A DEUCE PICK-UP
This deuce pick-up is owned by John and Mary Booth. John bought this pick-up from the Mayor of Simi Valley when he was 14 years old for $125. It came with a flathead, but he couldn’t afford the car with the engine. So he shaved $100 bucks off the price by having the engine pulled out. Since he was too young to drive he didn’t need the engine. Once he could drive he dropped in a 322 ci Buick engine.
The truck was chopped and channeled when John bought it, but it still needed some work. The photo below shows John’s son Cary helping him get the truck ready to go to the first NSRA Western Nationals, 41 years ago in Merced.
The two of them were a great team and the truck was in fine shape sporting a root beer colored paint job for the show.
The truck is looking good at the 1976 Western Nationals.
All of the photos above were sent to us by John Booth. He was not only smart enough to keep the truck all these years, but to keep the photos too.
In 1996 John decided it was time to give the deuce a new look and that Chuck Lombardo and California Street Rods were the ones to do the work. The body was unchanneled to make more room in the cab, the engine, an LT-1 350 is a transplant from a ’70 Vette, and with the 6-71 BDS blower it makes some serious horsepower – specifically 550 hp. The front and rear suspension are from Kugel.
The pick-up is painted DuPont Cardinal Red and topped with yellow/orange flames highlighted with lime green stripping. The interior is tan leather.
The deuce hit the road again and even with 27,541 miles on the odometer the paint is still perfect. This is no doubt the finest deuce pick-up we’ve seen.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
The license plate pretty well says it all.
