Jerry started on this truck five months after his father passed away; he had always lived by the maxim “Never let anything go to waste.” This ‘38 Ford Pickup build embodies that principle. And to give the vintage frame a little new-school flavor, Jerry gave it something a little modern with a sizable turbocharger. The powerplant was a 12-valve, Dodge Cummins Turbodiesel mated to the stock five-speed, and the combination would be enough to roast any set of rear tires.
After Jerry tacked up the bed, he marked up the cab for a quick trim. The top was chopped and the frame had a few holes for ⅛” wall pipe for added rigidity and a bit of Road Warrior appeal.
The truck sat unattended for the next several months as Jerry scraped together a little money, but with his dad’s birthday only four months off in September, he had to hurry to piece together the project, which was proving a little more complicated than he had anticipated. After locating front wheels, front suspension, axles, and brakes, he began building the engine mounts.
The exhaust was routed through the cab and before the passenger side door, but directly beside the transmission tunnel. With the turbo on one side of the paper-thin firewall, and the exhaust piping right underneath the passenger’s feet, the interior is bound to feel a little sauna-like at the best of times. Thermotec and header wrap kept those feet from charring too much, as did a wall to insulate the exhaust from the cabin.
Then, a set of phone-dial wheels were cut to 2/3s to form seat bottoms, and conrods used as part of a very stylish seat-mounting bracket to give the interior a bit of flash. Moving forward, a set of pedals were thrown in as the firewall was being worked on. Because the pressure of the clutch and brake master had a chance of warping the extremely thin wall, supporting sheets were formed around these two interfaces.
Continuing on the interior pizzazz, an old Damascus double-barrel was brought in to form a proper hotrod shifter, and a Subaru steering column was mated to an ‘84 Suburban steering box. A group of custom gauges were set inside a piece of copper.
With the head and taillights attached, a bit of trim in the form of a Cummins badge on either flank and a rat sculpture adorning the hood, there’s plenty to appreciate on this build. After finally getting the Cummins to spit black smoke, Jerry found out the oil pump was faulty, so the engine was then entirely torn down and rebuilt with a later model vacuum pump and a larger turbocharger – because, why not?
The ol’ Ford was ready for the road, and after 200 miles of driving, two car meets and one award, the pickup needed a change of shocks to accommodate for the weight of the truck. In the process, the pedal box broke, so Jerry improved upon the then-current configuration. The replacement pieces, the LED headlights, along with the minor decorations and the savage thrust of the Cummins make for a classic truck that’s got two generous helpings of speed and style.
