Regina may be known for a lot of things, like Canada’s Mounted Police training facilities, it’s long, hot summer days, its agricultural heritage, and beautiful sunsets, but here’s another for the list- Regina’s hot rod culture.
     You see it a little bit here and there, as you do in every city. From late models with big wheels, and lots of ponies, to slammin’ ‘50’s rides, to chopped up pieces of 30’s tin like this rat.
     This ratty shop truck is the brain-child and baby of Regina, Saskatchewan’s, Jason MacPherson.  When asked what drew him to building a rat rod Jason replied, “I just really like the look, and I knew it would be a quick build.”
     Those factors way in huge for anyone and I myself want to build one in the future. Ahhh, I can already see the undivided attention I could get cruising the strip in something so mean, but so cool. So bare, but containing all that’s really needed. But, that comes along with unwanted attention, too, and having to insure these beasts as “fair-weather friends”. Oh, well, some play time is better than none. That’s what summers are for, right?
     After a year’s worth of searching, he found this ’37 Chevy while at a family function out at his uncle’s farm. I had never met Jason until this May, but it turns out we have the same uncle, because his auntie married my uncle. It’s a small world and you never know who you might be related to.
     In conversation with our uncle he found out that there was a prospective project sitting out in the farm’s “boneyard”. Sometimes what you want is easier to find than you may think.
     Jason owns a wheel repair shop in Regina called “The Complete Wheel Shop”. He’s been in business for 3 years straightening, refinishing, and selling wheels. “Pot holes can cause a lot of damage, as well as curbs”, says Jason and he’s found a good way to make some money from this problem.
         So, this project found its way into Jason’s shop where he began the build process, chopping 5 1/2” out of the roof and shortening the box 22”.
       The chassis really stands out on this build. From the cab back the original frame was boxed. Major adjustments were made from the back of the cab up ‘z’ing the frame 9” and dropping the cab onto 2” by 3” tubing which was all powder-coated.  Influences from TV and magazines inspired him to build his own radius arms and add a twist by turning the square tubing on edge. Kind of like that knew idea that Shreddies had to sell more product by promoting them as “new diamond shaped” Shreddies. A little twist goes a long way. Jason punched holes in the rear radius rods and put tubing in them for the Swiss-cheese effect. Friction shocks were also used to keep with the clean and basic theme of the truck.
     Speedway Motors supplied the 4” drop super bellaxle, and the disk brakes. Jason bought the headlights new and had them lying around for sometime waiting for a place to call home. Where they came from, he can’t remember, but they are home now.
     A ’77 Cadillac Coupe Deville had to give up the ghost so that this project could live. This worked well because as Jason said, he “needed something big enough to fill the hole”. The 425 ci heart does just that with an Edelbrock carb and 50’s Caddy repro air cleaner, while the th400 tranny and Caddy diff finish things off.
     I had to ask Jason how much horsepower this beast runs and he figures “maybe 180ish”. But I don’t think that was his main goal because building this thing cheap was in the back of Jason’s mind all along. Besides, it isn’t exactly a heavy truck and that bit of power would be enough to motivate this rat to be some fun.
     The Bridgestone Silvertown radial wide whites were attained from the Old Car Center in Langley, BC. The wheels are chrome smoothies, 15x7 in the back and 15x5 in the front.
     A few other points worth mentioning are the custom gussets cut by Jason’s friends in a laser cutting and water jetting business; the spun aluminum fuel tank in the bed; the stretched metal laid over the floor of the bed; and the ’59 Caddy taillights.
     The build took just 8 short months starting in September of ’07 and being finished in April of ’08. Not bad for a build which had the majority of its work done by one man.
     What other creations has Jason made or have on the go, you ask? Well, behind his shop is a custom painted ‘62 Ford Falcon wagon that’s looking pretty slick. It sports a 3.8 litre supercharged V6 from a ’92 Thunderbird, an aod tranny and an 8” rear. He custom cut the bumpers and the grille and mixed the custom green paint himself and sprayed it at his shop. Jason is currently sectioning and chopping a ’36 Chevy 2 door sedan, but right now he plans on laying some paint on that skin and not ratting it out.
    Jason said he would like to thank “Kevin Bell, Matt Folk, David Stainbrook at Hitech; Martin Bursic for coming up with the old school logo and helping paint it on the doors; and Fred Gotsleig at Hydro designs...and the guys at work for putting up with my project being in the way at work all the time.” But it was worth it, wasn’t it guys?
     The dude’s got talent and I expect we’ll see lot’s more from him in the future.

Story by Britton Ledingham
Photos by owner
(This car has since been sold and has a new owner)