Excerpts reproduced with kind permission of Custom Car magazine
Garry Marshall, following a history of fast motorbikes, decided to hang up his leathers and pursue a desire he had held for many years... to own a ‘37 to ’46 Chevy pick-up truck. Garry and partner Dot didn’t want just any old truck however, they wanted one that would not only turn heads wherever they went but would challenge their hot rod peers when it came to presentation time. Having made a few unwise vehicle decisions Garry did a little homework and appointed Burnham Autos to both find and build the hot-rod truck of his dreams.
The plush Glide bench seat and door cards are all trimmed in tan leather with newly fitted biscuit coloured headlining and carpets. Behind the Banjo steering wheel, trimmed to match, and Real Steel tilt column sits a 40’s styled Dakota Digital VHX-40F dash cluster. From his own stable of vehicles Paul Burnham donated the art deco styled heater which was refurbished and colour coded to match the body colour. To keep the view as clear as the day the truck rolled off the production line, a repro wind-out screen with new tinted glass was fitted up front.
More grunt than a Rhino on heat!
Choosing a power-plant for a build such as Garrys’ is as important as choosing the colour, the wheels and well, ...just about every other detail required to create such a show winning vehicle. Now sitting astride a much modified front end set-up is a 383ci small block Chevy stroker motor, topped with MSD automatic fuel injection which now pushes out 435bhp on the dyno.
The green tint of the replacement glass can clearly be seen in this shot. The rear lights are repro originals mounted upside down.
The American Oak for the pick-up bed was cut to size by a local wood yard, and is finished off with stainless runners and bolts.
An interior that wouldn’t look out of place in a 1920’s Art Deco Rolls Royce
TORQ of the town
The Chevy rolls on staggered American Racing Torq Thrust II rims, with the front tyres weighing in at 215/60-17 and the rears at 245/60/18, all supplied by North Hants Tyres.
It’s often said that stance is everything and, thanks to a five inch rear chassis kick and air-bags all round, this pick-up has stance in abundance.
The RideTech RidePro E3 digital management system offers three programmable ride heights.
