Renegade Issue 30

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How it all startedt, my boys were picking up rocks in a farmers
field and saw the 1946 Chevy truck behind a barn. The boys
told the famer my dad will buy that truck, and I did, for $250.
I’ve owned hot rods before, I had a 1929 Ford Roadster pick-
up that I bought for a song and a dance, and sold for a song
and a dance too, due to not having a place to work on it. So this
was my first big project that I built from the ground up. I always
had a vision of what I wanted before starting the truck, I spent
many hours doing research on the internet and fell in love with
rat rods, and the concept of hunting for parts, low prices and
using scrap to make things. With help from my family I acquired
many parts and pieces. One year for Christmas my older kids
bought me a bunch of sheet metal, so I could make the floor,
which I bead rolled. As a family we spent many hours at swap
meets looking for good deals on parts. See I was on a budget,
I had just bought a house and shop on top of that raising a
family does not leave much money for
toys. It took me about 3 years off and
on to get it on the road. I knew I could
do this I have been a machinist, welder,
and fabricator for about 30 years now.
My oldest son is also machinist and my
wife works at a machine shop, where
we managed to get some of the scrap
metal we used to finish this project.
Basically we are a gear head family, we
even have a dirt go-cart track in our back yard where we
all race. I’ve always been involved in cars and sprint cars,
I even raced for a few years myself but with a family the
money was just not there, so I decided the rat rod scene
would be a better alternative to racing and we can all en-
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joy it as a family. My old-
est son is now working on
a project of his own, a 53
Mercury. Our goal is to start
a family business making parts and pieces or even a few
rat rods to sell. This has been one of the most challenging
and rewarding things I have done in my life. To be able to
see peoples reaction to something I built is very reward-
ing and well worth all the time and money. I look forward
to my next project.
1946 Chevy Bobber Truck
400 Small Block
350 Turbo Transmissions
510 rear-end
16” Smoothie Wheels all around
Mike Riehl