Cars
February 28, 2014 2:39 PM
Bagby's Beauty
Wayne Bagby transformed this 1936 Chevy pickup from a well-used Arizona relic into this stunning pearl red street rod, consuming 8 years and countless shop hours in the process. The truck was literally rebuilt from the ground up.
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Ruth and Wayne Bagby
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Tucked neatly between the narrow frame rails is a 370 horsepower LS1 Corvette engine of 2004 vintage, complete with custom-painted engine cover and Street and Performance headers and accessory drive. Bagby cut the side panels of the hood because the engine was too beautiful to hide.
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Bagby wanted to make sure no one confused his classic Chevy truck with a Ford, so he centered a Chevrolet badge in the beautifully contoured grille. Note the nifty nerf bars he made by altering a set of Mustang bumper guards.
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The owner/builder couldn't make the original dashboard accommodate all the guages and controls he needed to use, so he artfully cut off the lower part of the dash and formed a new panel, welding it to the curved upper portion. Space was always at a premium when building the narrow-bodied Chevy pickup.
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Rick Fisher stitched the custom interior of the truck, covering a set of S-10 Blazer bucket seats in a two-tone pattern that is repeated throughout the cab. Bagby chose the seats for their thin backrests, which provide needed space in the confined interior space.
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The door panels are covered in matching materials, with the surface-mount door hinges smoothly blended in. The center `bump' accommodates electrical contacts that supply power to the door locks and electric windows.
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An overhead console was used to mount the truck's sound system; note the two-tone upholstery theme carried through on the headliner, which retains the old metal trim pieces.
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An S-10 tilt column, complete with cruise control and a modern 4-spoke wheel, is used for the top end of the steering controls.
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Auto Meter white-faced gauges with red pointers gives the driver feedback on the road. Bagby crafted his own steering column drop, installing a matching analog clock on one side and a 12-volt electrical outlet for charging cell phones on the other.
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The door handles were shaved and a set of thin teardrop mirrors added to smooth the lines of the truck, with the cab left at its original, unchopped height.
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Bagby built his own custom oak bed floor in his woodworking shop, as well as the aluminum honeycomb tonneau cover. He hand-formed his own aluminum fuel tank and installed the filler cap in the bed floor.
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All systems, from engine controls to electrical circuits are managed by a modern `fly-by-wire' computer system cleverly hidden under the driver's seat. The truck's battery rests below the passenger seat.
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To keep car show materials from sliding around, Bagby built a lightweight removable container from PVC pipe and thin paneling. It locks in place using hand-made retainers.
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An example of the kind of detail work that went into the project is the capped bed rails and smooth bed brackets and tail panel retainers, with no exposed bolts showing.
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Bagby used a set of Rally-style wheels as rollers for the chassis during the build; when he finished, they looked good enough that he added beauty rings and Corvette flipper-style hub caps and kept them on the truck. Wife Ruth says the truck would look even better with a set of old-school Cragar 5-spoke mags on it.
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Look closely at the aftermarket bed, which has been shortened 5 inches. Bagby created a new filler panel on each side behind the fenders, as well as the new tail panel and roll pan. The wide rear tires are 275/6015 Goodrich TA radials.
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Fiberglass front and rear fenders were used, with metal running boards fabricated to take into account the taper from front to rear. The rear fenders are actually 1934 Ford pieces widened 3 inches to accommodate the oversized rear wheels and tires.
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Wayne and Ruth Bagby have been dedicated street rodders for nearly 20 years, going and showing a customized '49 Chevy pickup before switching to their flawless '36 Chevy truck, completed about a year ago.
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The rear view of Bagby's vintage Chevy hauler not only shows the truck's impressive stance, but reveals the amount of work that went into building the fixed tail panel, which features frenched '41 Chevy tail lights, a rolled rear pan with recessed license plate and exhaust outlets and a thin third tail light mounted high on the panel.
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