The May/June issue of Vintage Truck magazine will be available in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands soon. Our cover story about a 1940 Plymouth PT 105 Pick-Up was written by Robert Gabrick, with photos by Brad Bowling.

In 1984, Larry Jenkins traveled to Sweetland, West Virginia, to harvest items for his 1941 Plymouth 4-door sedan from a parts car that lay alongside a barn. The retired crane operator investigated the barn’s contents and saw our featured 1940 Plymouth PT 105 Pick-Up. After some negotiation, he bought it in 1986.

Jenkins put his new project away in an outbuilding. There it gathered dust until 2001, when he began an 11-year-long, frame-off restoration. Apart from the stainless and chrome restoration done by Qual Krom of Erie, Pennsylvania, and the metal cleaning done by Redi Strip Indy of Indianapolis, Indiana, Jenkins—along with his wife and “help-mate” Tammy—did all the work. He relied on parts made by Roberts Motor Parts of West Newbury, Massachusetts, frequented flea markets and car and truck shows, and often visited a nearby salvage yard that specializes in Chrysler Corp. parts.

At some point during its working life, the truck sustained significant front-end damage. The original owner—not the “barn owner”—replaced the 1940 nose piece with a 1941 nose piece that had also been damaged. Jenkins replaced it with the correct 1940 part. With his skills, Jenkins cut parts, welding them into place using body tools to heat and hammer the body and fenders. As a result, the body contains no fillers. Characterizing much of his work as trial and error, Jenkins told us about some of the more troublesome aspects of the restoration, such as the noticeable waves that appeared in the rear fenders as he sought to attach them to the pickup box. The third time proved to be the charm for painting the cab. Jenkins would move the cab via a dolly outside into his driveway; after painting it, he would move it back inside.

To read more about the 1940 Plymouth Pick-Up truck, pick up a copy of the May/June 2018 issue of Vintage Truck magazine!