BURBANK, Calif. -- The sound of steel scraping across concrete is
music to the ears of Louis Marton. It's just his big 1941 Dodge truck
converted into a low-riding "rat rod" truck pulling into a driveway.
Marton's goal was to create the coolest truck around, an aggressive beast that started as a 1941 Dodge cab-over-engine flatbed in all its rusty, in-your-face glory. It's true to the rat rod movement -- leaving old cars or trucks in basically original, usually deteriorating, condition outside while hopping up their engines and adding performance parts underneath their metal skins.
For all its corrosion and roughness, the old '41 "hay hauler" now has a sweet side. Marton added touches like a pneumatic suspension to allow it to sink to the ground and a powerful, economical 12-valve Cummins turbodiesel engine out of 1996 Dodge that's been moved inside a wooden box on the bed.
He says it's good for about 20 miles a gallon on his long daily commute. Yes, he drives the truck to work every day.
In its own way, the truck is a work of art. Marton, of Canyon Country, Calif., considered every aspect of the truck that he says he started dreaming about at age 15. After finding the truck on eBay, he went to work not only on the front, but also from the rear, where he has added taillights from a 1952 Oldsmobile and bumper from a 1957 Lincoln.
At a weekly car show outside the Boy's Big Boy restaurant here, Marton parked the truck in just the right place for maximum visibility -- right next to a group of motorcyclists. Then again, a truck like his draws a crowd pretty much everywhere he goes.
Article Source: usatoday
Marton's goal was to create the coolest truck around, an aggressive beast that started as a 1941 Dodge cab-over-engine flatbed in all its rusty, in-your-face glory. It's true to the rat rod movement -- leaving old cars or trucks in basically original, usually deteriorating, condition outside while hopping up their engines and adding performance parts underneath their metal skins.
For all its corrosion and roughness, the old '41 "hay hauler" now has a sweet side. Marton added touches like a pneumatic suspension to allow it to sink to the ground and a powerful, economical 12-valve Cummins turbodiesel engine out of 1996 Dodge that's been moved inside a wooden box on the bed.
He says it's good for about 20 miles a gallon on his long daily commute. Yes, he drives the truck to work every day.
In its own way, the truck is a work of art. Marton, of Canyon Country, Calif., considered every aspect of the truck that he says he started dreaming about at age 15. After finding the truck on eBay, he went to work not only on the front, but also from the rear, where he has added taillights from a 1952 Oldsmobile and bumper from a 1957 Lincoln.
At a weekly car show outside the Boy's Big Boy restaurant here, Marton parked the truck in just the right place for maximum visibility -- right next to a group of motorcyclists. Then again, a truck like his draws a crowd pretty much everywhere he goes.
Article Source: usatoday
No comments:
Post a Comment