The California Hauler

I'm reminded every so often just how different people are by what they think of when they hear certain words or phrases. Most folks over 65 think of only one thing when someone says "Pearl Harbor." Those over 40 know the javascript:preview_story_session()importance the name Watergate has when talking about the United States' political history. On the other hand, kids under 30 probably don't know that Paul McCartney was once in a band before he formed Wings (and most kids under 20 probably haven't even heard of Paul McCartney).

The same can be said for words and phrases used through the decades in the automotive world. Do you remember when Ford had A Better Idea back in the '60s? When you hear "six-pack," do you think of beer or a particular Chrysler product? And if you think "302" instead of "5.0," you're probably of an age where you can look back with a certain amount of nostalgia to when performance automobiles (think large-displacement vehicles with no mention of gas mileage on the window sticker) ruled the highways.

The same kind of feelings can be generated when someone says "Gasser." Not referring to those who may have had too many refried beans for lunch or the people who use nitrous oxide for illicit purposes, Gassers are the now-extinct (save for some nostalgia events around the country) drag cars that competed alongside Fuel Altereds and Top Fuel Dragsters in the '60s.

Among the most popular Gasser body styles were the Willys (another manufacturer 30-somethings have probably never heard of). Willys, both the '33 Model 77 and the '41 coupe, were the body of choice for Gassers, and some of those cars' drivers (Big John Mazmanian, Stone, Woods & Cook, and K.S. Pittman) are nearly as famous today as they were when they campaigned in what would become known as the Gasser Wars (the early '60s, when the NHRA classes were filled with nearly-uncontrollable drag cars).

The '40 Ford then, just as now, was a highly desired vehicle, so no one would think of cutting one up for the drags in the '60s. But a '40 Willys, which was actually lighter than its Ford counterpart, was a much cheaper buy at the time (a trend that was reversed some time ago--try to find a "cheap" all-steel '41 Willys today!).

Though not as popular, but just as deadly a competitor at the track, were the '41 Willys pickups, driven by the likes of the Panella Brothers out of Stockton, California. Anybody growing up in the Midwest or Southern California during the early '60s knows the excitement that was generated by the Gasser Wars. But even the morphing of the class into the Funny Car division at NHRA events more than 30 years ago didn't deter the interest in these race cars. Nostalgia drag racing soon became popular, and now you can see some of these Gassers, both vintage and newly-constructed, compete around the country. While growing up in Ohio, Chris Ardern was a witness to the '60s-era Gasser Wars, and admired them so much that when he got older he started his own business, Active Power (Mentor, Ohio), to build and replicate those exciting Willys Gassers. And he doesn't build just the '41 coupe and the smaller Model 77 coupe either, he now also builds a '41 Willys pickup. Well, actually, he builds two different '41 Willys pickups.

Most folks know of the stubby little truck used in the Gasser Wars, but many may not be aware of a "long-door" version Chris now manufactures. And though calling the new body style a "long-door" isn't the most accurate description (the doors are five inches longer than stock, but the bed is also stretched four inches), it shouldn't be called an extended-cab either, even though the cab is extended, just not like a king cab. (Got all that?) What you do need to know is the proportions of the Ardern's long-door Willys truck are about as close to perfection as you can get.

Basically what Ardern has done is split a '41 Willys truck in two--right at the middle of the door. The front half looks to be a '41 Willys coupe, and the back half, a Willys truck. Stock regular-cab S-10s (not the extended-cab version) have a wheel- base of 108 inches, and what makes this vehicle interesting to the kit and replicar crowd is the AP body bolts on to a stock Chevy S-10 chassis without any major alterations to the frame.

KIT CAR stumbled upon Active Power's new truck body at the most recent Carlisle Kit and Import Nationals. Parked just outside the main display hall for manufacturers, Chris had quietly set up shop with his fold-up table, business cards and flyers, and a prototype truck, and answered everybody's questions. The base kit, which includes the nose (available in either a one-piece/ tilt or a four-piece/stock configuration), a truck cab with all glass (power regulators in the doors, too) in place and both doors installed, plus a steel bed with a working tailgate, comes in at around $8,995.

Coming from a kit and replicar angle, the truck was ingenious, as it worked with a contemporary chassis that was plentiful and cheap to buy. Coming from a street rodding angle, you could appreciate the vintage lines of the truck--it looked like the perfect little hot rod with just enough attitude, without going over the top.

Currently, kits from Rodster Street Rods, Kreative Rodwerks, and Red River Rod & Custom also utilize the S-10 chassis as a donor, but their vehicles are newer body styles of their own design, rather than the nearly-original look of Ardern's cars. As with Active Power, these three other companies have figured out how to make it much easier for the home kit-builder to finish one of their vehicles by having a readily available and inexpensive chassis to base their creations on.

Preceding the debut of Active Power's Willys truck at Carlisle, the three people who have anything to do with KIT CAR as a magazine, publisher Ed Zinke, advertising manager Brenda Garcia, and editor (yours truly), had been discussing what type of vehicle KIT CAR should build as a project. The idea would be to show how some of these kits and replicas go together (a bright idea for a magazine called "KIT CAR"), highlight some of the reputable companies and builders in the kit industry, and, hopefully, show KC's readers some techniques they could employ when they work on their own kit projects.

When trying to figure out what type of kit to build, it seemed every car I looked at had good reasons to build it, and the process of elimination was long and hard. Having spent some time with street rods, I was immediately drawn to the Active Power car, but I'd already had a few other cars in mind that I might want to build. They were far from any type of street rod, and each of them was very different from one another. Close runners-up were a Porsche 550 or 356, a GT-40 replica, and even a LeMans-topped 289 slabside Cobra. But it seemed that all the points I wanted to cover with a magazine build-up could be covered with the Willys, and quite possibly it could be the least expensive of the four to build. (We'll see how that prediction works out in the coming months!) So as we decided to go ahead with the Willys as a KIT CAR project, what it would ultimately look like was left entirely up to me. I've seen a lot of styles come and go while hanging out at street rod shows (remember those Gumby-green '37 Fords in the late '80s and early '90s?), but it's the classic look that seems to stay forever popular (think black '32 Ford highboy roadster with a polished flattie).

One look that has stayed consistently popular, especially in the San Francisco Bay area, was created by Tommy "The Greek" Hrones. Greek's pinstriping technique--his trademark, really--is exemplified by a thick black pinstripe between two thin white lines. Greek also added teardrops (three hash marks with the same color layout as the pinstripe) to gas lids, headlight buckets, and anything else that needed a little more emphasis. Those teardrops and that particular color layout made Tommy a pinstriping icon and an influence to many stripers to come (including Von Dutch). Sadly, Hrones passed on a few years ago, but examples of his work (amplified by the many who have copied him) can still be found everywhere in the hot rod world.

My idea for this project was to do the truck in a blood-red with simple steelie wheels, with both the truck and wheels done up with a Greek-style pinstripe. Cool, classic, and subtle. The rake would identify it as a street rod, as would some of its creature comforts (A/C and decent stereo). To help illustrate what the truck would look like, I went to the same guy who drew my California Spyder (a '29 Ford roadster done as a project for Street Rodder magazine) back in January 1996: Chip Foose. If you're a car guy and don't know about Chip's talents, then you haven't been reading car magazines or watching television for the past decade or so. As chief designer for Hot Rods by Boyds back in their heyday in the mid '90s, Chip's work extended from vehicle design to several lines of road wheels. Starting his own company (Foose Design) in 1998, Chip began turning out one after another award-winning creations, and he is currently starring in TLC's Overhaulin' TV show. (See more of Chip's work at www.chip foose.com.) We're proud to say we knew him way back when, and are equally honored when he said he'd help KIT CAR with the design of its project vehicle.

Chip and I sat down and talked a little about what I wanted for the truck, bouncing ideas off each other as to what should be done. I wanted a simple build, to not change the look of the truck too much with extreme alterations--I thought it looked good as it comes from Active Power. What doesn't come from Active Power are running boards, which Chip thought the truck needed. Also, the stock stake pockets were a bit boxy, so Chip changed them to stylish '30s-looking units (which I'll probably fabricate from steel myself). Other than those two additions, the illustration Chip came up with is exactly what I wanted out of the project: a red truck with Greek pinstriping, the stripe falling onto the steelie wheels, too. The idea is to build a truck for not much money, but hopefully, you won't know that by looking at it, as the style will come through in the details.

Over the next year, you'll see the progress made on the truck in articles in each issue of KIT CAR, from the chassis prep for the 'glass body to upholstery, and from paint to vehicle registration. With any luck, KIT CAR will debut the project, now christened The California Hauler, at the automotive industry's SEMA Show in Las Vegas in 2006. From there, expect to see it at as many kit and replicar shows around the country that we can get to. So stay tuned--this should be interesting!