1940 Ford Pickup – A Different Point Of View

When given a blank canvas to work with, most artists will try and fill it. The trick is to use only as much material as you might need to in order to get the idea across. But just because you have X amount of space doesn't necessarily mean you have to address every square inch, and that's a much harder thing to do than just throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it!

Not everyone understands that balance between “too much” and “just right,” as it takes a good eye, and luckily Rich Boyd has two of them! If the name sounds familiar, readers of Custom Classic Trucks will remember Boyd was the editor, and later also helmed The World of RODS magazine. Mixing publishing with hot rodding all his life, Rich was also on staff at both STREET RODDER and Rod & Custom magazines for some time.

But in 1961, when he was a 15-year-old living in Arizona, he showed promise in understanding automotive design as he entered the Fisher Body Craftsman Guild model car building contest. He won several Arizona state awards and enough money to not only purchase his first car but the insurance for it as well.

After a stint with the armed services (he was with both the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne, serving in Vietnam in the late '60s) he settled in Southern California's Long Beach area and studied at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles before he started his career in publishing. And it was while he was employed at Rod & Custom back in 1999 when he first learned of a basket case 1940 Ford pickup for sale. It had a rusty cab, rear fenders, runningboards, a hood, and front fenders off a passenger car (which Rich soon learned would not fit the same year truck). Rich says it looked like someone had dragged it in from the desert, and it was covered with gray rattle-can primer.

Over the next dozen years, the truck was built and rebuilt again, often providing a source for how-to articles in various magazines, but never making it to “driver” status. Among the first articles was about repairing rusty doors, as Rich had found pinholes in the door seams from the newspaper (from the '50s) that had been crammed into the bottom of the door and collected moisture. Hidden hinges from Hagan were also installed, and the dash was filled, mostly because it looked like someone had gone after it with a hacksaw, leaving huge holes. It now sports five analog Classic Instruments gauges (finished with Stewart Warner Wings logos), along with a 2-inch lower panel that houses the Vintage Air A/C controls and vents.

Rich's buddy, Tony Sanchez, did the work on the doors, which also included replacing the bottom 10 inches with new sheetmetal. Another talented metalman, Art Barker, restored the cab's double-wall back corners with panels from EMS, and also filled in the cowl vent and rolled the driprails.

Howard Kaye of Chubby Chassis was the first to work on the pickup's suspension, installing an IFS and transmission plates for an AOD trans. The shop also installed a new Bitchin' Products recessed firewall (5 inches) and a complete floorboard. That original frame also had a slight bend to it, and was totally replaced in 2011 when Jim Daleo assembled the truck on a Total Cost Involved Engineering chassis that featured IFS, vented brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, parallel leaf springs out back, and antisway bars both fore and aft.

Many years ago Rich bought a Ford Windsor block from a friend, and it was built into a stout 418. George Ulrich at Speed-O-Motive in West Covina, California, machined the 351 block and assembled the stroker with all forged parts (H-beam rods, rotating assembly, and J&E pistons), a balanced damper, high-volume oil pump, steel main caps, and a Milodon deep-sump oil pan.

A single 750-cfm Edelbrock carb atop a Weiand dual-plane manifold feeds the motor, which is equipped with billet roller rockers from COMP Cams, a Vintage Air FrontRunner belt system, Sanderson headers, and a radiator from U.S. Radiator. The V-8 backs to a programmable 4R70W transmission (out of a Ford Explorer) with a CompuShift brain.

Once the chassis and drivetrain were finished and the bodywork completed, the truck was ready for paint and, when thinking of a color for the pickup, Rich wanted to give tribute to a friend and mentor who ran Lakenor Auto Salvage, Orv Elgie. Elgie is not only well-known in SoCal for the clean rides he builds, but also the colors he chooses for them, which are typically in the tan and gray scales. With that in mind, Rich chose PPG's Folkstone Gray paint, which has a little of both tan and gray.

Inside the cab Tony Ceja out of Wilmington, California, used a combination of Mercedes leather and vinyl to cover the door and kick panels as well as the Glide Engineering bench seat while BMW carpet went in below. The cab's glass came from Mike Cox and Rick Paul, and the windows are controlled with Specialty Power Window gear and Hotronics switches, with wiring installed by Jeffery Huntoon using an American Autowire harness.

One of the most important decisions one can make when building a vehicle is which wheels to run on it, as it helps identify the theme behind the truck's appearance. When work began on the truck all those years ago, Rich got a set of Halibrand five-spokes (14×5 and 15×9) from the wheel company's owner, Richard LeJuerrne, on the condition he wouldn't sell the pickup before the project was finished. That's an easy condition to agree to when you are starting a project, but very difficult as both the project and life, with all its ups and downs, rolls on for the next 15 years.

After owning the parts for more than 16 years, Rich has enjoyed driving the finished vehicle (he's got 2,400 miles on it), and it's become intertwined in Rich's life. Now an award-winning painter of western heritage art, he still devotes time to his hot rods, and he's also been a longtime member of and an official in the L.A. Roadsters Car Club. Looking back, Rich knows he might have been better off buying a complete and driveable truck, but the path he would end up taking is the one that gave him many more life experiences-and what true artist wouldn't want that?

Facts & Figures

1940 Ford

Rich Boyd

CHASSIS

Frame: TCI Engineering

Rearend / Ratio: Currie 9-inch 3.00:1

Rear suspension: parallel leaf, antiroll bar

Rear brakes: drum

Front suspension: Mustang II IFS, TCI Engineering shocks

Front brakes: vented disc

Steering box: rack-and-pinion

Front wheels: Halibrand 14×5

Rear wheels: Halibrand 15×9

Front tires: BFGoodrich P205/70R14

Rear tires: BFGoodrichP255/70R15

DRIVETRAIN

Engine: 351W stroked to 418 ci

Valve covers: Summit aluminum

Manifold / Induction: Weiand dual plane / Edelbrock 750 carb

Ignition: Summit Racing

Headers: Sanderson

Exhaust: custom stainless steel

Transmission: 4R70W

Shifter: on ididit column

BODY

Style: pickup

Modifications: hidden hinges, filled cowl vent, rolled driprails

Bed Wood: Bruce Horkey

Running boards: Bob Drake

Chrome: Vern's Chrome Plating, Gardena, CA

Bodywork: Brea Auto Body & Art Barker

Paint type / Color: PPG Folkstone Gray

Headlights / Taillights: Bob Drake

Outside mirrors: CW Moss swan

Bumpers: 1937 Ford bumperettes

INTERIOR

Dashboard: filled

Gauges: Classic Instruments Wings

Air conditioning: Vintage Air

Stereo: just engine sound

Steering wheel: Grant banjo

Steering column: ididit tilt

Seat: Glide Engineering bench

Upholstery by: Tony Ceja, Wilmington, CA

Material / Color: leather and vinyl / tan

Carpet: BMW

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