One of the other ideas they had always talked about for the last 35 to 40 years was that it would be fun to build an old vehicle to drive. As they were getting ready to retire in Hawaii, Dave started scouring the web for an old pickup.

Dave quickly found and bought a 1946 Chevy pickup he located in North Carolina in 2022. Since he grew up in South Dakota with family still here, he had it shipped to Sioux Falls and met the truck for the first time when the transport carrying it arrived. He found out that the photos looked better than they really were. He mentioned that the 327 engine that was in the truck had more water than oil in it. So, with quite a bit of discouragement, he had the truck hauled to StraightLines out at Tea, to do their thing with getting the pickup the way Dave wanted it.

After about six months of work, the transformation was complete starting with adding a Heidt’s front suspension to the cleaned-up frame, installing a new BluePrint 400HP 355 Chevy engine with a three-deuce set-up and 400 turbo trans backing it, followed up with a 3.73 geared Moser rear end, and Willwood disc brakes on all four corners for stopping power. 

They massaged the body and box to be straight while adding new paint and ending up with creating a new interior inside, all to Dave’s preference and liking. Once it was done, Dave flew back to Sioux Falls, put the pickup on a transport, shipped it to California, and put it on a boat to Hawaii. 

Dave says the car culture in Hawaii is different in that it feels a bit selective with people there, and finding shops to do maintenance work is just way too hard to find. He said it took him a couple of months to find a shop with a timing light, as most car stuff is computer-related these days. Eventually, Dave bought a timing light so he could play himself when it came to dialing in the three deuces. 

Then, in the spring of 2023, because of some health issues, they moved to California to get them sorted out and behind them. The pickup came with them. After being well again for over a year, Dave said, “Let’s move back home to South Dakota.” And the rest is history, with being at home again and living life to the fullest with family and friends.

Dave mentioned he has a lot of respect for StraightLines because of what they did when he and his wife lived in Hawaii. He had been having issues with his electric fan on his pickup with blowing fuses and after talking quite extensively with Dakota Digital, figured out where the problem lay. The issue was with the fan controller, so a new controller was given to Scott Anderson of StraightLines, who flew to Hawaii on StraightLines’ dime, and installed and adjusted the controller while adding a 40-amp relay to replace the 30-amp relay that was occasionally blowing. After that, the pickup was finally working as it always should have with no issues, and Dave couldn’t be happier as he continues to roll in his pickup, now back home in South Dakota.