Page 20 - Issue 45

Jerome’s ‘41 Dodge 1 ⁄2 ton truck
1
(at least he thinks it’s a ‘41), last saw
active duty about 50-something
years ago as a manure spreader,
where it then sat until about fi ve
years ago when his buddy Kyle
Dowd thought he and Jerome
could restore it. As 17-year-olds
are prone to do, they soon got
overwhelmed and it got pushed
behind a barn on Jerome’s dad’s
property. When the price or scrap
metal peaked, he fi gured he’d make
a few quick bucks and crush it.
Jerome had the tractor running and
lined up to squish the old girl, but
he couldn’t pull the trigger. “It was
just too cool”, says Jerome.
That reprieve led Jerome and
his buddy to give the old Dodge
another shot. Jerome found a
running ‘92 Toyota 2WD pickup
for $200 and the two commenced
to combine the two vehicles
together just for something to do,
without any real aim to make the
car streetable. That changed once
they got it all together and running.
What was supposed to be a quick
trip for gas turned into a 90-minute
drive from their home in Penngrove,
California over the Golden Gate
Bridge down to Santa Cruz. Since
then it has served as Jerome’s daily
driver logging around 40-50K miles.
It’s registered as a ‘41 Dodge,
but mechanically, it’s all Toyota.

20 RAT ROD MAGAZINE ISSUE FORTY-FIVE

18x21 Cockroach.indd 20 8/1/17 7:37 PM