Inspiration, resourcefulness, chassis knowledge, an immeasurable amount of elbow grease, and a modest sum of money, is what Joe used to build his unique 1951 Ford Pickup in less than eight months. The inspiration came when Joe agreed to do the chassis for another project. “Well a friend of mine had two doors and a dash for a ’53 Studebaker and he said he was going to build a car. So I went and helped him. I went over to the shop and I built the chassis for it.” That’s when the light bulb came on in Joe’s mind. “I told my son, if he can build a car with two doors and a dash, I know I can build one with a whole cab.”
Exhibiting his resourcefulness, Joe purchased two cabs for $50. One cab was shot with decent doors, and the other cab wasn’t much better with poor doors, but it was enough for Joe to get the grinding wheel turning in February 2009.
“We got it pulled out of the woods and it was all rusted out, so we cut ten inches off the bottom,” said Joe. “Put a new floor in it. Built the chassis. Got the motor out of a boat and put in it.”
The Ford 351 Windsor marine V8 engine was bolted to a C6 automatic transmission that came out of a junkyard in Newport News, Virginia. The seats were also reclaimed from a salvage yard. Joe’s circle track chassis knowledge was obtained through the family racing business. His sons operate Creech Motorsports in Ashland, Virginia, a race car fabrication shop that is responsible for building championship winning late model chassis in several divisions. With one more race win this year, Creech Motorsports will secure their 4th consecutive season championship.
The round track racing influence is evident throughout Joe’s pickup, including the one-off chassis he built for it. The adjustable coil over shocks mounted to the custom fabricated frame mounts are noticeably different than the Mustang II IFS kits commonly used on hot rods and street rods.
“My son gave me a lot of stuff he had laying around the shop. We got a 9” floater that came out of a race car,” continued Joe. “We got truck arms suspension underneath it. We got a 291 gear I bought from Junie Donleavy which he used to run at Daytona and Talladega.”
Joe did everything on his truck except for the paint and body. That chore was traded to another gentleman, and in exchange Joe built him a chassis. Joe knew he wanted his ’51 pickup to be yellow but it had to be the right yellow.
“It’s yellow with orange pearl. The boy brought a sample to my shop. I told him I was going to paint it yellow, and he brought a sample thing over for me to look at. When I seen the yellow I said that’s it.”
Before the paint could be sprayed, Joe put the pieces in place with elbow grease.
“I took a measurement of the old truck from the center of the wheel to where the cab was because when I first started building it I thought about putting a fiberglass front end on it that’d tilt forward. But then after I got it started, after I seen that I cut so much off of it cause it was so rusted up, you couldn’t get a hood on it,” said Joe. “I went ahead then and took my measurements and set the cab the same distance back from the center of the front wheel that the stock truck was.” Joe made the bed and fenders out of 1/8” steel. “I figured I needed a little weight in the back,” Joe noted.
When asked if he was thrilled with the results, Joe replied, “I really am. It turned out better than I expected. The only thing if I were doing another one, I would just cut six inches off the bottom instead of ten, to give me a little more room for my feet.”
Joe completed this project in a little over seven months and just in time for the NSRA National Street Rod Association 5th Richmond Nationals. “Finished it and got tags on it Thursday. I drove it a couple miles up the road to make sure it would run before we come out here,” said Joe, as he stood in front of his Ford on display at the Richmond Raceway Complex.
Joe wouldn’t mind getting a few more projects like this in the shop. So far, his first attempt is a win, win, win. Joe’s happy with it. It definitely turns heads. And he didn’t break the bank to build it. “Yeah, I figure I got somewhere around $6,000 in it, and a whole lot of time,” Joe said with a modest grin.
Classics Feature – 1951 Ford Pickup Truck – Joe resides in Ashland, Virginia. Pictures were taken August 29, 2009 at Richmond Raceway Complex during the NSRA National Street Rod Association 5th Richmond Nationals in Richmond, Virginia.
That is SERIOUSLY a unique vehicle there. I like it! I give it 4 out of 5 burnouts!