Edmonton, Alberta — Southern Alberta automotive restorers recently received second place at the Good Guys automotive shows in Washington and California for their 1940 Ford pickup truck.
Lyle Vass, owner and lead restorer outlined that the restoration project took six years to complete and required talented specialists from all over Southern Alberta.
“It’s the biggest build that I’ve had the opportunity to do,” said Vass. “I’m hoping that we’ll get to do more now that this truck is finished.”
The build was financed by Wayne McLachlan, chief instructor at the Alberta Motor Association. McLaughlin also found some of the main parts used in the build such as sections from two old Ford trucks in Oregon and delivered them to Vass’ shop near Strathmore, Alta., in 2016.
“From those two partial trucks, I think we used half of one cab and half of another, and two front fenders, and that was it,” said Vass. “We built the rest of the truck from scratch because there just wasn’t enough there that was workable.”
“I built the body,” he said. “Steven McLean (in Coronation) did the paint, Auto Marine (from Calgary) did the upholstery, Competition Engines (in Crossfield) built the engine, Art Morrison (located in Fife, Wash.) built the chassis and then there are hundreds of parts suppliers that we’ve pulled parts from.”
McLaughlin said that he initially envisioned the project because he wanted something nice to take camping and over six years, he ended up spending well over $500,000.
McLaughlin ended by saying that he had the restored truck built to drive and it has all the features of a new truck, and he can’t wait to see how it performs pulling his trailer.
He hopes to be able to still enter the vehicle into a few more car shows in the future before turning to other projects.
