Autorama, Larry and Jake's Truck

For the past 3 years my Brother In Law, Larry, his son, Jake and some very skilled people have been working on a project. It started out simple enough, get a truck from Florida and clean it for Jake to drive. Of course, Larry can get carried away at times. The Clarkston News wrote a pretty good article and rather than me rehash it, just head there and read it. Click here for the article.

I don't have the before pictures, but it was in pretty rough mechanical shape, but the frame and the body were pretty good. They worked and worked on it and now...it's done. Where better to show it off that at the Detroit Autorama? So he entered it and it was well received enough that he was on the main floor in a pretty prime location. With the entry came some passes and so we went over and spent Saturday afternoon with Larry, Terri and Jake and met some of the craftsmen that made the machine. Here' s a photo montage of Larry and Jake's 1967 Chevy Pickup.

The placard that detailed the owners, the vehicle and the category that they were competing in.


They had this made up to highlight some of the people that were involved. Very professional looking I thought.


Here's Larry and the truck.


Here's Terri on the other side of the truck. Jake, sorry man, but I totally spaced getting a shot of you with the truck. Sorry.


I took this one a bit further back. Remember, this vehicle was taken down to nothing, the frame was sent off and sand blasted and painted and the body was reworked. The mechanics were pretty much built from the ground up.


Here's one of Larry's biggest fans, Spencer, looking fresh. Note that there are no door handles on the doors. There is a remote that is used to pop the doors open.


This shot was actually taken very late in the day, note that Spencer is sitting and looking worn out. We'd actually just gotten back from taking a ride on DPM (Detroit People Mover). Spencer wanted to see the city, and DPM is a pretty good way to see downtown. (can you believe I've never taken my boys to Detroit?)


This is a close up of the riser block that they used to elevate the truck so that the mirrors showed the underside details better. That's a pretty cool job on the decal, isn't it?


This is a shot of the shroud over the radiator. There were a few different places on the truck that this level of detailing had occurred.


Underneath was not forgotten, note the chrome details.


The fuel tank was moved from behind the seat to the back and it worked pretty well.


Straight on the back, that's a totally redone oak bed and barely visible is a gas cap in the floor. Larry's goal was to minimize the external detail and chrome as much as possible, putting it all under the hoood or under the truck itself. Not the smooth top of the cab.


Can you find the light that Terri just turned on? It's in the top of the cab, look for a rectangle just above the rear window. It's totally hidden when not on. It was a show stopper that's for sure.


Here's the tailgate. Doesn't that look great!


Here's a shot of the interior. It's custom, one off, done by Paul Anderson.


The instrument cluster.


Trust me, these photo's don't do justice to the truck. The color's just not as vibrant, the chrome isn't as shiny and you can't hear the people stopping to ask about the details.

Larry and Jake, it's beautiful! Well done and while I don't know yet if you won your category, I know that it's a winner from where I stood.

Have a great day!
Pat