<\/span>Melbourne-based Ross Simpson took 18 years to turn his father\u2019s 1970 Toyota Crown into a one-of-a-kind, tyre-creasing pull truck. Ross\u2019s dad, Ralph was a Valiant man back in the 1960s and fond of towing a caravan. So when he was looking to trade up in 1970 the family first took a punt on Toyota by trading Mum, Ava\u2019s EH wagon on a Crown wagon. Mum and Dad were impressed, so Ralph looked at moving into a Crown sedan himself.<\/p>\nThe deal with the salesman at Eastside Chrysler in Nunawading was that the Crown had needed to be able to tow the family caravan up Wheeler\u2019s Hill in Melbourne\u2019s east. Needless to say it did and Ralph\u2019s old Val was history. Ross got his driver\u2019s licence in the Crown as a young fella. And when his parents moved to Queensland in 1983, Ross was handed the keys to the Crown.<\/p>\n
Unusual vehicle choices are encouraged in the wheel standing truck class, as it\u2019s something of a crowd favourite. Australia\u2019s tractor pulling governing body, the ATPA gave Ross\u2019s idea the thumbs up. Work began and the Crown\u2019s body was taken back to bare metal. Underneath, a whole new world of chassis modification and strengthening took shape. The journey from caravan-hauler to sled-hauler was a long and arduous one, but the end result is a very unique pull truck indeed.<\/p>\n Under the bonnet lies a 700hp 427ci small-block Chev, which is unusual in this big block-dominated class. Fuel delivery is via a sprintcar-style injection system and the 427 is running a pretty hefty 14.5:1 compression ratio.<\/p>\n Vehicles in the truck class have the sled hitch located above the back wheels. As a result they often roar down the track with the front wheels in the air.<\/p>\n The result of all this is a dirt-slinging unique sled-puller that certainly sounds the biz in full flight. \u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge,\u201d says Ross with a wry grin, \u201cand a learning curve for all of us.\u201d Dad would be proud!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A venerable Toyota Crown undergoes an amazing transformation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":5382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[561,639,806,2047,2266,2267],"coauthors":[2051],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/big-block-toyota-crown-tractor-pull-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5381"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/span>The Toyota didn\u2019t stay stock for long; a 283 Chev small block found its way into the engine bay with a Turbo 350 trans, a 9-inch rear and four-wheel discs. Which was awesome for about a decade until a roadside check by the wallopers revealed that the car wasn\u2019t engineered. It ended up sitting idle in the shed, it\u2019s road going days behind it until Ross came up with the idea of turning into a pull truck.<\/p>\n
<\/span>The Aussie 2WD truck class is home to big-dollar purpose-built bangers imported from the US as well as a few homegrown heroes. But, in what is a uniquely Australian set-up, the Crown runs a bus diff with planetary gears, an overdrive Road Ranger truck gearbox and a Powerglide.<\/p>\n
<\/span>All of which adds up to a healthy 636lb-ft of twisty force \u2013 important when your main mission in life is to haul heavy things!<\/p>\n
<\/span>Ross has added 300kg to the front of the Crown to make it a little easier to take it down the track in a straight line.<\/p>\n