You can ball park ID most vehicles at a car show because of things like period look and country of origin.
Then there are the rides that defy description yet attract mobs of people.
This truck is clearly one of those rides.
Ron Ferworn is the ultimate old-school car guy because he has literally driven or built so many rides over the years he should be in the Car Guy Hall of Fame. Despite an impressive resume he wanted something to truly call his own.
Ron explained: “Most guys know me as Fuzz and of all the vehicles I’ve built this is the most fun. It’s the only U-built truck ever registered in BC in 2008 and all it took was signed affidavits, welding certificates, proof of purchase and taxes paid. I knew it was going to be tough. When I tell people it’s an ’08 they think 1908 but when I say 2008 they call BS”.
This is a 100% Fuzz-designed truck: “I wanted something I could drive and there are 30 features you’ll see in this that you won’t see in any other vehicle. It’s all about drivability. I drive it every day—why do you think it looks so ugly? Who drives high RPM on the street?”
Fuzz is the kind of guy who likes to reason things out via self-taught engineering so he applied that process to the RPM issue: “It’s got ten forward speeds with 5-speeds and a split axle. It’s a 351 Ford block with a 289 crank, 289 heads, longer rods and Chevy racing pistons to make torque not horsepower. I designed it all”.
There are several other Fuzz-engineered features with this truck: “It’s a unibody with a 6-point roll cage so that’s why it can carry a 20-foot piece of pipe. The headlights are made out of pots from Zellers and the funny thing is women guess right and guys never do. It’s set up for a fifth wheel too. The seats fit me and there’s lots of legroom because I’m an old racer so that’s why the cowl is longer”.
Fuzz made a few other things work on his truck: “The shifter is a leg off a couch and it’s a custom radiator, it’s big so it’ll never overheat and never has so the electric fan never kicks in. It’s got a plug-in probably gets plugged in three times a year. It’s got a great heater because the windows are clear even when it’s -32 because that’s the coldest weather I’ve driven it in. In the winter when there’s a foot of snow all I do is screw in the hubs and go”.
Clearly the key to this project is the ease of travel on the road: “It does the speed limit and this is an everyday driver plus I do sleep in it when I’m traveling. People wave and smile and even the motorcycle guys give you the sign that they like it. Cops don’t give me a hard time either. I did put it into a guardrail on the Trans-Canada highway but it didn’t hurt it at all”.
This was a massive project but Fuzz is realistic about the process: “Not too many guys would spend 6-8 years on something like this because it’s thousands of hours”.
In the end, he summed this truck up in three simple words.
“I made it”.
Jerry Sutherland
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