Print edition: 
HUTCHINSON — Mention classic pickup trucks and the image that springs to mind will likely be something along the lines of a '57 Chevy Cameo or a "big window" '56 Ford F-100.
It's not likely that a 1957 Dodge would make the grade.
"They usually don't come up. They were actually pretty ugly," says 25-year-old Kevin Murphy. And he can talk, since he owns a 1957 Dodge pickup, his first-ever custom project.
But his truck is a head-turner, with its old-school Planet Green-and-black suede paint scheme covering a wealth of custom body touches.
He was hooked on hot rods and customs by watching TV shows like "Overhaulin' " and "Monster Garage."
Doing virtually all the work himself, Murphy transformed what was once a produce hauler into a chopped, channeled and radically lowered show-worthy truck.
"My dad had it for about 20 years before I got it," said Murphy, who attended WyoTech to learn body and paint and street rod construction. "I had just bought a '46 Ford truck when he said he was going to give the Dodge to me."
Murphy's father had transplanted a 383-cubic-inch V-8, along with matching automatic transmission, out of a 1966 Chrysler into the truck before he passed the truck on to his son.
"It was rust-free, just a few dents and dings. It was in really nice shape for an old truck from western Kansas. My dad said it used to be an old produce truck in Scott City," Murphy said.
His first major alteration involved chopping the top 3 1/2 inches at WyoTech while he was in training. It was a remarkably easy job — the trick was finding someone who could create a new, lower-profile windshield for the modified cab. "I had to ship the truck to Colorado... but the guy got it done on the first try," Murphy said.
Once the truck was back in Hutchinson, he set about getting the truck as low to the ground as he could. That involved flipping the rear axle over on the back springs and channeling the body 4 inches over the stock frame rails.
That necessitated chopping an arc out of the top of the steering wheel so the driver can see out over the hood. The resulting wheel looks like a pilot's yoke out of an airplane. In the process of smoothing out the dashboard, Murphy had also raised the steering column, "poking" it through the lower edge of the instrument panel.
He did his own upholstery, including the black "gorilla hair" headliner and, to capture the look of a '60s show truck, he upholstered the running boards.
With the box outfitted with yellow pine flooring and riding only a few inches off the pavement, Murphy decided there was no need to have a working tailgate. So he welded it shut and smoothed it out, along with the bed rails.
Although the hood appears to have been "pancaked," and the front end of the truck customized, they actually retain their stock dimensions, with carefully coordinated paint transforming the once-ugly-duckling features.
"I nicknamed it 'Big Iron,' " Murphy said. He hand painted a cartoon gunboat on the dash to underscore that point.
"I'm definitely into traditional hot rods and custom stuff," Murphy said. "I wanted it low, so I started there and went from there." In the process, he created a '57 Dodge pickup anybody can appreciate.
