What inspires your build?

[gigamanx]

I've started collecting a few truck pics I absolutely love for various reasons. It reminds me that the end is possible when I'm knee deep in dirt and rust. When staring at a garage full of rusty metal and a half worn cab, what images inspire you to keep going? I'll start...

Juanky Built 1954 Chevy 3100 (Stance and interior)




StanceWorks (Just a sweet pic)


Javiers 3100 (Patina and stance)

[wolffcub]

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ok, I'll play. What inspires my build is my Dad's trucks over his life. He's been gone since 1990 but he had an early AD in light green w/primered fenders. Sold that to get a later AD with PERFECT dark green paint and chrome - this was early 60's do it was pretty new. Then got a '59 Fleetside and finally a '66 C10. All that time we owned a purchased-new black 1955 Belair two door hardtop and since i can't afford one of those i bought a '55 big window.

It'll look like this but in a darker red:


This kind of dark red. Excuse the F*rd and ugly wheels:

[b-mac]

I feel like Wolfcub's pic is the opposite of what inspires my build...sometimes I think I hate money.

Some really cool trucks on here so far.

I lot of my inspiration comes from other builders on this site.

[mr48chev]

I've never been in it for the money since I left working in shops for living. That said I have one build on the back burner that will use up a lot of left over pieces and be sold to finance finishing the 48 the way I want it.

As far as influence, the Rod and Custom Dream truck has been an influence from the get go. Not necessarily the radical body work but the whole chopped and sectioned bit that was originally done.

I used to be a trend follower and possibly a trend leader in some respects always looking for the latest thing or thinking up things that others used the idea from and often did a lot better job than I did with it. I was so bent on incorporating the latest trends or latest trinkets that I got burned out because what ever I had was outdated a couple of months later. I parked the truck and went sailing for several years immersing my self in my sailboat where you don't worry about who has the latest trinkets for show and tell and with my boat group there is no competition as to who has the nicest, most expensive, biggest or what not boat. I have the smallest one in the group outside of the dingys with sails that a number of guys have with bigger boats.

Poking around the net a few years ago I found a group of folks who were into the old traditional builds of rods and customs and having your ride look like the ones that were in the little rod magazines that I grew up with was the in thing in the group. Also no one gave a rip for having to have the latest and greatest thing that the parts and wheel purveyors came out with and if your car or truck looked just like it did last year or five years ago that was fine. That probably had the biggest influence in my getting enthused and back into working on and gathering pieces for the truck and it is taking on a whole different direction. It might even get finished this time around .

[wolffcub]

Making money from a build is not what drives me as that is not what I do. It's having the money that I can scrounge up here and there that drives me to work on it.

[HUSSEY]

These guys build some awesome trucks and have inspired me...

http://stonerspeedshop.com/builds/

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by HUSSEY

These guys build some awesome trucks and have inspired me...

http://stonerspeedshop.com/builds/

Ok, I like their builds but don't they put a paint job on ANYthing?!😄

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by HUSSEY

These guys build some awesome trucks and have inspired me...

http://stonerspeedshop.com/builds/

Ok, I like their builds but don't they put a paint job on ANYthing?!😄

[mdpaulson1]

this forum and the support I have found here has inspired me to finish my truck and drive it. I drove my truck when I was 9 years old in a hay field on my Uncle's farm. I then purchased it from him when I was 15 in 1972 for the tidy sum of 200 dollars. Drove it until I was 22 and then parked it, started working on it off and on several times but never could finish it. Put it back on the road 2 years ago. first picture is last time I towed it and second pic was first time I drove it again after 36+- years. Its never about the money, It's always about
the memories

[xabichin67]

Subscribed

[MARTINSR]

Harley Earl.

[oldman3]

A drawing my son Mark (reaper71) drew back in 1991, was to be a father/son project, got the truck, then he decided to move to Vegas, and 5 yrs later I moved back home to Missouri, and built the truck...Jim

[1project2many]

That ^^^ is very cool.

The restoration of mine was inspired by rain. At the time it was unrestored, driving me around MT to various ranches where I'd work at side jobs. The truck was living the life it had always lived as a work truck. One evening when I'd stayed late at work it had started to rain. When I came outside the water was hiding the oxidized paint and allowing the turquoise to come through with a nice gloss. I realized right then the truck would really look nice in its original colors. The next day, much to my co-worker's amusement, I painted the wheels gray and installed a shiny new set of baby moons. I drove it around for another two years all beat up but sporting nice wheels and a set of shiny hub caps before the restoration got started.

[59chev]

I've bought every issue of Classic Trucks Magazine for the past 20 years or so. This truck showed up in a tech article about 12 years ago. The stance, old school/stock interior, 5 spokes and narrow whitewalls have stuck with me ever since. Many other trucks since have inspired specific elements of my build but this is the one I keep coming back to for the overall look.

[vintovka]

Old Age approaching

[whitedog76]

The challenge to be UNIQUE.

I fell in love with AD trucks while working with my grandfather, who was a scrapper. He did unimaginable things with his 53. I also spent a good deal of my youth riding in my father's service trucks. It further reinforced my love of 3/4 and 1 ton trucks.

With that being said, I am not my father or grandfather. My wants and needs are different than theirs.

In the hot rod world, it's next to impossible to build something 100 percent unique, especially when dealing with a 60 plus year old truck. I try to take bits and pieces of things I like and put my own spin on it.

[handyhands]

For me, I go to as many car cruises as I can. Yes, I know I'm giving up a lot of gear wrenching time there. But it something my brother and I do(and wife). Watch Ad truck videos on youtube.

[gigamanx]

Awesome stories on the thread, thanks everyone! I don't have any tie to the classic trucks, but I wish I had some cool story attached to it. Basically, I looked up the history of pickups and stopped when I found the AD trucks

Originally Posted by HUSSEY

These guys build some awesome trucks and have inspired me...

http://stonerspeedshop.com/builds/

Wow, those are awesome. I liked going through the builds just to see what different stances you can get depending on wheel/tire combos. Also saw the bad news that I may not get as much bed as I wanted when I'm done. I guess I have to keep working on minimizing the rear suspension and equipment. I want to be on the ground, but not if it sacrifices a functional bed.

I wonder if they'd mind me asking about the wheel tire combos they are using. Tough to get those details from pictures



Pin striping on the dash is a super cool addition

[svr]

It was in my blood a long time ago, was about 11 (early '60's) learning to drive dads '41 around the farm, a friend of dads had a '39 with a broken driveline, said if I came over and work for him for a week it was mine. Dont remember how we got it home but i used dads old Motors manual to take the rear end apart and scared up a new driveline in the wrecking yard for a few bucks. Got it put back together, learned to take apart the carb and clean it out and actually got it to run, kinda. Never had any brakes, so learned early how to drive with no brakes, broke the driveline again and parked it on blocks with the rear end all apart and there it sat for years. Went through a few tri five chevys through highschool and college. Wife and kids and life came along and hotrod car thoughts all went far into the dead zone in my mind. Dad stole the motor out of my '39 for his old feed truck and sometime gave the carcus to a neighbor who collected junk. Kids grown and gone I took up Harley's, rideing fixing building from scratch. Was doing fine with that until my son called one day saying a friend of his had a '57 3100 basket case he had been working on and had decided he wanted to part with it, and would I like to take a look at it, sure enough it wasnt to bad. Went home and thought about it, looked at a lot of pics, made the deal and the old hotrod mind came alive again. Been out of it so long its taking the old guy awhile to get back up to speed, love the shop time, hope the old body hang in there so I get to drive it. Know where my '39 is, guy died and his wife wont part with any of his collection, gotta keep working on getting that one back

[iowaboynca]

The fantasy of driving it to work...dropping of the kids at school...the guy in town that has "that truck"...

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by iowaboynca

The fantasy of driving it to work...dropping of the kids at school...the guy in town that has "that truck"...

That's a damn good one! I live in a town of 235K and you can't believe how people know my car.




Brian

[my56chevytruck]

my inspiration was to start with a 56 truck that needed to be ungraded to a running functional vehicle. And to know that I've done the work.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by iowaboynca

The fantasy of driving it to work...dropping of the kids at school...the guy in town that has "that truck"...

There is certainly an element of ego going into the build. I wouldn't mind being that guy that lets out the air bags to drops the girls off to school and all the high school kids think...damn, your dad is cool.

[47 Fasttoys]

" I wouldn't mind being that guy that lets out the air bags to drops the girls off to school and all the high school kids think...damn, your dad is cool."
"the guy in town that has "that truck"

Yep, it's an ego thing. In my town, I am that guy.

For me it is the craftsmanship of the build. I enjoy the engineering involved in updating old U.S. steel into something that can be driven across the country at a moments notice, driven to work daily and still look cool in the progress. When you build one from the ground up or do a bunch of major upgrades there is a sense of satisfaction which can't be bought.

Rob