MotorBiscuit’s Freak Show Friday: Freaky Truck Conversions We Like
We will pivot slightly for today’s Freak Show Friday to pickup truck conversions that we like. Most Freak Show Fridays are showing bad choices and worse craftsmanship. These, for the most part, are fine and finished. And we like them! You may not, but if you haven’t figured it out by following Freak Show Friday the mantra here is “to each his own.” So let’s dig into these juicy pickup trucks.
Crafty Mustang truck conversion
We’ll start out with this incredible fastback Mustang pickup. Doing a lot of searching over the years this is the only image that has ever cropped up. This would be quite a head-turner if it were ever finished. Maybe someone out there knows the scoop on this first-gen “Ranchstang.”
Ford Taurus Truck
Staying in the Ford family, here’s a first-gen Taurus converted into a pickup. Matching wheels and paint make this a deluxe freak, and the body lines lining up gives the builder five stars. It is still a freak, and a Taurus freak at that but you wouldn’t be embarrassed to pull up to the Ritz Carlton in it. Or would you?
Caddy Hack
As with the Taurus, on the Freak-O-Meter this scores high for matching paint and Pontiac wheels. This started as a 1977 Cadillac. It was the first year of the “downsized” Caddies, and it’s still a hulk. Without windows, it is what we would call a Roadster Pickup. They’re great in the summer but wet and cold in the winter. FYI, those rear truck fenders are from a Ford step-side pickup from 1953 up to the 1990s.
Sky High Saturn Truck
Wouldn’t it be fun to scoot around in this Saturn/Colorado racer? Yes, it is the front half of a Saturn Sky and the pickup bed from a 1990s Chevy Colorado pickup. It all blended together fairly well. We’ll call it an “El Skymino.”
You know, El Camino and Sky combined. We even have a rearview so you can take it all in.
“Super Doody Crown Vic”
What a practical use for a cop car. These Crown Vics are dirt cheap because they’re high miles and there are gazillions of them. But with a V8 and body-on-frame, it is practically a pickup begging to happen. So this enterprising builder opted for making it the pickup he’d have to pay thousands of dollars more for. It even has a name on the deck: “Super Doody.” Yes, it is!
Smart Tandem
Let’s just call it as we see it; these Smart Cars are turds. The transmission issues are legendary. And they’re too small. So this builder decided to make a practical truck out of his and added dual rear wheels in tandem for hauling extra weight. The added length makes it look better and the freakishness of it all we love. A Fabulous Friday Freak!
Porsche Pickup
Our last example has been around for decades. Years ago the Aase Brothers ran a salvage yard in Anaheim, California, for Porsche parts only. It was like Disneyland for Porschephiles. From a wrecked 914, they got Troutman and Barnes, a noted body-building shop in LA, to convert it into a pickup. And they used it to deliver parts. Seriously! It has passed through a couple of owners and is now painted red. It was and still is one of our faves.
