Ralph Bingham of St. George, Utah, has been a street rodder since he was a teenager. He was in high school in 1969 when he found a 1929 Ford Model A Tudor sedan in a local dump, upside down and partly burned. Like any ambitious teenage gearhead, he drug out the sedan with big plans to build his first street rod.
Thirty-eight years later he began work on his latest street rod, also a 1929 Ford but a pickup this time. The cab and doors came from Buena Vista, Colorado, but the rest of the exterior was assembled from pieces from all over the U.S. Swap meets and eBay searches turned up one front fender in Illinois and another in Nebraska, a bed from California, rear fenders from California and New York, a tailgate from Pennsylvania, and bumpers from Texas.
The assembled body and bed ride on the original frame from Utah, reinforced with boxing plates. A TCI 4-inch dropped axle with four-bar front suspension provides a nice hot rod rake. Steering and stopping are handled by a Vega box and disc brakes. In the rear, an S-10 Chevy axle hangs on coilovers with drum brakes at the wheels. Wheelsmith contributed the traditional 15-inch steelies with caps and rings, wrapped with P255/70R15 and P205/60R15 BFGoodrich tires.
The red wheels complement the cream and green paintjob provided by Brian VanHouton in St. George. VanHouton also added the airbrushed murals on the sides of the cab. The original 1929 bumpers and tailgate hinges are powdercoated in gray.
Ralph decided to power his pickup with a GM 350 crate small-block, with fuel and air delivered by a Quick Fuel Technology 650-cfm carburetor on an Edelbrock manifold. Exhaust gases exit via shorty headers. The engine is backed up by a dependable and streetable TH350 transmission.
Scott at Stitchcraft in St. George upholstered the interior, using two-tone material to cover the seats—a combination of reproduction bottom cushions and 1965 Mustang backs. Other interior components include an aftermarket drilled spoke steering wheel on a column from a late-’90s Chevy van, Stewart-Warner Wings gauges, a Lokar shifter, and a fabricated diamond-plate dual cup holder. The electrical systems were wired by Ralph’s brother, John.
Ralph can be proud of the fact that most of the 10-year ground-up project, including the buildup, welding, bodywork, fitting, and assembly was accomplished at home in his garage, with help from his wife, Pamela. “I never dreamed that the truck would draw the attention that it does,” he told us, “but everyone loves the paint colors and trim. Everywhere I go I get high fives and thumbs ups.”
By the way, the 1929 sedan that Ralph drug out of dump 50 years ago is still in his garage. The Tudor runs a carbureted Chevy 327 with a Powerglide transmission and is painted white, just like its sister pickup.
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