Print edition: 
Gilbert Adams deserves some kind of award for sheer dogged persistence. He's not one of these guys who starts a project, gets halfway into it and then sells it off for lack of interest, funds or time.
His beautiful 1940 Ford custom pickup is testament to that. He bought it on Nov. 7, 1956, from its original owner and planned to drive it to work, letting his wife drive their brand new Pontiac. He finally finished his dream truck in May, almost 55 years after he started it.
"Joanna had gone shopping one day and when she came home, two of my high school friends had helped me disassemble the pickup, which I then channeled ... 6 inches," Adams recalled.
That was only the first of dozens of modifications to come, with one change often mandating another. The front fender openings didn't allow the wheels to steer, so at some point, Adams said, "I decided to put a DeLuxe car front clip on it and raise the fenders 2 inches, section the hood 2 inches and remove the running boards, as the doors wouldn't open if the running boards were left on."
With limited tools and work space, customizing the truck was a major challenge for Adams, but he gladly took it on.
"No one told me that it couldn't be done," he said. But other considerations intervened. "While going to night school, building a house and raising our three sons, who were buying cars, this project was set aside," he said.
In fact, a somewhat more practical vehicle, a 1940 Ford Tudor, would get Adams' attention before he could get around to finishing his truck.
He bought the car with 161,000 miles showing on the odometer from a farmer in Hutchinson in 1988. "I was going to restore it, but I decided it was too much trouble. So I decided to do it the way I would have done it when I was in high school," Adams said.
That included installing a flathead V-8 crate engine equipped with a 3/4 race cam, Offenhauser heads and intake, a Holley carburetor, electronic ignition and Fenton exhaust headers. "Things seemed to go faster after I retired and I finished the car in 2000," Adams said.
Warren Brandes overhauled that engine, while Mike Laughlin of Champion Auto Body Restoration was tasked with applying the mile-deep gloss black paint job. A gray cloth interior was stitched up by Rick Fisher of Augusta. Adams installed a Mitchell 2-speed overdrive in the car and says proudly, "I get 20 miles to the gallon."
The sedan has logged more than 36,000 miles traveling to vintage Ford V-8 tours all over the Midwest. With the car in finished form, Adams again turned his attention to the pickup project.
"In December of 2001, I purchased a TCI Stage 3 chassis and started to finish the project," he said. That involved things like extending the side spear of the pickup doors onto the modified hood, installing a set of 1950 Ford pickup bed side panels and fitting them with heavily modified 1948 Chevrolet truck fenders.
Mike Laughlin was again selected to spray the color on this '40 Ford, with the choice being a 1966 Ford Thunderbird Teal, which is complemented by cream accents, both inside and out.
Inside the pickup cab, which is about the only remaining part of the original truck, a 1940 car dash and downsized 15-inch steering wheel was installed, along with a Lokar shifter. Paul Melton, a machinist friend, helped fabricate the custom steering column.
Roger Maunz of Jim's Upholstery sewed up a fresh interior using a Ford Ranger bench seat and Cessna Citation surplus leather and carpeting. He also created the matching seamless tonneau cover that dresses up the rear of the low-slung truck.
Under the pancaked hood resides a basically stock Chevy 350 V-8, mated to a 700R4 overdrive automatic transmission that routes power back to a 9-inch Ford rear end. The truck rolls on 15-inch steel wheels with trim rings and 205-by- 75R15 wide whitewall tires from Wallace Wade.
Joanna confesses that although the truck has an automatic transmission, she prefers driving the sedan. "I like 'em pretty well stock," she said.
"It's been a long 55 years," Gilbert admits. "But I'm pretty proud of both of my cars... they're pretty unique."
And to add to the truck's usefulness as a truly roadworthy vehicle, the Adamses have created a Route 66-themed 1940s style teardrop travel trailer with matching fenders to tow behind their pickup. All in all, a very neatly matched set of vehicles and a pair of happy owners.
