Jon Mitchell
Londonderry, NH
1934 Ford Pickup
Yesterday's Young Guns
Here's another blast from the past, another "one that got away". At least Jon Mitchell, who built the truck in his late teens, has photographic record of it.
He found the pickup on a farm in New Hampshire in 1957 when he was 15 years old. It was driveable, and he paid $60 for it, getting his brother to drive it home on a dealer plate, as he worked for a Dodge/Plymouth dealer at the time. The following three years were spent getting it to the condition shown here, chopping the top 6 inches, channeling the body 4 inches, and shortening the bed by 18 inches.
Jon and his father rebuilt a '48 Ford Flathead to put in it, though Jon's brother later convinced him to go with an overhead, so Jon bought a '56 Buick Nailhead from a junkyard in Lynn, Massachusetts. The look of a Nailhead really appealed to him, which is as good a reason as any to choose a particular motor. Jon made his own dash with Stewart Warner gauges, added a 3-inch dropped axle, '48 Ford hydraulic brakes, and a '39 trans before going to college, where he sold the truck. "Of course, I have no idea where it is now, but would love to see it in Rod & Custom," he says. Happy to oblige Jon!
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