1948 Chev Pick-up – Reader’s Car Of The Week

Michael Perry's '48 Chevy pick-up

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Photographers: Ben Hosking


“I’VE always liked rat rods/hot rods, but I never thought I would own one, let alone build one,” says Michael Perry.

This article on Michael’s Chevy pick-up was originally published in the January 2018 issue of Street Machine

“It all started when I drove a family friend’s (Ron Zelukovic) 1934 Ford three-window coupe and thought: ‘Man, I need to build something.’ A few weeks later, I found a ’48 Chevy cab and HQ one-tonner chassis and started from there. I had never done anything to this extent before but I dived in the deep end and went with it.

I remember hearing a saying by Peter Brock: ‘Bite off more than you can chew and then chew like hell.’ So I got the cab mounted onto the chassis and ended up changing the front sheet metal to a smaller American pick-up size front end.

The motor is an injected 5.0L rebuilt with Crow cam, lifters, valve springs and a Mace memcal, all installed with the help of my mate Jeremy Shaw. The Chevy is sitting on a set of 20-inch Detroit steel wheels out of the States; I like the smoothie look, but wanted something to fill the guards up. My wife Kim and I painted the truck over a few weeks with rust-effect paint to create the rat rod weathered look.

I fabricated the tub and running boards, and with the help of Ronnie we fabricated the tailgate. The truck is running a set of VE Commodore calipers and rotors up front with an HZ disc set-up at the rear with a 3.55 centre.

An HT bench seat fits nicely inside, re-trimmed by a mate of mine, Geoff Baker at Ol Skool Auto Trimming. The door artwork inside and out was painted by Mim.”

Photographers: Ben Hosking

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