1935 Ford Pickup

Crowd Pleaser

Gus Woods’ 1935 Ford Pickup

Story and photos by Cam Hutchins

Some Hot Rods are built by fellas that took up the hobby as kids when keeping the rides running was as important as having a cool car. Gus Woods of Surrey, B.C. sort of got it backwards, by buying a project car when he was already an upstanding adult. He had his pick of a few cool cars to buy in the mid ‘60s in Saskatoon, including a ‘33 Ford, but opted for a 1931 Oldsmobile Coupe because it actually ran! He drove it a bit before parking it with the idea of Hot Rodding it.

Life and family took precedence, but he still drove a bunch of cool cars including Pontiac Grand Parisiennes and a few big-block Dodges as family cars. Fast forward four decades and after retiring, he turned his attention towards the Hot Rod Olds. He hooked up with a family in L.A. restoring a 1931 Olds Patrician. He sold them all the stock parts he was stripping off the Olds and they sold him some parts that had been chromed on the Patrician that were not supposed to be chromed.

After licensing the Olds with ICBC, he finds out it is one of only two ‘31 Olds Coupes in B.C. Now that the Olds was done, he set his sights on a Hot Rod Pickup, a 1935 or ‘36 Ford to be exact. Before he actually finds one, the family from L.A. suffers a tragedy with the husband passing away, and they really want the unfinished Patrician to go to Gus. So after finishing off the four-door Olds, it is Hot Rod truck time and he finds the perfect candidate just south of his Surrey home in Stanwood, Washington. A bit of haggling and a few visits later, a deal was struck with the highly motivated seller.

boxed stock frame, a Chevy 305 V8 and TH350 auto transmission from a 1987 Camaro, with a rear end out of a 1975 Maverick. The Camaro Tuned Port Injected 305 cu. in. had been “chipped up” with a 1991 Corvette Computer and provided plenty of power. He rolled the chassis onto a trailer and threw all the rest of the trucks parts into a truck and hauled her home. The project was progressing very well until fate threw a curve ball and another four-door dropped in his lap.

A fellow in Vancouver bought a 1955 Mercury Monarch brand new from Brown Bros in 1955 and when he got his new 1973 Lincoln, he parked the Monarch in his heated garage. Not just abandoned, the car had its spark plugs removed every three

months and the engine lubricated and turned over.....for 40 years! The Hot Rod Truck project got put on hold while the Monarch got put back on the road. According to the sales literature of the era, the “Swift Sure Power Brakes, they do one-third of the work of stopping for you!” were first offered on the Monarchs in 1953 and used a leather diaphragm that was prone to cracking with age and causing problems bringing the heavy car to a stop. Woods added a modern dual master brake booster for the four-wheel drum brakes and it does stop....like a big heavy car with drum brakes.

Now, work on the Hot Rod Truck began again and actually progressed nicely. The original Mustang II front end was supplied with

Pinto springs that provided the wrong ride height, and new springs were installed. The front brakes are discs while the rear drums from the Maverick rear end were kept. The power steering booster was from a Corvette but was too high of pressure causing the handling to be skittish. Russ Jenvey had the same problem with his Chevy Coupe and mentioned a kit allowing the lowering of the booster pressure for better steering characteristics.

The box was sold to a fellow Carnut in Edmonton, and a new box and floor were ordered from the Old Car Centre in Langley. The truck was reassembled by Woods and his son and the truck was painted by Rick at Old Time Garage near Chilliwack. The choice of colour is a one-year-only Corvette colour, 1967 Corvette Goodwood green metallic. Most of the bright work was provided by Bob Drake. To complete the look, he went with painted deep wheels with beauty rings and dogdish Ford centre caps. The front are 215x75 15-in. with 3-in. offset, with 235x75 15-in. and 3.75-in. reverse wheels in the rear.

The interior was looked after by Russ Jenvey and is trimmed in Vintage English Toffee vinyl that no matter how wrinkled it gets from being sat on, it smooths out to look new after a couple of minutes. The seats are from a 1987 Jaguar that were reworked for height but have lumbar support and work perfectly. The headliner, carpets and seat belts are colour matched to the seats and door panels.

The dash is stock with the addition of turn signal indicator lights above the new set of gauges from the Omega Kustom Instruments Company. The stock centre panel with headlights and ignition switch was restored and retained. The stock steering wheel is used and mounted on a Limeworks steering column. There is a Bose sound system mounted below the seat with speakers mounted behind the seats in the back corners of the cab.

Finished in 2017, the truck won “Best Truck” on its first trip to The Greater Vancouver Street Machines Car Club Car Show at the Jolly Mac Pub in Surrey. The truck has been to many shows locally and has not ventured out of the Lower Mainland, but has proved to be a “Crowd Pleaser.” The truck’s only problem is being part of a pretty cool collection of cars that all need to be driven!