Sponsors? None.
Merch? Nope.
YouTube channel? What’s that.
Yeah, in a rare turn of 21st-century events, what you’re seeing is a custom 49 Chevy truck… just for the hell of it. No ‘branding’… no ‘influencing’… no ‘hash-tagging’. In fact, this is the first vehicle James has ever built from the ground up… which is kinda like your first girlfriend being Pamela Anderson.
Here’s the bones:
The frame is from a 2002 Chevy S-10.
The body is from a ’49 Chevy 3100.
And the 350 small-block is out of a ’77 Corvette.
Everything else is in the details: Age, abuse, decay, and piecemealing from James.
Although this is James’ first official hot rod build, the guy’s no stranger to hands-on mechanics & fabrication. James was a professional motocross rider for 30 years. About halfway into his career, he also became a moto dealer + shop owner. And now… that shop (called JPMX) is his full-time pastime. His ‘retirement’ of sorts. This ’49 Chevy truck was something they built out back after hours, that now sits out front… and makes lunch runs.
The truck has some formal mods. The 350 came from a friend who was upgrading to a big block in his Vette. It has cams, built heads, and a straight-dump exhaust. The chassis sits on air ride. But other than that, the attraction & fascination is in the fabrication. James says with a shrug, “It just kinda came together.” He started with the body, mated it to the frame… and basically just yolo’d it from there. Garage culture in its purest form. The thing has no real performance purpose. …Or utility purpose. It’s not out to crush records, build names, or break internets. It was just built as a medium of experimentation & exploration.
We salute that kind of effort. And we admire the pure creativity… of building what you’ve got, using what you have. When asked what he thinks of his creation, James just says, “It’s loud with a louder horn.”
Text by Joe Gustafson Photos by Ty Cobb
