Since there aren't a lot of...
Since there aren't a lot of upholstery shops near his home, Jeff found the distressed vinyl himself and not only designed the interior the way he wanted but cut the material and made the door panels before turning everything over to Tri-Tex Custom Upholstery, who sewed everything up for him. The '60s-era Jaguar steering wheel (fitted to an owner-made column) looks perfect in the hot rod, and Jeff also made the insert for the Classic Instruments gauges.
Inside the cockpit a '32 dash holds the gauge insert Jeff made for the two Classic Instrument gauges (wired up with a Centech box). He also fabbed the steering column before attaching a mid-'60s Jaguar steering wheel and he used Dynamat before the upholstery went in. Living, as Jeff says, "out in the sticks" means he has to take the upper hand in doing the upholstery in his rides. He designs them first, finds and cuts the material (in this case a vinyl that looks like distressed leather), makes everything that is needed (the bench seat as well as the door panels), then takes the whole package to Tri-Tex Custom Upholstery in Columbus, so they can sew it all up. Once that's done, he takes it home and installs it and the square-weave carpet himself. After adding the home-hewn and stained oak panels to the bed (attached with Brookville strips) and the custom spun aluminum gas tank to the bed, the truck was ready for its first drive.
We caught up with Jeff at the Goodguys Columbus Nationals, where he picked up a STREET RODDER Top 100 award for his efforts. With his last two cars both being bought by a Southern California collector, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine this car also being sold, but Jeff says it isn't going to happen. After selling off a few of his past creations he thought he'd like to keep this one and go to some local cruises and be a "normal" hot rodder. He hasn't stopped building, though, as he is finishing up a custom Model A coupe (built by Marcel De Ley and originally assembled at Boyd Coddington Hot Rods before Coddington's death in 2008) for another California customer. For us, it doesn't matter where these cars Jeff builds end up, just as long as we have a chance to view them before they disappear. Both a talented builder and subtle in his approach (think: cars from Lil' John, but with more style), Jeff is in a class by himself. We hope to see more rides coming out of Plain City in the near future and can't wait for the next one!
The pickup gets its stance...
The pickup gets its stance from the kickup Jeff added to both the front and rear of the Shadow Rods chassis. Rallye America artillery wheels, 16x5 and 16x7, are wrapped in Coker 5.00-16 and 7.00-16 tires.
When a friend didn't need...
When a friend didn't need a 327 for a Camaro he was building, Jeff picked it up and had Mike Rush of M&M Head Service in Delaware, OH, go through it by doing a mild port before the Edelbrock intake manifold and 600-cfm carb were added. The wires came from Mallory and the exhaust runs through 2-1/2-inch stainless tubes to the MagnaFlow mufflers.
Though the bedstrips came...
Though the bedstrips came from Brookville Roadsters, the oak came from the local Home Depot, which Jeff stained. Coyote Products makes custom spun aluminum gas tanks mostly for the off-road crowd, but Jeff ordered one up to fit the bed of his roadster pickup and painted it black.