1956 Chevy Truck

 

 

"Everything happens for a reason, whether good or bad".  Sometimes the seemingly bad things in life are the exact thing that needed to happen in order for things to turn out better in the end. 

This 1956 Chevy truck project was one that stemmed from the debut of Levi's 1958 Apache truck at the 2019 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Not one but two people who saw Levi's truck at the show said they would love for Hammerfab to build them a killer 56/57 version of Levi's truck. 

Scott was the first client from central Texas.  He commissioned Hammerfab to locate the right truck and then build it to spec.  It had to be a stepside and it had to be a big back window original cab.  So we found one not too far away in Killeen TX and brought it back to begin the resto-mod process.  Pre-Covid we were experimenting with a chemical stripping process along with an e-coat dipping process vs sand blasting hence the rusty images below with nice metal work.  The idea was to do the metal work and then have it stripped and E-coated so that both the old and new metal got treated inside and out where blasting and primer or powder coat can not achieve. 

The original plan was to get the rear fender body line to line up perfectly with the body line on the cab without making a weird eye sore of a bed in the process (easier said than done).  Originally the body lines are 4" apart from each other.  Lots of thought and metal massaging took place to make this happen so that the novice truck or car enthusiast would never notice what has been done.  The truck was slated to receive a Choppin' Block Extreme air ride chassis which would have made sectioning the cab and lowering it over the frame very easy by only modifying the Choppin Block body mounts.  The bed would need to be raised significantly, fenders raised, and new custom steps will need to be made. 

Then the project hit a bit of a roadblock right in the middle of "lock down" when Scott had some changes in his life and the project came to a screeching halt! 

Later that same day (not kidding) a gentleman came to our shop (who also was inspired by Levi's truck at SEMA '19) and was ready to build a 57 or 56 Chevy Step side truck.  "Man this is your lucky day", said Levi to Gerald from West Texas.  "This truck just became available for sale if you want to get started now"!  So Gerald bought the truck fro Scott and Hammerfab continued the build as planned, well things did get a bit more challenging from this point.  Gerald already had a new Roadster Shop chassis for the truck that he bought about a year prior to getting started with Hammerfab.  The only down side was that the way the RS chassis is designed it does not accommodate the sectioned cab as easily as the CB chassis would have.  So in order to nail the stance some metal surgery was required on the brand new RS chassis.  Yes that sounds scary but all is good now and the truck has that killer stance that Hammerfab is known for. 

The 56 will be riding on the same 20/22 wheel sizes as Levi's truck which require the rear fenders to be widened 3" from stock, a process we have down pretty good now.  One of the main differences in this truck compared to Levi's is that is has air ride all around so it can be laid out for show stance but ride height will still be about 5-6" off the ground. 

A smoothed dash, custom bucket seats, door panels, and center console will retain a bit of a retro vibe in the interior much like that of Levi's truck.  The plan is for the truck to be a dark red/burgundy color.  It will receive a Don Hardy LS3 with Kinsler 8 stack fuel injection, ultimate headers, and Bowler Performance 4L80E. 

Stay tuned for some more updates on this amazing truck.