Des Plaines student's vintage truck makes a proud statement
MARION - Here in deep southern Illinois, if you happen to see a dark gray primer-colored, mid-1950s Chevrolet pickup truck with an American flag waving in the wind and you're thinking that the driver must be a patriotic gear head, you'd be right.
It belongs to 21-year-old Mattson Hurder, a Southern Illinois University Carbondale student from Des Plaines, who works at the Marion Auto Zone.
"This is my first car (truck). I built it in our garage with my dad," Hurder said. "It was my freshman year in high school and it took us six years to get it to this point."
Turns out the truck build was a family affair in more ways than one.
"Me and Dad grabbed a small-block Chevy engine from my grandfather that he had laying around in his yard," Hurder said. "Also under the hood, we used some junkyard GM A body suspension. That's your Chevelles, your Malibus, your Monte Carlos. It's got a Dodge Intrepid steering rack to keep the steering in spec, and then we've got a $700 four-speed automatic transmission and bolts out of a Trans-Am."
The 1954 model truck is still a work in progress, and when asked if he's added air conditioning to the truck yet, Hurder laughed. "I don't even have a heater yet," he said. "I have to bundle up on cold days when I drive it."
When you're working your way through college, choices have to be made. He does plan to add a heater before fall.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that Hurder is majoring in automotive technology at SIU. He says he came by his love of old cars genetically.
"When I was growing up, my parents were both into cars," he said. "My mom had a 1972 Fiat convertible and a 1974 Fiat coupe. I actually bought the coupe off her a couple of years ago, and she sold the convertible to buy her Harley."
His dad has a '77 Pontiac CanAm, the first engine Hurder every rebuilt, 10 years ago.
"It blew up last month when he was driving it to a car show," he added.
The Old Glory flying in the bed of the pickup truck partly represents a dream unfulfilled.
"Me and my brother both wanted very much to be in our military," Hurder said. "Unfortunately, we both have asthma and they turned us down. So, I donate to the VA and I do what I can. And it's funny you mention that because tomorrow I'm getting an American flag tattoo."
Hurder gets a lot of positive reaction when he's out on the road.
"Just the other day, I was driving down the highway and this Vietnam vet pulled next to me at the stoplight and saluted me," he said. "Man, that is so humbling!"