Johnny Bolton claims all it took was a one-car garage, a tape measure and a welding torch.
“And a lot of thinking,” Bolton said.
Regardless, the Louisiana man is driving around in a truck he spent eight months building from spare parts.
OK, so General Motors and Toyota can kick out thousands of vehicles in that amount of time.
Bet none of them hum like the 455 Bolton has under his hood, feature old license plates as part of the floorboard or have a bedpan for an air cleaner.
It may not be pretty, but it’s road-safe and Bolton can get around without having to worry about making a car payment every month.
“I’m always building something,” Bolton said. “I’ve never seen a lot I couldn’t do. If I put my mind to it, I can do it.”
Bolton isn’t the only tinkerer in the family. A grandfather was a mechanic and an uncle works on hot roads. His father, Harold, enjoys fiddling with engines.
“I just picked it up from him,” Bolton said.
Bolton had put together motorcycle engines and had worked on autos, but had never built a truck from the ground up.
The project began last September, when Bolton started collecting the parts he would need.
He used just about anything he could find from his family, friends and the junkyard, and even had to forge some of the pieces himself.
Such endeavors don’t come easily, even to the mechanically-inclined.
Bolton admitted he had to put quite a bit of thought into the project.
“When I got started, it came together,” he said. “It lined up good.”
Bolton used Ford axles, a Chevrolet bed and an Oldsmobile engine, all placed on a 1949 International frame. He's nicknamed it the "Mississippi River Rat."
Bolton, who works in the power plant at Hercules in Louisiana, built the machine in his spare time. His girlfriend, Melisa Constable, never had to worry about locating him.
“She knew I was in the garage,” Bolton said with a laugh. “It was something she turned her nose up at, but she rides in it.”
The most difficult part was figuring out how to wire the vehicle. Bolton had to create his own system.
The first time Bolton turned the key, the contraption roared to life.
“It runs good,” Bolton said. “It’s a sense of pride when you get it done and it works.”
There were a few problems, of course.
The engine overheated a couple of times on the truck’s first road trip to a car show in Wayland last May.
But the work has been worth it, especially when bystanders see it go by.
“You get a lot of thumbs up and waves,” Bolton said.
“It’s fun,” added Constable. “The old people get a kick out of it.”
Bolton said he’s still tweaking and perfecting his baby, but admits to already pondering his next project.
“I want to build a camper,” he said. “I thought ‘I think I can make one that looks like the truck - a little rough.’”
Louisiana, MO —
