A Witch's Brew

Certain cars have a certain provenance. The story of Paul Brewer and his pickup: "I was 10 years old in 1960 when my family and I attended a custom car show at a local amusement park. Of all the cars on display, a little red chopped and channeled '34 Ford pickup was my favorite. It had a Thunderbird engine with three deuces, straight pipes, drag slicks, whitewalls, and Moon discs. It was the baddest car I'd ever seen. I fell in love with that little truck and saw it at several more shows--all the time wishing it were mine."

In 1966 he heard the truck was for sale...for $650. "'Wow! This is it,' I said. I had a job and I had the cash," Paul told us. Six-fifty or not, that was a lot of bread for an old Ford at the time, so Paul called on one of his older brothers to accompany him for an inspection.

Understandably, "sage" older brothers don't cotton to 32-year-old Fords--especially straight-piped, chopped, and channeled ones. "He had nothing good to say about it," Paul said. The "insults" certainly offended the owner, who also conceded that the young Paul shouldn't have the car. It soon sold, but despite Paul's tracking efforts, the truck never turned up again. It was gone...forever.

However, Paul's dream never disappeared. "In 1983, 24 years after I first saw the little red pickup at the car show, I bought a cab and some parts thinking I could build one to closely resemble it," Paul said. After two decades of collecting parts and after countless hours of labor, this is Paul Hamilton's dream hot rod...

He patched the $100 body and fabricated a new steel floor for it 6 inches higher than stock. He took another 5 inches out of the cab's back pillars and 5 1/2 inches out of the windshield posts to boot. He then fabricated a 1/4-inch aluminum firewall and laminated a slice of polished 22-gauge stainless to it.

Good friend Tom Pekel donated a set of '34 commercial rails to the project. Paul fabricated fresh frame horns and installed a Model A front crossmember. He then narrowed the rear rails 9 inches behind the cab to match the Model A bed.

Paul purchased the bed in pieces from Brookville Roadster and fabricated the all-steel floor for it. For the vestigial front wings, he bobbed a set of '34 Ford fenders and beaded them with 3/16-inch steel tubing.

He fabricated a new grille shell bottom for the passenger car grille and cut 4 1/2 inches out of its height. For the radiator itself, he purchased a core from Lovelace Radiator and built a completely new radiator using the stock radiator's tanks and brackets. Paul cut and bent 5/8-inch steel stock and mated it to the '34 headlight bar. It, in turn, mounts swap meet-found sealed-beam headlights.

Friend Tom Pagliamento scared up the block, rods, crankshaft, and pistons. Tom also offered the Offenhauser intake with the carbs, original T-bird valve covers, and the aluminum flywheel. Another friend, Larry Cupp, ponied up the ECZ-G heads that Joe Westrick reworked. Smith's Speed Shop in Eaton, Ohio, performed the other machine work. Paul buttoned the mill together with an unknown-spec, yet wild sounding Crane cam he found. Legendary ignition tuner Tom Cirello prepped the Vertex magneto to fire off the beat. The staccato pops and snarls through 1 7/8-inch headers Paul fabricated out of 1/4-inch stainless plate and Speedway Motors' polished stainless tubing. Samson motorcycle baffles crammed in the pipes somewhat stifle the Y-block's bark.

Paul used a '48 Ford pickup trans for its open drive and top shifter. Paul himself cut 10 inches from a '77 Ford pickup 9-inch rearend while Bill's Rod Shop in Dayton resplined its 31-spline axles. For rolling stock, Paul used '47 Mercury wheels with 5.90-15 BFGoodrich Silvertowns up front. Out back he widened two more Merc wheels to 7 1/2 inches. Those sport 8.50-inch Radir drag slicks. All four wear Moon caps.

With everything pretty much tip-top, Paul fabricated the interior panels from fiberboard and sent them over to Greg at Stevens Auto Tops. Greg covered everything in Icelandic white Naugahyde with black pleats. Greg also made the bed's black canvas tonneau cover.

Once Paul and his brother Charlie "Chop Top" Brewer finished all the body and prep work, Paul shot the whole assembly in PPG/Ditzler GM Torch Red lacquer. Paul treated the running gear to the same pigment.

Paul Brewer built his pickup as if the hot rod hobby never grew beyond the '60s: he modified, fabricated, and built everything himself. Along the way, he enlisted friends and family, a machine shop, a legendary magneto tuner, and a local trimmer. We're sure there's a story to tell from each step. Even though he was deprived ownership of the hot rod of his dreams, we'd say Paul's better off; the one he created from the kernel of a memory surely outclasses its template. The fit and finish: impeccable. Its only shortcoming: it's almost too damn nice--and we love it all the more for it.