Goodguys 2025 LMC Truck of the Year Early!
We’re closing out the year with a review of the Goodguys 2025 Top 12 of the Year winners presented by BASF! Congratulations to Larry Jacinto for winning the Goodguys 2025 LMC Truck of the Year Early title with his 1941 Willys built by Veazie Bros. Fabrication!
Larry Jacinto vividly remembers riding in this very ’41 Willys pickup as a youngster. His childhood pal John Peake owned it for years and Larry was able to track the truck down, buy it, and eventually hand it over to his friend and influential builder, Bob Bauder, to craft into a hot rod.
Bob started in on the build before his death in late 2017. This left Larry at a loss – he was without one of his best hot rod buddies, and in possession of one of Bob’s last projects. It took a few years, but he finally connected with Justin and Evin Veazie of Veazie Bros. Fabrication, who are huge fans of Bauder’s builds. The brothers were excited to finish the work started by one of their mentors, especially with the directive from Larry to “take it as far as you can.” The brothers, their crew, and a tight network of craftsmen took that opportunity and ran with it.
The custom chassis was already in process, but the Veazie crew went the extra mile by building the Mustang II front end and four-link rear suspension using stainless steel components. Strange coil-overs helped achieve the perfect Bauder stance, with wheels that started as two-piece ET3s that Bob had modified and finished by Eric Vaughn.
One area where Larry’s “take it as far as you can” mantra is really apparent is when the hood is opened to reveal an LS3 with a smoothed and polished 6-71 Littlefield blower, complete with a billet hat from Joe Blow’s Speed Equipment! The highly detailed engine compartment is surrounded by loads of one-off components that all have been smoothed, polished, or painted. Mission accomplished.
The Willys body follows suit, as a serious number of alterations were made. To name just a few: the bottoms of the doors were lengthened to close the gaps to the custom running boards; the cowl edges were narrowed so the hood could sit flush with the doors; the wheel arches were reworked; and a custom tailgate was crafted to finish the highly modified ’46 Chevy truck bed. The deep blue finish by Mick’s Paint is simply stunning, and dig those Bob Bauder-influenced stainless exhaust tips!
There are signs of restraint inside the Willys where there’s a modified original dash fitted with custom passenger car-style trim, plus OE-style gauges upgraded by Classic Instruments and set in an EVOD bezel. The wiring was amazingly organized before the interior was stitched and covered in Moore & Giles leather by Ron Mangus.
The Willys is nothing short of incredible. It’s a fitting finish to what Bob Bauder started, and a testament to the talents of the Veazie Bros. and their friends.
Photos by Michael Christensen, Terry Lysak
