Wayne McLachlan’s ’40 Ford Pickup
When Wayne McLachlan was 15, he bought a ’40 Ford pickup for $40 and proceeded to take it all apart with the plan of rebuilding it into a hot rod truck he could cruise around. That plan was eventually derailed and unfortunately, the truck pieces ended up as scrap metal.
Fast forward a few decades, and here’s Wayne and his new ’40 Ford pickup grabbing a finalist position for the Scott’s Hotrods Truck of the Year Early competition during the Griot’s Garage Pacific Northwest Nationals, along with a Builder’s Choice Top 10 Award from the crew at Art Morrison!
It took a few decades, but Wayne never gave up on his dream of a tricked out ’40 Ford pickup. When he came across an eBay listing for a pile of ’40 Ford parts including a couple rough cabs, bent hoods, and multiple cut-up frames, he decided it was time to get busy and make his lifelong dream a reality. To bring the project together, he enlisted the help of Lyle Vass and his crew at Rods ‘n Restos in Strathmore, Alberta, Canada.
The factory frame pieces were scrapped in favor of a new chassis from Art Morrison Enterprises, complete with modern IFS, rack-and-pinion steering, four-link rear suspension, a Strange 9-inch rearend, and Wilwood disc brakes behind 18×8- and 19×10-inch U.S. Mags wheels. For power, Competition Specialists stroked a Ford 351W to 408c.i. and added performance parts like Flotek aluminum heads, an Edelbrock intake, MSD Atomic fuel injection, and a March Performance accessory drive system. A built AOD transmission handles shifting duties.
Rods ’n Restos put in the sheet metal hours with loads of custom body touches such as stretching the cab 5-inches while chopping it 1.5-inches. The rear fenders were widened and reshaped and custom running boards were fabricated, along with a rear bumper, filler pan and more before handing the body off to Federal County Customs to perform final bodywork and spray the PPG Porsche Graphite Blue finish.
Auto Marine Custom Upholstery is responsible for stitching the beautiful red wine colored Collezione Thema leather over a reworked S10 donor seat. The dash was modified and filled with Dakota Digital gauges, a Vintage Air system, and an American Autowire harness to tie the electronics together. The top of the cab has a trick aluminum headliner and panel to house a backup camera and stereo.
It took a long time – decades, in fact – for Wayne to finally have the ’40 Ford pickup of his dreams. That’s quite a while, for sure, but after racking up a couple awards in Puyallup (and another Builders Choice Top 10 from Roseville Rod & Custom in Pleasanton a few weeks later), the wait was certainly worthwhile.
Photos by John Jackson
