Page 34 - Issue 33

tis had been looking for a rat rod project
34 RAT ROD MAGAZINE ISSUE THIRTY-THREE
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when some friends had spotted the mostly
complete truck, apparently abandoned on
a piece of property. After a few phone calls
were made and some legwork was performed
by some friends of friends, it turned out that the
current owner was no longer able to keep the truck
there and had no title for it. He told Otis to just take it
off the property and it was his. See – it does happen
sometimes. The moral here – it never hurts to ask!
The fi rst thing most builders do when they get a big
ol’ truck like this is slice and dice the cab within an inch
of its life and scrap the frame. Not quite the story with
this build. Otis left the outside of the body untouched.
The frame was not given the same gentile treatment as
the cab, however. It’s been Z’d eight inches in the front
and fourteen inches in the rear. He also pitched ten
inches of length into the scrap pile. There’s no air ride
here, so what you see is what you get regarding her
stance. Stock leafs still suck up the bumps while she
rolls on the original artillery wheels up front and some
groovy wide aluminum slots out back.
Otis’s truck has got some go, as well. He had a 350
Chevy punched out .045” and made it a 385 stroker. It
has a roller cam, Dart heads, and is crowned by a pair
of Holly 650’s on a tunnel ram intake. The wild headers
are fenderwell headers designed to fi t a ‘66/’67 Chevy
II. A Turbo 400 multiplies the power and shoots it back
to a Ford 9-inch rear with a 4.11 spool.
It took Otis a year to complete the build after
spending three or so years hoarding parts and planning.
It’s also his fi rst complete build where he “started with
nothing and wound up with something.” Special thanks
to his friends and family for helping out with parts,
labor, and putting up with the build in general.
34 8/24/15 4:20 PM