By DELL ARTHUR
Most
folks have a hobby. It can be stamp collecting, golf, knitting or just loafing
on the sofa watching television. But for others, like Chuck Denson Sr., his hobby
takes on another hue. He spends his free time working in his back yard garage, taking
a load of junk and making a customized truck out of it. His latest project is a
brown 1935 Ford pickup fabricated out of two wrecks he found scrounging for
parts.
“One
of the pickups was beyond doing anything with so I used it for parts. The other
pickup had a lot of rust and I had to do a lot of cutting, welding and fabricating,”
he recalled. Now after three years of work his pride and joy is finished.
Currently he can’t legally drive the pickup until he gets it licensed.
“Right
now I have to put it on a trailer whenever I go to a car show. I’m in the
process of getting it licensed so I can drive it around as a ‘driver,” he
said. And that is where the fun begins.
 |
| Every one needs a hobby and
here Chuck Denson, Sr. is shown tinkering with his fabricated 1935 Ford he built part time in his back yard garage. (Photo by Dell Arthur) |
For the custom car
builder they are limited only by their imagination with no restrictions. As far
as value is concerned some customized cars are priceless. But for Denson the
money isn’t the factor for creating his own version. He simply loves to
fabricate. “I just like doing it. I can work whenever I feel like it or just
leave it.” The work, as much as he enjoys it, takes a lot of time and effort.
For his ’35 pickup he fabricated the frame, tore down and switched parts, cut,
welded and formed panels to his satisfaction.
In addition to remaking
most of the parts he installed a 1986 Ford 5 liter V-8 engine and automatic
transmission. These things you won’t find in an original 1935 Ford pickup!
Denson said he has been
around cars all his life. He recalled he has been working on cars since he was
15 years old. His dad was a mechanic and ever since he was old enough to pick
up a tool he had the bug for creating. “My first customized truck was a tractor
puller,” he recalled. This rig was huge! Denson took it to truck pulling
competitions and wowed the crowds.
The first car he worked
on was a 1941 Chevrolet 4-door. He said he rebuilt the engine but forgot to put
in the crankshaft shims. When he started
the engine it promptly “blew.”! That ended his love affair with Chevies he
said. What really captured his interest was customizing.
A few years back his
brother Dick introduced him to a club dedicated to customized cars. Later
Denson joined another club, “Northwest Classic Trucks,” with membership
restricted to truck owners only.
“We have a lot of social
activities,” Denson continued. “We go to a lot of car shows around the
northwest. We also visit nursing homes where the older folks like to see old
trucks.” A lot of these cars and trucks remind residents of the times of their
youth and carry a lot of happy memories, he said.
Denson will go just about
any place to find parts. Trading stories with other customizers at car shows
gives him a lot of leads. “Folks are helpful finding parts,” he continued.
Sometimes talking to the right person can save a lot of time looking for parts.
“I went to Olympia just to pick up a pair of fenders for my ’35 Ford,” he said
with a chuckle. One of the main commandments of customizing is “…don’t throw
anything away!” he added.
With summer comes other
car shows. Denson, along with his brothers, who also own classic cars, the
family will load his ’35 Ford pickup on a trailer and head out. At the meets
old friends will congregate, share stories and find out who is working on a new
project. For Denson he hasn’t made up his mind yet about taking on a new
project. But being the artist and fabricator he is,
Denson isn’t going to let his garage set empty for too long. What he has in
mind, when the urge moves him, will come when his imagination kicks into high gear.
No comments:
Post a Comment