Ride Of The Week 07/17/2023: Jim & Pam Thompson's 1953 Custom Chevy Pickup

WHAT IS THAT?

I unintentionally took a week off from posting #rideoftheweek because I was on the road at two consecutive all-Camaro shows: Camaro SuperFest in Michigan and Camaro Nationals in Pennsylvania. More on those when I get video edited. In the meantime we now rejoin our regularly scheduled blog post already in progress.

Sometimes a custom is so custom you can’t tell what it started out as. That’s the case with this custom pickup truck owned by Jim and Pam Thompson of Saxonburg, PA. When I saw it at the Hope Lutheran Church cruise-in in May, my exact words to them were “Now, what the hell am I looking at?”

Turns out, Jim built this for his wife starting with a 1953 Chevy Pickup. The top was chopped, and the body of the cab sectioned. Since there was no bed, he built this custom bed with integrated tonneau cover himself. “It was based on a dream truck build from Rod and Custom Magazine,” Jim says.

The appearance of the Chevy was further obscured by the use of a grille sourced from a ’47 Olds and dual headlights from a ’62 Vette that were inverted. It sits on a Chevy S-10 frame and is powered by a 350 backed by a Turbo 350 transmission.

Inside, a dash from a 1951 Chrysler Windsor was installed along with a tilt wheel, A/C and cruise control. “It sails up the road just fine,” Pam exclaimed.

The finish is Fire Thorn Red Pearl resulting in the name “Pearly Mae” hand lettered on the dash.

If you’d like your ride to be featured as a #carshowlife#rideoftheweek, send us your story and at least 6 photos to info@carshowlife.com.