A PERFECT MATCH

Vintage Trucks and Harleys Go Together for This Owner

When Cisco Farias decided he wanted a classic pickup truck, there was no question about what type of truck it would be. Farias has long fostered a love of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and it was as a kid that he noticed that the one truck that all shops and bikers seemed to have was the second series Chevrolet pickup. 

So when he decided to build a vintage truck of his own, there was only one that he wanted. He soon found what he was looking for when he came across this ’55 Chevrolet. The vehicle was all original when Farias paid a mere $950 for the truck, and he finally had what he wanted. 

Farias used the original Chevrolet frame but added a few modern touches to it. First, he and his buddy Luis Ramos cut and removed the front section of the original frame and replaced it with a ’76 El Camino front clip. To get the exact look that Farias was looking for, he went through many sets of modified coil springs until he found the set that would give the truck the lowered stance he wanted. With the inclusion of the IFS unit, disc brakes were part of the package. Since Farias had a friend who owned an auto parts store, he installed sets of Gabriel shocks in both the front and rear of the truck at a very good price. The 12-bolt rearend from the ElCo also found a new home in the old truck, and it was equipped with a posi unit and 411 gears. The anti-sway bars from the ElCo were also used. 

Onto the finished suspension package went a set of classic American Racing Torq-Thrust wheels. Wanting to keep a vintage appearance, Farias went with 15-inch wheels (15×8-rear and 15×7-front), which were equipped with 60-series Dunlop GT Qualifier tires.  

Once Farias had the suspension handled, he went on to the body. Again, he wanted to keep the Chevy true to the vintage look, so he had another friend, Albert McBurney, do some basic bodywork. He sealed off the stake pockets on top of the bed rails as well as the holes at the end the rails. He also added a Sir Michael’s roll pan, but that was about it. Farias says he wanted the truck to look like the truck that he remembered and wanted. 

Once those few mods were finished, McBurney applied the Standox Victory Red basecoat and then finished it off with a clearcoat. The finished product looks great, and it was all done at McBurney’s shop in Mission Viejo, California. The pinstripes that adorn the Chevy add the perfect touch and were added by the talented hand of Jeff Styles of Styles Pinstriping in Lake Forrest, California. Styles, who has been pictured here in the pages of Truck Builder, gave the Chevy a subtle look with his lines, but the little Rat Fink on the tailgate is a cool touch.  

Once the paint was on and buffed to a high sheen, Farias installed the engine he had been working on. He had taken a Chevy 350 block to longtime hot rod builder Les Stricker, who moved out of his Laguna Beach shop and into a larger place in Pauma Valley, California. Stricker had the block bored, balanced and equipped with a mild RV cam. Onto that he set an Edelbrock intake manifold and topped it off with a Carter four-barrel carburetor. The B&M air cleaner and billet pulley systems add a great deal of sparkle to the engine, while the Hooker headers and Flowmaster mufflers add both power and the perfect sound. Getting the estimated 350 hp, the 12-bolt is handled with a 700R4 tranny. 

In keeping with the stock-only theme, Farias kept the stock bench seat, but the upholstery is all new and good. The late Bob Reese did a great job of adding the stitching (a stylized Harley logo is sewn into the seat backs) and covering the Boyd’s steering wheel. Reese used five complete cowhides to do the job, which includes the door panels and headliner. Farias also had a hand in the interior, as he used a wiring system from the Truck Shop in Orange, California, to not only wire the electrical system (the Auto Meter tachometer) but also to install a Custom Autosound stereo system. The CA system includes a six-disc CD changer that is run through a Prestige equalizer. Speakers include three-ways in the doors and an 8-inch Bazooka subwoofer. He also installed the Lokar floor shifter as well as the one-piece door glass that he bought from the Truck Shop. 

When Farias first saw this truck on a farm in Mentone, California, it was a complete truck with nothing missing (it did, however, have a bed full of empty Budweiser cans). In the five years it took Farias to build the truck, he has bought other trucks (an ’03 100th-anniversary-edition Ford Harley-Davidson model), built Harleys and spent time with his wife, Kim, but he never lost sight of what he wanted with this Chevy. 

Farias wanted a truck like the ones that he saw hauling Harleys way back in the day. Now that he has one, he says he has everything he wants. Of course, he is currently building a new bike. Maybe when that’s finished…TB