SOLD 8/1/2008
The truck started life as an egg delivery truck. My friend Brian bought the truck from an egg farm with the dream of restoring the truck as a fun family vehicle. After years of sitting in his back yard filled to the brim with parts he began to think about giving up on his dream of seeing the truck on the road. In 1994 I spotted the truck in his back yard and began thinking about how much stereo equipment I could jam into such a vehicle. I convinced him to sell it to me and he proceeded to help me do the work! Several months later the truck was on the road.
The truck was fun to drive and fun to listen to. I have enjoyed it quite a bit for the 14 years that I owned it. It was no longer practical to have a toy vehicle that the family can't ride in. Rather than install a rear seat it was time to sell the truck to someone who would have fun with it too. I sold the truck on August 1st, 2008.
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The truck is motivated by a rebuilt Chevy four bolt 350 small block, bored .030 over, sporting cast aluminum pistons, #...882 casting heads (with a multi-angle valve job), roller tipped rockers, Edlebrock Performer RPM intake, and a 700 cfm Edlebrock carburetor. I built the engine myself and had driven it only about 2,500 miles after installing it in the truck back in 2000.
Power transmission takes place through a rebuilt Turbo-Hydromatic 400, with a shift kit. Like the engine, this transmission had only about 2,500 miles on it when I sold the truck.
After driving the truck around with 3:43 gears in it I decided that 3:14's would make it more enjoyable. When we installed the 3:14 gears in 1996 we installed all new seals and bearings.
The original front cross member was replaced in 2000 with a stock unit from a 1985 Chevy pickup. Installation required only the drilling of two additional holes, for bolting to the frame. With that the truck got power steering and power disc brakes in the front. Both additions have made the truck handle and stop quite nicely.
The front springs have had one coil removed to lower the truck. The rear has been lowered by installing new U-bolts and lowering blocks. Air bags have been installed into both the front and rear springs. The overall result is great handling and a nice look, without bottoming out or scraping on things.
The frame is in great shape. The body is in fair shape. There are no holes but it would need some attention to get the aesthetics up to the level of a show vehicle.
The interior features bucket seats from a Subaru, a custom center console, and a custom rear floor made of purple heart and ash hardwoods, inlaid with a 4'x4' piece of 3/4" Fireslate (laboratory counter top) directly over the rear axle for looks and just the right amount of counterweight for handling. The rear walls and headliner have been covered with sound absorbing foam. The foam areas could stand to be updated or replaced with new upholstery. Additional light and ventilation come from two large sunroofs installed in the roof.
The sound system features 28 speakers feed by a Blaupunkt head unit and a Sony digital EQ. It's powered by six amplifiers: four 250 watt Jensens (subwoofers), one 200 watt Sony (front stage), and a 150 watt Crown (center and rear fill). The front stage sound is provided by speaker pods mounted on the kick panels. Each one contains a 3.5" mid-range and a tweeter, dash mounted tweeters, and a 5.25" mid-range speaker mounted in the front of the console. Rear fill sound is provided by three 5.25" speakers. One is mounted in the rear of the console and two are mounted further back in the truck. Sub-bass frequencies below 150Hz are reproduced by a 6 cubic foot sub woofer enclosure containing 16 8" Bozak speakers arranged in a isobaric configuration. The overall result is great full range sound that doesn't annoy the neighbors, unless you open the windows.