Story by Jonathan Kohl
Photos by Moe Putney

How many times have you stopped the car to get out and look at vintage tin in a farmer’s field? We all do it. We’re on a side road (often in a hurry), and we slam on the brakes to get out and take a better look at something rusting in a field. Our significant others wait patiently as we gaze fondly and imagine what might be done with it. Where others see a rusted out hulk, we imagine a low boy sedan with a nailhead, or a sweet coupe with rows of Strombergs feeding a roaring hemi. On the prairies, we see our share of vintage cars in fields, but in farm and ranch country, we see a lot of vintage trucks. Hot rod trucks can be just as cool as anything else, so there are a lot of potential rods out there just waiting to be built.

Most of the tin we spot remains there, an untouched dream. While we usually drive off wondering if the farmer would sell, some of us actually stop and ask. If you’re Rod Bushfield, a hot rod builder, and a farmer by profession, you have an inside track on old vehicles left in fields. Bushfield drags home his fair share of vintage tin, and transforms many of our field-dreams into award winning hot rods. A well-used ’31 Ford farm truck was the inspiration for this build. Bushfield already had a tri-powered 327, and when he looked at the dented cab in his yard , he saw a full-fendered nostalgia hot rod. He ordered a set of fenders and a box and started looking at what needed to be done to the cab. The old farm truck had seen many years of faithful service, and possibly farm kids boots jumping on the cab, so many hours of bodywork were in order.

He settled on a 2.5” chop, and prepped the cab for paint. Bushfield’s paint booth is the great outdoors and this truck was painted in his yard with a spray bomb, well, multiple spray bombs of silver to be exact. It’s a process that means he needs to be vigilant and shoo away incoming bugs as it dries. A wood kit completed the cab, along with doors with fully functional windows.  When the paint dried, the vintage tin gleamed in the sunlight. This was now becoming a hot-rod, not a rusty hulk with potential.

With the bodywork out of the way, Bushfield had the TCI frame modified so he could get just the right amount of rake. He wanted a classic, no-frills interior, so he opted for bomber seats and had Steve Ottens of Old Iron Upholstery stitch black leather tuck n’ roll. Rollers Car Club member Peter Feenstra offered to help out with the bed wood. Peter is also a hot-rodder, and chose a wood with black accents to complement the truck, and finished it with a mirror-like finish. When it was time to mount the body on the frame, Bushfield invited over some friends for a barbecue to help with the heavy lifting.

The 327 didn’t need much work, so Bushfield mated it to a TH350 transmission and started tweaking the carbs. He picked up lake pipes to scavenge the exhaust, painted them black, and put baffles in to keep things down to a dull roar. He settled on frog mouths to top each of the 2 barrels, completing that classic hot rod look. After standing back and seeing that gleaming silver paint, Bushfield applied a custom tinman graphic on the overflow tank to complete the concept. Vintage rusty tin transformed to a cool, nostalgia-influenced hot-rod truck. At its first show, at the World of Wheels 2010 in Calgary, it won two awards, including best traditional vehicle.

Next time you see that rusty hulk in a field and wonder what it could be, remember there are some that get saved from the ravages of time.