Chopped and Channeled Hot Rod Lincoln Pickup

Craftsmanship in Motion: Bill Dinges’ Unique ’34 Lincoln Pickup Transformation

By Brian Brennan – Photography By NotStock Photography

Bill Dinges’ 1934 Lincoln pickup, is craftsmanship in motion, with talented metal work, a chopped top, channeled body, and roots blower.

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By their very nature, hot rods are unique. Sometimes, we become jaded because, as enthusiasts, we see more than our share of these remarkable cars. However, every so often, we truly see a build that is unique and built with outstanding craftsmanship. Such is the case for Bill Dinges’ ’34 Lincoln pickup, which shows off plenty of personal touches, beginning with the massive roof chop, a good amount of channeling, and lots of distinctive personal touches.

The ’34 Lincoln pickup began its hot rod life as something stored in a barn. Bill gathered up the ‘34 Ford pickup cab from a friend, and once he was convinced it was worthy sheetmetal for his next project, a deal was struck.

Hot Rod Custom Metal Work

The truck’s cab was in surprisingly good condition, but that didn’t stop him from cutting 5-1/2 inches out of the roof, followed by filling some 43 holes in the firewall (we didn’t think the firewall would be large enough to house 43 holes) at home and then onto U.S. 12 Speed & Custom where he worked to finish out the project. Once at U.S. 12, Bill and owner Rocky Troxell and the rest of the crew jumped in and offered plenty of welcomed assistance. Look a bit more closely at the roof, and you will see a nifty hand-formed antenna mount with a neatly built-in custom “third” brake light. (Go look in your driveway and odds are one of your “other” vehicles will have a Center High Mount Stop Lamp, which is commonly referred to as the “third brake light” that came into being in 1986.) Showing off some serious skill sets, Bill built the pickup bed from aluminum and copper.

Look closely at the bed; aside from the gas tank, you will see what was an old, rusted, metal cooler. He formed a new cooler body and bead-rolled the image of the pickup into the side. He uses it to keep cleaning supplies and the like … or it still works as a cooler. Along with the ’38 Studebaker head- and taillight buckets, the light stands themselves are more of Bill’s handiwork made from hand-formed aluminum. More owner-hammered metalwork is visible in the ’35 Ford passenger car grille that was chopped and then he fabricated the individual grille bars. The bodywork was managed by the crew at U.S. 12, while the BASF custom copper mix with a satin clear was sprayed over the sheetmetal by Brett Miller. Throughout the build you will see copper-turned leaf and lettering, all laid down by Bill.

34 Lincoln Interior

Inside there is the distinctive ’62 Ford Falcon instrument cluster with stock gauges built into the fabricated aluminum dash accented with copper rivets. Bringing the gauges to life, as well as all the other electrical components, is the American Autowire kit wired by Todd Burks. Hanging from the handmade dash is a ’39 Ford steering column and “banjo” wheel.

The aluminum theme runs throughout the interior, as does the copper trim work. The twin buckets are hand fabricated by Bill from aluminum and copper metals, along with the seat and back pads. Spend time looking at the interior photos and you will see all sorts of neat touches and handy craftsmanship.

34 Lincoln Suspension and Chassis

The hot rod Lincoln’s front suspension is based on a plated and painted Magnum 4-inch drop I-beam axle, early Ford spindles, level tube shocks with bell cranks, and UniSteer cross steering. The forward brakes are made up of GM large single-piston calipers and hidden within the custom faux drum covers with engine-turned backing plates.

The rear suspension is based on a Ford 9-inch rearend and axles with 4:10 Richmond ring-and-pinion gears and drum brakes. There is a triangulated four-link setup along with QA1 coilover shocks. The wheels and tires are a combination of ’32 Ford 18-inch-diameter wires in front and ’35 Ford 16-inch wires in back. To this, Coker Excelsior rubber is added with 4.50 in front and Coker Firestone Deluxe 7.50 in the rear.

Hot Rod Lincoln’s Engine

The power comes by way of a tried-and-true ’62 Ford Y-block displacing 292 inches based on an iron block that was ground smooth with the necessary engine work handled by Gouger Racing Engines. From here, the block was filled with 9:1 pistons, an Isky cam, and a trio of Speedway Motors 9Super7 carbs resting on a very rare “Sneaky Pete” Robinson and an “Ohio George” Montgomery 6-71 blower. The blower itself was rounded up by Darren Mayer of Darren Mayer Performance Engineering, as his shop specializes in all things blower related. The air cleaner is more custom aluminum metalwork by Bill.

The ignition is a PerTronix Flame-Thrower with vintage (cloth) plug wires. The valve covers are factory Y-block but were lettered by Bill to give the illusion of Lincoln V-8 rocker covers. The exhaust is based on 1-3/8-inch stainless steel tubing that is fabricated into a “fan” shape with an external copper heatshield bolted to the open headers.

There is lots of custom fabrication here, joining the efforts of Bill and Troxell. Getting the power to the rearend falls to a ’62 Ford three-speed manual with a custom stainless steel shifter, all fabricated by Bill. An aluminum driveshaft finished off the powertrain.

The Lincoln pickup is award winning, testifying to both its appeal and its workmanship. It has won its class, an Outstanding Interior, and an Outstanding Engine at the Detroit Autorama. It has also taken home honors at the Chicago World of Wheels as a Top 20 Winner and Best Streetrod.

As for Bill calling his ’34 Ford pickup a “Lincoln,” well, that’s just some good old hot rod “screwing with your mind” kind of effort. Look closely at the Ford sunvisor and the tailgate and you will see the current Lincoln logo built into the sheetmetal. Artwork of the logo is also painted onto the bed-mounted, fabricated 14-gallon gas tank. You can always count on a hot rodder to be an “instigator” (note the script, if you can, on the tailgate) to have some fun with his buddies. MR