The story of the Dream Truck , a customChevypickup , is a mix of insight , good circumstances , and the tenacious leadership of Spencer Murray . Murray , the first editor ofRod & Custommagazine , gather together and focused on a undivided project an tall regalia of the best artificer of the fifties customizing art . start with his everyday driver , a ' 50 Chevy pickup , Spence set out to produce a wild customs whose evolution could be regularly describe in the pages ofRod & Custom .
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The building of the Dream Truck was address in dozens of article , starting in the September 1953R&C. The project progressed through most every tradition proficiency in its five - class odyssey , inspire a coevals of customs duty fans .
The projection started with custom modification , perform by a who ’s who of customizers , on a factory - smart 1954 Chevy truck cab . Sam Gates chopped the top 3 - 3/8 inches and sectioned the body 5 - 1/3 inches . Neil Emory and Clay Jensen of Valley Custom finished the chop shot and section employment , and hired man - formed the beautiful splashboard . Curly Davis finished the dashboard , integrated it into the door designing , and widened the rear windowpane .
After Gene Winfield radiused the front - wheel cutouts and sectioned the strong-armer , Barris Kustom add quad headlights , scoops to the roof and hood , and front and rearward grille openings formed by mold together ' 54 Studebaker front pans .
Bob Hirohata added the decipherable front and semitransparent red rearward go - sign lights . Later , Bob Metz constitute the wild scratchbuilt slant fins . Each of these craftsmen proved built-in in the evolution of the truck .
The Dream Truck was give several mechanical upgrades with the object at urinate the motortruck execute as well as it looked . To turn down the truck , the rear outpouring perches were relocate , and an airbagsuspensionwas installed and hooked to a semi - ovate front - spring frame-up .
Most importantly , the Dream Truck was the first vehicle to receive a documented modest - stop Chevyengineswap . The new - for-‘55 V-8 would shortly become a milestone locomotive engine in the pole and tradition world .
As the project evolved , different versions and paint jobs emerged . First read in gray primer with clean scallops , the motortruck progressed to metallic lavender with Dean Jeffries - applied escallop , then to shiny white with escallop , and ultimately to metallic lime Au with a saucy burgundy red scallop purpose . Each version was enjoyed by innumerable numbers of customs duty fans as Spence campaigned the hand truck at railway car show across the United States .
This history might have been enough to cement the Dream Truck in tradition machine lore , but more was yet to come . In 1958 , atireblew on the tone arm that was tow the Dream Truck , make the iconic custom to flip end over remainder .
After the awfully damaged vehicle was trailered back to California , George Barris exhibit it – with the mangle bodywork – at car shows . presently thereafter , Spence divide it out and sell the banged up vehicle to a purchaser who never fully paid for it .
The Dream hand truck disappeared until the tardy 1970s , when , after a decade of searching , Bruce Glascock discover its wear down - out hulk in California . Bruce acquire it , and require Spence to avail him guide the regaining . After month of hard work , the Dream Truck was returned to its white paint livery and placed on the Darryl Starbird show spell .
In 1986 , Bruce sold the motortruck to custom car collector Kurt McCormick who rebuilt and modify the drivetrain and front suspension , then presented the motortruck again to the custom cable car world .
The Dream Truck has since been display at many venue across the United States , including a major ethnic presentation at the Oakland Museum and , after , at Starbird ’s Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame Museum in Afton , Oklahoma . Thanks to Bruce Glascock , Kurt McCormick , and Spence Murray , the combined exploit of the fifties ' secure customizers is well - preserved .
