If you consider California hot rodding’s equivalent to Mecca, then it’s not surprising a trip to pomona, CA inspired Garth and Cameron storm to construct this ode to hot rods of old.
     This father and son team out of Airdrie, AB are muscle car, drag racing fans but while at Pomona they spied the So-Cal Speed Shop built Billy Gibbons ’36 pickup (see below) and it sparked their imagination. “Oh man, that was inspiration,” says Garth.” When they returned home the pair immediately started looking for parts but they also did a lot of research.
     “I was trying to stay era correct,” says Garth. “I wanted it to be as if it was built in the ’50s or early ’60s before muscle cars hit.”
     That meant thinking like a young hot rodder would have thought back in those days.
     For one thing, you scrounged not only for affordable running gear and drivetrain, but also for metal to build the thing. “Typically there was not a lot of new metal available to those guys, especially after the war. It was very pricey.” In this project, that would lead to some interesting use of old advertising signs and license plates, but lets start with the truck’s chassis.
     While being period specific was key, so was safety, so the Storms started with a brand new custom frame to make sure everything would bolt on a square, and true structure. The front suspension is basically stock ’28-’34 with wishbones, monoleaf spring and 5” dropped axles with ’53 Ford truck hubs and ’53 Ford 1/2 ton rear differential which — in a nod to their 1/4 mile passions — hangs from a 4-link and coilover shocks. Wheels are vintage Ford products, 15x7 up front and 15x8 out back.
     With Gibbons’ truck as inspiration, they went looking for a late ’30s Ford pickup and found a ’38 Ford 2-ton flat bed delivery truck out of Three Hills, AB which supplied the cab. The company name on the doors is original. The roof was chopped six inches. In Wetaskawin, AB, the Storms found a ’37 Ford p/u that used to belong to Hobema Auto Wrecking. They kept the box and traded the rest for other parts they needed. The box was shortened 18 inches — six off the front and 12 off the back — and the bed was constructed out of some very original “scrap” metal.
     “We starting hitting antique auctions,” says Garth. “We drove almost all the way to the Saskatchewan border to attend one auction and bid on and won a couple of huge, vintage ESSO signs. “We paid $350 for the pair.” Anybody who’s seen these signs at swap meets or antique stores knows that is one heck of a good deal. The ESSO bed looks just right along with a pair of army surplus ammo boxes that house the battery and tools. Antique auctions also provided the Coke signs that act as door panels and several license plates were used to give the ’38 Ford cab a very unique transmission tunnel.
     But the scrounging doesn’t stop there. The rear bumper is a 1967 Chevy truck bumper sectioned and shortened width wise by 15 inches. The taillights are custom units. Up front, a 1934 Chevy grille  was discovered at the Spokane, WA swap meet while the’38 Ford 2-ton truck headlights were retained and grafted to the Bowtie grille. The gas tank is a 1962 Corvette unit, though it was purchased brand new.
     Deciding on what would motivate this hybrid retro rod was as easy as hanging out with a friend. In this case, the friend said “hey, are you guys looking for an engine, because I’ve got a 1967 Cadillac 429 engine lying around and you can have it.” It made sense to Garth.
     “It was common back then to go looking for Cadillac or Lincoln engines because they had a lot of torque,” he says. So, the 11:1 compression Caddy engine, which isn’t externally much different looking than the 390 Caddy engines of the late 1950s, received a custom intake manifold with 6 Holley 97 single barrel carbs (a secret, only 4 work) and a wicked pair of custom lakester-style headers with baffles. It puts out 340 hp/480 lb/ft of torque and a Caddy Turbo 400 tranny gets it back to the rear wheels. Garth says the car runs mid-14s in the quartermile. But Cameron says it’s “kind of a pain to drive.”
     “It’s got so much torque, the rear wheels are always busting loose and it’s a fairly rough ride.” He admits that’s to be expected with the mono-leaf front suspension and a set of 4::11 gears mean highway driving can strain the 429 if you push it too much.
     The end result is certainly cool and the Storms accomplished what they set out to accomplish. “We’re really happy with it,” says Cameron. “It’s cool, it has history and definitely we have plans for another one, but maybe more geared towards racing.”