The first step in a building a street rod that involves a wrench is the disassembly. For too many cars, this is also the last step–you can check that by the number of “basket case-started restoration and lost interest” cars for sale. Disassembly is the easiest part of this project. Ralph’s done it a hundred times. I did it once once many years ago and it was a disaster. It was my brother David’s Model A Tudor Sedan and it still haunts me. Remember that this truck will eventually be put back together. However, unlike a strict restoration, it won’t be put back together “correctly” because the only thing that is correct is what we imagine. That is where the art comes in. And it is precisely what purists object to. My vision of the old Dodge collides with the vision of the people who designed it in the first place. Onward! Courage!

This old pickup is a body-on-frame type, so the body has to come off the frame.  Body bolts, like every other bolt on this project, were in place since the car was on the assembly line, and they were all frozen by corrosion. Ralph drives out rusted screws with a cold-chisel. Sometimes fasteners called be drilled out and sometimes they must be cut this off with an acetylene torch.  Once everything is free, the fenders and central body parts are lifted off.

Removing the engine, transmission and suspension bits is heavy work requiring lifts and caution. But none of the mechanical drive stuff will be reused in this street rod project. All parts were sold to folks interested in strict restorations or, sadly, as scrap metal.