POWDER KEG
SCOTT BARTER’S ’56 CHEVY PICK-UP IS AN AIR-RIDING, SUPERCHARGED CRUISER WRAPPED IN AN ALL-POWDERCOAT FINISH
An entire car finished in powdercoat? Scott Barter’s killer blown and ’bagged Chev truck is exactly that
WHEN it comes to project cars, some of us are flat-out getting one done, while others, like Scott Barter, don’t mind juggling multiple builds at once. The bossman at Oxytech Powder Coatings had this supercharged, airbagged ’56 Chev pick-up built while he was also putting together a pro touring Lsa-powered HJ Sandman, not to mention swapping an LS1 and T56 into his dad Richard’s HJ One Tonner.
“When I got it, the truck was just a body on a chassis,” Scotty says. “Ryan Carter from United
Speed Shop in Newcastle is a good mate of mine, and he’d bought this bargain ’56 Chevy cab out of South Australia, put it on an HQ chassis and was going to sell it off. Even though I wasn’t looking for a project, we worked out a good deal, as it is just one of those things when a mate has a good project he wants to offload.”
Ryan and the United Speed Shop crew then took on the three-year build of the truck as a way to promote Scotty’s business, which supplies powder and other accessories to coaters. This means the only pieces of the truck covered in traditional wet paint are the transmission and the engine; everything else is powdercoat!
“I was sitting around with Ryan partaking in some sugarcane champagne, and talk turned to painting the truck,” explains Scott. “I realised that if it was going to be a bare shell to repair it, we may as well powdercoat the whole thing! What better way is there for us to showcase the versatility of powder-coatings than to have a rolling billboard?”
The base of the build is an HQ panel van chassis, which lends more car-like handling and a cooler stance among other benefits, as Scott explains: “The HQ van and ute chassis works better than the Tonner chassis; the Tonner chassis has extra framework for the cab to bolt to the frame itself. We didn’t need that, as the Chev cab is fastened to the tub.”
After Ryan and the United crew set up the frame and chopped all the rot out of the body, Scotty and Peter Snell coated everything down at Peter Snell’s Protective Coatings. While Ryan does powder-coating in-house, Snelly has an oven big enough to bake the whole 1958 Fleetside tub, full-length chassis and the cab itself.
“Everything was sandblasted, sprayed down with Oxytech Easy Phos, then zinc-primed, coated with four different colours and finished with a Clear Sand Texture powdercoat at Snelly’s,” Scotty says. “We went from bare metal to coated in three days.”
The body was also rubbed back in places, including the powdercoated signwriting by Ryan, to age the look of the truck and to tie in with the farm truck vibe, before the whole thing was clear-coated.
“I wanted to see where repairs were done so the truck has a bit of a story to tell – and I wanted to be able to wash it with a broom!” laughs Scotty. “We didn’t want it too nice in case we were scared to use it, because it is a work truck at the end of the day.”
Under the bonnet – just – is a mild red 308 Holden that Scotty had sitting around in the
WHAT BETTER WAY IS THERE FOR US TO SHOWCASE THE VERSATILITY OF POWDERCOATINGS THAN TO HAVE A ROLLING BILLBOARD?
I WANTED TO SEE WHERE REPAIRS WERE DONE SO THE TRUCK HAS A STORY TO TELL – AND I WANTED TO BE ABLE TO WASH IT WITH A BROOM!
shed and had been rebuilt 20 years ago. To suit the 6/71 blower perched up top, the bumpstick was swapped for a Camtech item and the heads freshened up by Troy at Warspeed Industries. “He threw stainless valves and seats for unleaded fuel and added Yella Terra roller rockers, too,” Scotty says.
A Turbo 700 overdrive auto was gone through by Steve at Shift Right Transmissions, while United set up the nine-inch diff, Falcon discs and four-link, before Matty at Geelong Diffs supplied the Truetrac centre. Simple and functional, and great to drive on the open highway.
And Scotty has been doing plenty of that, having racked up bulk kilometres cruising the Chev from Sydney to Newcastle, to Summernats, and even down to Queenscliff Rod Run on an epic 1500km road trip through 45-degree heat (see sidebar, p 77).
Unfortunately, the searing temps played havoc with the twin Holley XP four-barrel carburettors and were replaced with a Holley Sniper EFI set-up once the Chev was back in the Harbour City.
“We had some problems on that run, but it was an amazing weekend,” Scott says. “The guys at Air Ride Suspension Supplies helped us massively by staying open to fix some issues with the airbags; they got us back on the road.”
So how did the Oxytech shop truck end up tagged POPS56? Scotty runs the business with his dad Richard, and sold the idea of another project car to Barter Sr by implying that Richard would carry the keys to it.
“I’m yet to have a go,” laughs Richard. “I think he’s still ‘shaking it down’ for me!” We can’t blame Scotty for not wanting to give up the keys to this one.