Can somebody who works in a state's Fish and Game department actually call it a job? Isn't that like being an official beer taster or bikini inspector? Bill Goodnight, from Boise, Idaho, may know his way around the Gem State's grand fields and streams, but his true love is anything from the '50s with Oldsmobile plastered across it.
Having been interested in cars for the past six decades, his love for four-wheeled fun goes back to his high school days, when his brother used to campaign an AA/Gas Dragster, but it's the Olds moniker that has always loomed large in Bill's legend.
So when the opportunity to turn a Model A pickup headed toward being an altered drag car into a street-driver came up, Bill melded an Olds theme into the little Ford and came away with a unique winner.
The chassis for his ride is a Model A unit, which was first boxed and Z'd before the suspension was bolted up. Out back, a '50 Olds housing was fitted with a Ford 9-inch gear set (3.50:1), 40-inch ladder bars, and QA1 coilover shocks. A suicide-mounted '40 Ford axle, with '40 spindles, a Posies spring, and another pair of QA1 shocks went in up front, along with a custom pair of hairpins and a set of Type III VW disc brakes.
The pickup was a roller with the addition of a quartet of 16-inch Kelsey Hayes spoked wheels, with the rears being widened to 9 inches by Kelly's Custom Wheels in Fresno, California. The red-spoke wheels were wrapped in Diamondback wide whites, 175R16 for the front and P265/70R16 for the rear, and finished with Olds crest caps.
As one would expect, the engine for this type of hot rod is what most people focus on, and Bill went all-out on how it is presented. Starting with a '53 Olds 303 V-8 with mostly stock internals, Bill added a pair of Rochester AA carbs, which are mounted to an Edmunds 2x2 manifold (the carbs breathe through reproduction Edmunds Custom air cleaners made by Vintage Speed). Other engine gear includes an alternator from a Geo Metro and a four-row radiator from Vic's Custom Radiator in Bozeman, Montana.
When Bill originally had this combination set up as a runner, he had an Olds four-speed Hydra-Matic tranny bolted up, but never got it to work right, so with the help from Bendtsen Transmission Center in Ham Lake, Minnesota, which supplied him with the proper adapter plate for an Olds-to-TH350 trans, he was soon up and running.
The original '31 Ford Model A body received some attention, too, in the form of a 6-inch channel job-deep enough to cover the A frame and then some. The grille was chopped 5 inches to keep the proportions right, and the bed was shortened to 36 inches. One other trick that goes unnoticed is the '34 Ford cowl vent added to the Model A cowl. Gino's Rod Shop in Boise, Idaho, did the body and paint on the car, and Gino Raga used a cashmere '60s Dodge truck color with tons of flattener in it to get the right tone (plus buffing it with some Scotch-Brite pads helped). Bob Shaw soon followed and added the graphics in and around the pickup.
Inside the truck you won't find but the bare essentials: a seat (actually a third seat out of a '72 Dodge van, recovered with a blanket from Los Algodones, Mexico), a steering wheel (a 13-inch four-spoker from Grant with an Olds crest on the horn button), and the gauge (a '50 Olds speedo mounted in a '32 Ford roadster dash). Not much else is in there, unless you count the indoor/outdoor carpet from Home Depot.
Though it looks great to everybody who sees it, about the only change Bill says he'd like to have done to the car now that it's finished is have the cab extended for some extra legroom (which, because of the 6-inch channel, we can certainly understand).
If you're a fan of little Lakes modifieds or roadster pickups, then this ride should be right up your alley. But for Bill, it also satisfies his inner Olds freak!
For Goodnight, there is no...
For Goodnight, there is no other choice than the '53 Olds Rocket for motorvation in his Model A. Internally stock, the 303-cube V-8 is topped with an Edmunds 2x2 manifold and a pair of Rochester AA carbs capped with repop (by Vintage Speed) Edmunds Custom air cleaners. The headers are custom by Hot Rod Works in Nampa, ID, and the Olds is backed to a TH350 trans (prepped by Frank's Transmission in Boise, ID) via an adapter obtained through Bendtsen's Transmission Center.
Mexican blankets have covered...
Mexican blankets have covered many a rod interior in their day. Under the serape is a '72 Dodge van third seat which was cut down to fit the roadster pickup's confines. MAC's seatbelts keep Goodnight and a guest in place, while up front a '32 Ford roadster dash was installed before the '50 Olds gauge unit went in. A 13-inch Grant four-spoke wheel was used in conjunction with a horn button made from a clock delete plate from a '49 Olds.
Lots of little details are...
Lots of little details are found throughout the pickup, from the bomber-type nose art on the cowl (thanks to striper Bob Shaw) to the Olds crest on the hubcaps. The double-entendre found on the 10-gallon spun aluminum gas tank inside the truck bed is appropriate.