Page 40 - Issue 38

Before it wound up in Mike’s hands, it started out its life on
a naval base in Fallon, NV. No, there are no ships in the
Nevada desert; it’s the home to the Naval Fighter
Weapons School, better known as TOPGUN (yup
– like the movie). But back in the day, it was home
to the Navy’s nuclear division, and this truck was
part of that motor pool. After that it held a series
of odd jobs until it wound up as a potato hauler of
all things. Apparently it was here where the block
decided to let go and forced the truck into its
several decade slumber. Enter Mike and his crew.
The entire build was a group effort, even the
decision to create a hauler as opposed to just
using the cab and making another rat rod with a
huge motor and a tube frame. And in choosing
to make a hauler, they also chose to retain most
of the original pieces of the truck, either in their
original confi guration, or repurposed elsewhere. “It
still has the original engine, transmission, and radiator.
The truck is 90% original. I wanted to do something
different. Instead of putting a big diesel in it or a big blown
motor, I wanted to go old school with everything.” Part of
the White’s charm was that they chose to prominently stamp
their brand name all over their trucks, including the leaf spring
perches. Since the leafs were ditched in favor of
air bags, Mike chose to re-use the perches as
locators for the Land Rover-sourced trailing
arms for the new suspension.
Peeking under the hood reveals more
of the hauler’s originality. Instead of
an LSx or Cummins, the original
White ‘Super Power’ 120A fl athead
six banger remains in its place. But
that almost wasn’t the case.
When the engine arrived
on a fl atbed trailer, it
was seized. Once freed up,
Mike added spark and fuel
and she popped right over,
but soon discovered a 4-inch
crack in the block. Not to
be deterred, he brazed the
crack, dumped some sodium
silicate into the coolant,
and ran her until she
sealed herself up. She’s

40 RAT ROD MAGAZINE ISSUE THIRTY-EIGHT

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