Custom 1956 Peterbilt Truck - Crosbybilt

We all have ideas floatin' around in our heads about cool projects we'd love to tackle someday, and once in a while we actually make it happen.

With over 40 years of his life spent around, involved, and constructing every manner of hot rod, muscle car, and custom motorcycle, James Crosby (of James Crosby Design) has finally gotten around to just that--building something completely different. I mean who in their right mind would look at a '56 Peterbilt truck and envision a street rod? Not many I'm sure. But James saw the potential in the classic lines of an old "Pete" cab he'd spotted abandoned in a field out in Hemet, California and just couldn't get it outta his head. He eventually dragged what was a severely thrashed skeleton back to his digs in Pomona, California and got down to it, 'cuz merely thinkin' about it just wouldn't do.

To get the ball rollin' James decided to tackle the foundation for his creation first, this way he'd have an idea of how much he could slice `n' dice what was left of the Peterbilt cab to fit its custom chassis rather than the other way around.

James started with a set of framerails sourced from his pals at Total Cost Involved Engineering (a company that he does a lot of custom fabrication and R&D for, by the way) as a starting point. He knew he wanted this baby to be a pavement dragger so he sliced and diced the `rails fashioning a lightweight and extremely low-slung chassis. To this he engineered a unique cantilever front suspension system utilizing a dropped I-beam, a pair of handcrafted radius rods and a pair of Firestone air bags, Out back he did the same, fabricating yet another unique setup utilizing another pair of Firestone bags, a three-bar locating system with track bar and a Speedway Motors quick-change.

With the frame and suspension pretty much sorted out and constructed James and his friend Danny Davis began the complete disassembly and reconstruction of the Peterbilt cab while at the same time fabricating a 4130 chrome-moly roll cage that'd fit the cabs increasingly shrinking confines. Speaking of the cab, just about the only original component of the cab that was retained was its design--James and Danny handcrafted the cab you see here outa six .063 sheets of aluminum and a pile of body hammers, mallets and dollies.

Once the body was pretty much on its way to being finished James turned his attention back to the chassis, outfitting it with a quartet of huge Wilwood disc brake assemblies and a set of equally extreme Intro wheels and Bridgestone rubber. With the truck well on its way to completion James figured that as outrageous as the overall trucks design was, its powerplant should be as equally over the top. An extremely stout ZZ4 small-block Chevy fully decked with old-school Crower fuel injection, a myriad of handcrafted brackets and accessories, and host of polished aluminum goodies was backed with a T56 tranny and slid between the truck's custom framerails.

A bit more (well actually a crapload more) metal shaping and fabrication finally finished off the body and the final assembly was begun. James stressed the fact that it was only with the help of a handful of friends (Ed, Sal, Evan, Danny, Rob, and Mike) that the truck was completed in time to debut at this past SEMA show, and as you might imagine, it was quite a hit at the show.