Gary acquired the Gene Winfield pickup shortly after finishing the '34 coupe. Looking at both, it's easy to see similarities. The difference between the two is that the '35 pickup was originally built by Winfield to show off his skill-and rebuilt by Gary to reflect that. With the '34, Gary's goal was to keep it simple, and he says his biggest challenge was not to build this car as nice as the rest of the projects that come out of his shop, so that he could enjoy driving it. And that's what he does-almost every day. Since it's been finished, Gary has covered close to 30,000 miles with the coupe, with Bonneville being the longest trip from Canton, Texas, so far. But for a simple driver, this early '60s hot rod shows off some serious skill.
Gary's choice of rolling stock...
Gary's choice of rolling stock keeps the '60s thing going: '54 Olds hubcaps cover the 15-inch Wheel Vintiques steelies, rolling on 8.20x15 and 5.90x15 bias-ply whitewalls from BFGoodrich.
Gene Winfield's '35 Ford pickup...
Gene Winfield's '35 Ford pickup made its first appearance at the San Mateo Custom, Rod, and Sports Car show in January 1960. Fifty years later, almost to the day, the truck, restored to show condition by Gary Hatfield and Hatfield Restorations, was back in the limelight at the Grand National Roadster Show. See STREET RODDER's July '10 issue for the complete story. We see a lot of similar styling between the Winfield '35 pickup and Gary's '34 coupe, even though Gary finished the coupe before he bought Winfield's truck, which shows how well he nailed the early '60s look. (Photos by Chuck Vranas.)