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It’s the dream of every owner out there: To drive a truck worthy of taking show trophies as a daily driver. Some get to live the dream, like Jesse Alvarez, but that dream often comes with a catch.
This 1956 Ford Pickup started life as farm truck in Blythe, Calif. before Jesse got hold of it. Challenging work and dedication transformed it into the truck you see now. Under that amazing body is a F-body Camaro front clip with a carbureted Corvette L99 sitting between the frame rails. A 700R4 sends power to a matching F-body rear end with a four-link system. Keeping the body straight in the curves but getting that dramatic static stance is thanks to a custom air ride suspension system. Jesse did the suspension work himself, as that’s one of his jobs outside his day job.
Equally impressive is the interior and metal work he’s done. Gone is the worn-out wood bed; it’s been replaced with a four-plank version. Inside, the interior has been completely removed and replaced with custom touches, including an air conditioning system sitting behind the all metal dashboard. The original speaker hole in the center has also been welded and filled for a smooth finish.
However, some of that work would have to be repeated, twice. The first time, someone ran into the passenger side of the front end and pushed it into a truck on the other side of the road. The second time, it was run into at the rear, and a new bumper and tailgate had to be sourced. To top that all off, the original man who painted the truck had passed away before this happened and the new guy had to struggle with replicating the original scheme, which remains today.
You would think Jesse would park this truck and keep it in a garage, but that’s just not how Jesse chooses to own his vehicles. Even now, he chooses to drive this truck all over SoCal, and doesn’t drive it with a feather throttle. He enjoys driving this truck and impressing others with not only its handling, but its comfort as well.
“There's only one reason you would choose to drive a car daily,” he says on the subject. “You only live one life and you build the car for your satisfaction and happiness.” Those are some impressive words to live by.
It certainly impresses us. To see a truck with this kind of high caliber build be driven on the roads without fear - there is a certain respect you must have for someone who does this. You may think it foolish, especially with the money he’s put into it, but that’s been his choice. It’s also not like he doesn’t have another vehicle he could drive instead; he’s got a '60s Ford Mustang that he’s owned since high school, and it’s just as impressive. He’s also not in any hurry to part with it, even with offers north of $45 thousand. Then again, when you build a truck or car the way you want it, put the time and effort to repair it back to new from wrecks twice, it becomes a challenging thing to let go of.
The lesson to take from this, though, is to enjoy the things you work hard for. Yes, building a 1956 Ford Pickup like this is expensive and time consuming and will probably make most people paranoid about driving it. However, if you’ve built something like this, don’t let fear take you over. Take it out and drive it, enjoy it, and let the world see your hard work so we all can appreciate it.
