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| U-TURN:
Turning a country drive into a righteous ride |
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STORY:
Matt Mansfield
PHOTOGRAPHY: Douglas Little
U-turns on the highway can be fateful. Sometimes, it is watching
in the rearview mirror a patrol car pull one with lights flashing
after passing in the other direction. Other times, it is catching
a glimpse at 100 km/h of a rare vehicle in a farmer's field
with a fresh 'for sale' sign on the windshield.
For Brad and Diane Woloshen, a country drive through Elm Creek,
Man., six years ago resulted in the latter.
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Woloshen, already having a self-preserved mint 1964 Chevelle
SS, reported having no intentions of getting another project
vehicle for their already crowded garage, when he and his wife
departed for Morden, Man., to pick up some roses in May of 1999.
While passing through Elm Creek, Woloshen spotted a 'for sale'
sign on the windshield of a battlefield green 1946 Chevrolet
Model 1300. The unexpected sighting prompted an unscheduled
u-turn for a closer inspection. "It wasn't the first time
I'd done a U-turn on the highway looking at something that caught
my attention," he joked.
With only one previous registered owner, just over 63,000 miles
on the odometer and even the original owner's manual in the
glovebox, the truck barely showed any of its 43 years. Owner
Cliff Archibald had put the 'for sale' sign on it that very
morning. By evening, Woloshen had taken it down.
Even with the truck in hand, Woloshen didn't have any grand
plans for it. "The brakes were shot, I thought I'd put
some brakes on, get a safety and drive it around," Woloshen
recalled. "But I just kept fixing one thing after another
and ended up doing a complete frame off."
The original 90 horsepower stove bolt engine only needed a new
set of valve seals and gaskets before being cleaned and painted.
Instead, four years were dedicated to the body and the interior.
Woloshen recalled a passing interest in rodding the truck, but
decided to perform a straight up restoration instead. "If
I was to do anything I would like to rod it," he said.
"But everything was so original I thought it was more valuable
original than rodded."
Sourcing parts easily from the Internet, Woloshen performed
much of the restoration work himself. The duties he outsourced,
the paint, chrome and woodwork, produced some of the truck's
showstopper qualities.
Woloshen originally had a tan and brown colour scheme scheduled
to replace the stock green. But after a trip to the Lockport
Show and Shine in 2001, where a red 1937 Chevy truck caught
the eye of Diane (the official registered owner of the 1300),
plans changed. Instead, black fenders would flank a Porsche
red body that would then envelop the oak plank bed.
The end combination has proven award-winning. The truck won
Best Stock Pick-Up in its debut at the Fabulous 50's Flashback
Weekend car show in 2004 as well as Best in Class at the 2005
World of Wheels and the Best Truck Restoration over 25 years
at the Manitoba Street Rod Association's Rodarama earlier this
year.
Having now worked on both a car and a truck, Woloshen recommended
those looking for a rewarding restoration keep their eyes open
for old tailgates. "Trucks are easier to do than cars,
you don't have the backseat and all the headliners and stuff,"
he recommended. "Restorable cars are getting harder and
harder to find but there's a pile of trucks out there. You can
take a drive out any direction in the country you'll drive by
some field with a truck sitting there. But that's going to change
soon." |
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