Words: John Gunnell
Jerry Chenot bought his first T-bucket in 1996. It was powered by the typical small block Chevy engine. In 1999, he and his wife drove that car bucket to the very first National T-Bucket Association (now Alliance) Nationals in Branson, Mo.
“That was quite a trip,” he told Hot Rod Hotline. “We drove 1,600 miles in an open T-bucket pulling a tag trailer behind it. On the way home we encountered rain and we put the top up and snapped on the side curtains. They didn’t keep us completely dry, but this beat driving home without a top and side curtains. We were about three miles from home and my wife inquired, “Can you put a door in this hot rod? We need a door!”
In 2000, Jerry’s good friend and fabricator Dean “Wally” Wilinski discussed the re-birth of the present T-bucket. “I told Wally that my wife thought my old T-bucket was boring,” Chenot recalled. “She said there was no chrome and no shiny stuff.”
Jerry and Wally cut a door into the car’s body tub. The engine and transmission were changed from Chevy to Ford. “I decided to go with a Ford engine since it was a Ford T-bucket we were building,” Jerry explained. “Wally just happened to have a Ford 390 FE engine with a C6 Transmission that came from a ‘68 Mustang in his warehouse. We then discussed the entire drivetrain and chassis and completely built them in my shop.”
Jerry’s wife wanted a shiny car, so they began planning from the frame up. It was originally raw stainless steel. Wilinski ran into a couple of men who worked at Oconto Metal Finish, in Oconto, Wis. They said they could polish the entire frame for $400 to give the car some “bling.” A chrome front end was obtained from California Custom Roadsters. Additional bling was fabricated in Jerry’s shop. They also ordered a lot of goodies from Speedway Motors in Nebraska.
Jerry had the engine block powder-coated in an eye-catching green color. Wilinski painted the T-bucket in Jerry’s home shop. “The colors chosen by my wife were green and gold,” Chenot pointed out, “but they were not like the Green Bay Packer colors [the Chenots live close to Green Bay].” Jerry’s wife wanted the T-bucket to have flames, so Wilinski laid out the flames, masked them and sprayed them. Another friend, Jack Giachino, did the airbrush work and pinstriped the car.
“My goal was to have a unique T-bucket that stood out from all others,” Chenot emphasized. “When I went to my first car show with the new T-bucket, it was like a magnet that drew many people to look it over. What they saw was shiny, glimmering bling. For the first two years after the build was completed, we took first in every show we entered.”
In 2005, Jerry’s friend “Punkun” from the NTBA talked him into doing the Hot Rod Power Tour that began in Milwaukee, Wis. and ended in Kissimmee, Fla. He did the entire round trip in the T-bucket pulling a trailer with his gear in it. Three years later, Punkun talked Jerry doing the 2008 Hot Rod Power Tour. This time it began in Little Rock, Ark. and ended in Madison, Wis. “That time Punkun drove his T-bucket and I drove mine and pulled the trailer,” Chenot said. “During one leg, I began thinking that I needed a car with a longer body.” He couldn’t buy another hot rod, but wanted to put more legroom in the car.
In 2009, Jerry purchased a new Model T body tub and pickup truck bed from K & S Customs in Arizona. The new body was five inches longer behind the doors and two inches wider. The pickup truck bed was also two inches wider and about three inches longer. Jerry got the second to last K & S body before the company closed its doors.
Chenot’s friends Chad Kapla and Paul Vrooman helped him with a total rebuild of the T-bucket. He had the car painted by another friend, Norm Kranz, who worked in the body shop at Broadway Ford in Green Bay. “I told Norm I wanted a classic look this time around,” Chenot stressed. “I was shooting for a two-tone T-bucket. I said, ‘The bottom body color has to match the engine block color,’ because the engine was still wearing the green powder-coat and I was not about to strip that off for another color.”
Kranz went to Auto Paint Specialists in Green Bay and came up with a special green color for the bottom. He labeled it “Jerry’s Kustom Kandy Green.” According to Chenot, “There is no other car painted this hue in the entire United States!” The color has a little pearl blended into it, along with minute metal flakes. The top color is Cashmere/Sandstone from a 2014 Chrysler Town & Country minivan. The bottom color has the Cashmere/Sandstone as its base color, then three coats of Jerry’s Kustom Kandy Green and then five coats of clear. “The finish is so deep that it looks like you can put your hand straight into the paint,” Jerry said. “When the sun is out, the paint really pops!”
This time the pinstriping on the car was done by Calico Joe of Calico Hand painted Pinstriping in Neenah, Wis. “I told him I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew what I did not want,” Chenot said with a laugh. “Calico Joe knew exactly what to do. He told me the car was a classy looking T-bucket, so he was going to give it a simple, yet classic bit of striping. I do believe he knocked it out of the park.”
The interior was done by Barney Boettcher of Performance Upholstery in Mackville, Wis. “Barney gave me a catalog of interiors to look at while in his shop one day,” Chenot recalled. “I didn’t get past page two before I told him, ‘This is what I would like my interior to look like.’”
Jerry asked Barney if he could fabricate a small shelf below the dash for his cell phone and other things. That was no problem for the stitch artist, whose full-time job is making interiors for Gulfstream jets. “Barney also knocked it out of the park!” said Chenot. “I got all I asked for and then some.”
The only modifications to the chassis during this build involved lengthening the frame to accommodate the longer body tub and pickup truck bed. “I left the fabrication work and cutting and welding of metal pieces up to Wally,” Chenot admitted. “This time, I also decided to add some more goodies. I had always wanted a quick-change rear end. I finally decided exactly what I wanted and called Gary, at Corn Husker Rod and Custom in Hebron, Neb., to discuss the best type and style quick-change to use on my car.”
As the accompanying photos illustrate, the quick-change rear end and all of Jerry’s other ideas and planning resulted in a gorgeous T-bucket that caught our attention at the NEW Motorama show in Green Bay last March. It took us six months to put a story about it together, but it is an honor to be able to present Hot Rod Hotline users with this Kustom Kandy Green beauty.
Specifications
Engine: 1968 Mustang 390FE bored 30 over with Comp Cam camshaft. Gross valve lift: .530 in. Duration @ 050 (230 degrees). Edelbrock Performer aluminum heads. Ford factory Tri-Power manifold and all-new hardware inside and outside of carbs. New fuel rail with previous manifold bead blasted. Flow Kooler water pump. ACCEL breakerless Electronic Distributor. Cal Custom (original) aluminum finned valve covers. Sanderson Ford big-block headers.
Engine Builders: Baril Engine of Green Bay, Wis.
Engine Finish: Iridescent Green Powder-Coat
Transmission: C6 transmission with a 3200-rpm stall converter. Lokar 23-in. high shifter.
Radiator: Walker
Battery Kill: Hotronics Quik Flip master battery switch
Rear End: Winters Performance Champion Quick Change 3.32/5.11 gears
Steering: Unisteer half-rack-and-pinion steering side-mounted along frame rail
Steering Column: IDIDIT polished aluminum tilt column with Lecarra banjo style wheel
Shocks: QA1 Adjustable Front Shocks and Rear Coil Overs
Gauges: Auto Meter Electronic Antique Gauges
Front Tires: Diamond Back 165/80R15
Rear Tires: Diamond Back 265/75R15
Front Wheels: Polished Aluminum ET Gasser Wheels from Team III Wheels
Rear Wheels: Polished Aluminum Rocket Strike Mags from Speedway Motors
Tail Lights: 1950 Pontiac w/Blue Dots. LED cards made by Lambert Enterprises
Headlights: Guide Headlamps from Speedway Motors
Third Brake Light: 1930s light given to Jerry by his late father. Lambert Enterprises supplied the LED card
Wheelbase: 118 inches
Overall Length: 126 inches
Chassis: Shop built polished stainless-steel chassis
Body: Extended body/bed by K & S Customs. Second to last body made before they closed
Special thanks to: Dean “Wally” Wilinski, Chad Kapla, Paul Vrooman, Norm Kranz, Calico Joe, Barney of Performance Upholstery and the folks at Baril Engine. Jerry’s wife
Lisa had a big hand in the project as well. Without her support, this build might not have happened.
