A 48 Chevy Truck That Drives As Good As It Looks

Here in Eastwood country, (Pottstown, Pa. to those not familiar) we have a great classic car community. Because of that, the sound of rumbling exhausts is common to hear echo through the building as they park out front of our retail store. One of our regulars is Bob F. He used to run a repair shop in the area many years ago and has had a ton of experience restoring classic cars and trucks. In fact Bob even had his hands on a vintage Eastwood delivery van we had at our old headquarters many years ago!

Bob’s latest creation is fresh back from SEMA 2011. That’s right, Bob and his wife took his 1948 Chevy 1/2 ton truck the 2,000+ mile trip to SEMA this year, and it performed perfectly! This says a lot about Bob’s builds, I can’t say I could do that with any of my projects completely stress free!

This truck is able to cruise those distances partially because of his drivetrain choice. With a Chevy 383 mated to a 400 turbo transmission with a Ford 9″ rear with 370 posi, Bob is able to keep up with traffic and get pretty decent fuel mileage on the highway. Of course when he needs to “get-up and go” the engine really opens up and moves this truck!

With age, comes the need for creature comforts. Sure when we were all younger it was cool to have an obnoxiously loud rod with no windows, no heat, and solid suspension, but as the years go on, it takes a toll on you and you’ll find the need for a handful of comforts when making drives like Bob and his wife did! He started with adding the normal comforts that we all take for granted on modern cars, power steering, power brakes and even A/C. But then he went one step further and added cruise control. It’s no wonder Bob loves doing these long cruises! I can say that all of this was added in a non-obtrusive manner and didn’t scream “Gadgets!!” like some other classic vehicles kitted out with modern accessories like he added.

There are loads of subtle mods performed to this truck. Some of which were so well done, you could tell “something” had been done, but hard to put your finger on what exactly it was that he did to make it look so “right”. A few of the highlights for me was changing the front glass to the later single piece windshield and even some of the sheet metal on the front end. Bob also did some chopping of the body/running boards to get the truck looking proper when at ride height. Lastly, my favorite mod was the body trim that Bob fashioned out of brass stock, then had chromed. He drilled, tapped, and added studs to the backside of the trim to secure it to the cab and finish out the OE+ look that he has so expertly done on this truck.

We want to thank Bob for bringing his truck by, and we are glad our products could help bring this truck to the level that it is now at! Keep up the good work Bob, can’t wait to see what you turn out next.