Mitch Allread: Don't Call it a Rat Rod... - BIG MUSCLE

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MIKE: This is the stripper with the
cucumber and the bullwhip.
This is the one.
This is hard.
And this is the one you want to take home, because you know
that while you might not want to show it to everybody, she's
going to give you such a good time.
[HEAVY METAL MUSIC]

MIKE: Unbelievable.

Mitch, how you doing, man?
MITCH: Hey, Mike.
How you doing?
MIKE: Good.
Guys, this is Mitch Allread, professional builder.
He's brought with him today one of the coolest rigs that
you are ever going to see.

MITCH: That started life as a 1949 dump truck.
F-5 Ford.
And the nomenclature on the side is original to the truck.
It was a painting truck.
MIKE: OK.
So this was an actual work truck, then.
MITCH: Yeah.
It last saw service in--
1985 was the last time it was registered.
MIKE: Always a California truck?
MITCH: Yep.
MIKE: Holy cow.
I mean, this thing is unreal.
This is just one of those rare vehicles that it doesn't
matter whether you own a Ferrari or you own a Pinto.
You cannot not walk past this thing.
You have to stop and you have to look
and you have to observe.
MITCH: Yeah, I get a lot of that, yeah.
[BOTH LAUGH]
MIKE: Of course you do.

Now, what do you have powering this?
Obviously, it's a massive diesel.
So you stuck with--
your running and drive gear is all Ford.
MITCH: Yeah.
'97 Ford F-350.
MIKE: And that's motor transmission?
MITCH: Yeah.
ZF five speed, clutch, Dana 80 rear-end.
Drive shaft was out of the original truck.
MIKE: And so what type of power is this thing making?
MITCH: Well, we haven't dyno'ed it or anything like
that, but estimated at about 400 horsepower, 700
foot-pounds of torque.
MIKE: [LAUGHS]
MITCH: Has a mild chip in it.
MIKE: Mild.
So this has got to be an absolute rocket.
MITCH: Want to see the motor?
MIKE: Yeah, I would love to see the motor.
Please.
MITCH: I don't usually open it, because I like seeing
people get underneath, try and see what it is.
MIKE: Yeah, this is obviously one of the coolest things that
I've ever seen.
MITCH: Thanks.
MIKE: You know what, there are certain things that I like,
and certain things that you can just kind of walk by.
I don't think, as a car enthusiast--
whether you like European stuff, American stuff, or
trucks or motors-- you can't ignore this.
You simply can't ignore this.
MITCH: No, it's very inviting, and that's evidenced when I go
to shows and stuff like that, or I'm
driving down the street.
It's just like-- it's crazy.
People just--
they love it.
MIKE: It's got such an old-school feel and an
old-school look and such a powerful demeanor to it.
What do people say about it?
I mean, because when I first saw it, I just walked up to
it, and the only thing I wanted to do--
no offense, I didn't want to talk you, I wanted to look.
I wanted to look underneath it.
I wanted to look inside it and I wanted to look around it.
MITCH: They like individual little things about it, and
then they start to notice more things.
And then it evolves from the one thing that they like, like
kids will pick up on the skull in the back.
Women seem to be interested in the checkerboard on the top.
I don't know if that's like a decoupage thing or what it is,
but the checkerboard draws--
MIKE: Brings them a little bit?
MITCH: Brings them in.
MIKE: Right, OK.
MITCH: And then it brings in those guys that are dismissive
that are along with them, and they start to look at it and
they see engineering.
So I don't think it pops as an overview for a lot of people
at first, but when they focus on one thing, like the screws
around the windshield or the size of the tires or the
nomenclature on the door, that draws them in.
And then they start to get involved in it.
MIKE: Right.
Well, how many people do you-- because, especially here in
LA, I mean, you've got the best of the best and
worst of the worst.
You've got customizers that are just--
MITCH: Hacks?
MIKE: Hacks, and just awful, you know?
MITCH: And I see a lot of that.
MIKE: Yeah, I've no doubt.
This is one of those creations that--

it really is a car, a truck, but more so, it really is a
work of art.
And I look at these things, and again, the attention to
detail that you've done between the interior, the way
that you've done the suspension, which is
actually kind of--
I mean, where did you come up with the idea for that?
Because I'm looking at that going, I know I've seen it
someplace before, and I don't really remember where.
MITCH: That's a design found on a 1935 Miller Indy car.
MIKE: When you first thought about building this, did you
sit down with--
like when you see on TV, all the other guys, all the
designers and everything, they sit down with a sketchpad and
they, OK, well, I'm going to do this, and
I'm going to do that.
Or did you just have it in your head and say, you know
what, I'd really like to incorporate an element of
this, and an element of that, and just build is you went?
MITCH: Yes, and I do that, but I do little individual
sketches of components.
MIKE: OK.
MITCH: OK.
Or I'll do--
I'm not a very good artist.
I do rudimentary stuff.
And so I'll do a front view.
And I drew the seats.
The seats are one of the first things that I ever built for
this truck.
I embellished it with [INAUDIBLE] springs and the
high joints for the links.
You could find that seat in a truck like this with a coil
spring in the center with links.
MIKE: OK.
MITCH: So I pull those design features
out of original trucks.
MIKE: It's hard to really describe on camera the amount
of detail to this.
And I think when you go to car shows, you'll see cars that
are professionally built.
You'll see cars that are professionally built that guys
will charge big money for.
And then you can generally pick them apart, because
either the seams aren't good, or this doesn't line up, or
that doesn't a line up.
You always have to wonder why they did it this way.
MITCH: Kind of missed the mark.
MIKE: They way missed the mark.
And then I look at something like this, and like I said,
when I first saw this, it was one of those rare things where
I'm going, holy crap, he frigging nailed it.

I keep looking at this truck, and I've looked at this truck
now for a long time.
MITCH: [LAUGHS]
Well, that's very flattering.
MIKE: I don't think there's anything that I could say--
MITCH: Well, the mirror.
MIKE: No.
I-- no, no, no.
See this is--
MITCH: My shiny mirror.
MIKE: The only thing on this truck, for everybody--
the only thing that I noticed that was actually shiny was
the rear-view mirror.
At which point Mitch said, yeah, I've got
to dull that down.
MITCH: I've gotta do something about that, yeah.
I hadn't noticed it until you mentioned it.
MIKE: But, I mean, everything from the riveting to the
functional air scoop, which
absolutely does work, fantastic.
I mean, if you come back here, and you look at the fuel tanks
back here and how this was done, it's so painfully simple
and yet so amazing.
The fuel sight glasses, which are just neoprene hose,
basically, right?
MITCH: Yeah.
MIKE: And it just works.
MITCH: Just neoprene hose, but take into consideration that
there's an element there that's found
otherwise on the truck.
Like, see the nylon cord in it?
It crosses, which matches the screen.
That screen was original.
This was a dump truck originally.
MIKE: So what was the screen for?
MITCH: To keep rocks from going through the back window.
MIKE: Oh, really?
[LAUGHS]
MITCH: Yeah.
So we got some continuity.
It may be a little manic, but that's what I look at.
I look at stuff like that, you know?
Where you go, oh, I like that, that goes with the rest of it.
It pulls that element back.
MIKE: Right.
MITCH: It pulls it through the whole truck.
MIKE: Right, right, right.
MITCH: You know, like the screen on the doors and the
screen on the floor.
That's how we pull that into the inside.
MIKE: Well, that's how you look at it and you know
there's a formula to it.
It's so awesome.
I mean, like I said, I don't really get excited
about a lot of stuff.
This thing, I just--
I'm blown away by it.
MITCH: Well, I appreciate that.
Very flattering.
MIKE: I do, I just appreciate you letting us shoot it and
take the time to look at it.
I want to go for a ride.
MITCH: Yeah, we'll do that.
MIKE: [LAUGHS]
Because this thing's amazing.
[HEAVY METAL MUSIC]