him to bound into unknown territory.

Dewey started by searching for a suitable donor, and went ahead with an affordable 1979 Ford F-100 as a donor truck. With just $150 donated to the cause at this point, he scored a humble Dana 44 as well as a 302 with a Comp 286h cam, Ford E7 heads, an Edelbrock Performer intake, an Edelbrock 600cfm carb and flat top pistons for a mild performance boost. Additionally, he snagged a 3-speed transmission, twin I-beam front suspension, a new steering column, wiring and an assortment of other odds and ends to make this collection of parts jive together smoothly. Though some of the pieces were come upon cheaply, the quality of parts was paramount – Dewey wanted this build to be the ideal hot rod.

Soon thereafter, Dewey started fabbing a basic ladder-type frame from 2×3”, ⅛” wall rectangular tubing. The frame would feature a new twin I-beam suspension setup up front, as opposed to a traditional straight axle or a Mustang II-type front end.

First, he built brackets for the four-bar positioning arms and the leaf springs to ride upon. Next, Dewey fabricated rear mounts for the four-bar system and installed the bars, which use heim joint ends.

Though Dewey intended the car to run on his own homemade leaf springs initially, he repented and found that the package would ride better on a set of handcrafted roller bearings, which made the ride quality close to that of a Bentley. With a four-link, quarter-elliptical springs, Pete’s and Jake’s shorty shocks and a rear panhard bar, Dewey had all the stability for which he could hope.

With motor mounts made from 2×3” tubing and transmission mounts made from 1×2” tubing, Dewey had a rolling chassis of which he could approve.

Now, the best bit of build would require a great deal of ingenuity – Dewey would take on the task of of building the body out of rectangular tubing before draping it in 19-gauge sheet metal. With a window frame and some added tubing for the windshield and firewall hoop, he had his complete skeleton.

With hundreds of clamps, Dewey started molding and welding the sheet metal skin to cover the skeleton. Curving the bodywork was a crude but effective process – Dewey simply took a mallet and a 4” piece of PVC tube and hammered away. Before he welded the sheet metal which would cover the cowl, he fabricated the clutch and brake pedals, as well as the steering columns to minimize the headache.

At this point, Dewey had a sense of the car’s finished appearance and was not totally happy with the look. So, he decided the car needed a pickup bed, some fenders and the hint of running boards for some more pizazz. For the bed, he built another skeleton, draped on some sheet metal skin and attached a set of wings made from round tubing.

Dewey then welded two trailer fenders together and cut some sheet metal to fit around the truck’s body. For a little flair and a softer transition from the fenders to the body, Dewey fabbed up some truncated running boards.

Next, Dewey set off on another chapter of this lengthy project: prepping and coating the frame. After sanding down all of the beautiful welds, he dashed it with primer and a coat of Firethorn Red Pearl. After three shots of clear and a few hours buffing, he had a real gem of a frame. Shame it would be hidden away under all that bodywork.

Knowing full-well how valuable – critical, really – good preparation is to paint work, Dewey took the same fastidious approach to getting the body right for a coat of color. After applying numerous layers of body filler and block sanding them to perfection, he was ready to apply a coat of high-fill polyester primer.

Next, Dewey took on an aspect of car building with which he hadn’t any experience prior to this. After insulating the cabin, he laid down his fabric and installed a pair of hand-made aluminum inserts on the door cards. The seats started life as old Subaru Legacy buckets, but he covered them in the same fabric he used to line the rest of the cabin, albeit with a rolled and pleated section.

And with that, he’d finished his build. It took him 3 years and 6,000 hours to complete, but it shows. Not only was he willing to take steps in new directions and familiarize himself with some of the more intricate aspects of coach building, he’d done it all at a ripe age. For a man half his age, this sort of accomplishment would merit some recognition and praise, but at 70 years old, Dewey deserves a medal.