SHANE DALE
> ADELAIDE HILLS, SA
IMET Shane Dale a couple of decades ago – and married him somewhere in-between. More recently, the two of us drove his ultra-fresh ’41 Chevy pick-up and our teardrop trailer from Adelaide to Chopped in Newstead, Victoria for its maiden voyage. A 1600km round trip is a heck of a shakedown run, but I had faith we’d make it, as Shane’s a can-do sort of bloke. I’m more concerned about what photo is going to accompany this yarn!
Tell ’em about the pick-up. It’s a ’41 Chev cab on ’37 Chev pick-up rails. It has a five-inch chop, two-inch channel, oneinch section and three-inch stretch. There’s very little left from the original body though; I hand-fabricated 75 per cent of it. How’d you do that? With a ridiculous amount of hours! I stretched, chopped and channelled the cab, then lengthened the doors and narrowed the window openings to suit. I added panels in the roof to fill the gaps, then lead-filled for a stronger finish. The grille shell, floors, Ford-like sills, inner and outer door skins, the whole tray and cowl I made from flat steel, using a range of metal tooling and my bare hands. Why? I wanted to build a cheap hot rod. For me, that meant putting in thousands of hours myself. I learnt a lot and have now started a metal fabrication business. My primary work is steel hot rod cycle guards. And the colour? As it’s all steel, bare metal was my preference, but it’s such a hassle. So I went with the closest to it, which is a custom silver-grey matte. About half the people who see it believe it’s bare metal. They look twice, then realise it’s not. What’s it running? A 350ci Chev with a TH350 and a Chrysler Borgwarner diff. It makes sense to have a Chev in a Chev. How was the shakedown run to Chopped? Really good. It towed the van easily too. The triple 97 Strombergs need a tune, and I did get water in the fuel, but that’s all part of it. What’s the response been to the ’41? Once people realise that I hand-fabricated most of the car, then they really appreciate it. I mean, I made the body and tray, got it straight, painted it, made the seat, then trimmed it. Because I robbed the motor and gearbox from Carly’s ’34 Ford coupe, the diff was the only part outsourced. Now I plan to drive the wheels off of it!
Once people realise that I hand-fabricated most of the car, then they really appreciate it