By Rob Fortier – Photography by Tim Sutton
When the entrants began lining up for the inaugural World’s Most Beautiful Truck award judging process, in my mind I’d already narrowed down the competition to maybe a half-dozen or less … and the more I paced back and forth as the owners/builders buffed chrome and paint equally, that number quickly shrank down to half of that … and this was well before the actual judging even commenced. But there were a half-dozen judges doing the same visual sizing up, and I knew once “judgment day” came, there could be just as many differing opinions!
Read More About this Truck: 2023 World’s Most Beautiful Truck
Well, as Saturday evening came and the judges were all asked what their number one pick for WMBT (or “WoMBaT” as we’ve now affectionately nicknamed it!) was, it was unanimous: Greg Tidwell’s South City Rod & Custom–built ’40 Ford! Now, when discussions were had with people outside the judging, well, bets were all over the board, as the competition was that diverse. But when it came down to overall “everything,” Tiddy’s Forty was literally hard to beat—from fit and finish to the smallest of finer details, South City definitely hit the proverbial nail on the head … and Bill Ganahl and crew started with a practically prebuilt project (don’t let that fool ya!), as Ganahl told us:
“Greg’s pickup came to us as a nearly complete project, along with a full rendering of how the original owner intended to finish it. Almost all of the parts were there and all we had to do was assemble it all and paint it, just like the rendering. However, Greg and I started talking about what we could change, improve, and personalize, and the entire project snowballed and changed into an entirely different truck!
Read More: The Evolution of The Covington Customs-Built 1953 Ford F100
“When Greg first asked me how I envisioned the pickup, the first thing I thought of was the color: it had to be ice/frost green. I showed him photos of a Mosport Green Corvette, an Ice Green Porsche, and a few custom cars from the decades with similar colors. I had a rendering done so he could see what the color looked like on the truck, but Greg wasn’t quite into it.
“So, we soldiered on with the build, changing and modifying the drivetrain, the sheetmetal, the trim, the bumpers, the bed … you name it. We basically massaged or fabbed every piece on this little truck. The engine and transmission that came with it were sold and a higher-horsepower engine sourced from Smeding. The bed floor was raised 3 inches and all of the panels in the bed reworked to accommodate the new floor level. The firewall and engine compartment panels were all handmade from scratch. Basically, every part (other than the chassis) that came with the truck was sold or scrapped and we pretty much started over from scratch.
“Once we were done with the fabwork and Compani Color was ready to spray some paint, we had to revisit the color question. I had gathered a variety of different color options but kept pushing for the mint green. Finally, one day in December, Greg walks into my office with a Christmas ornament that his wife, Penni, had just hung on their tree, and it was like a revelation: It was the perfect version of mint green! Compani matched the color in Glasurit and laid it down.
Read More: Mom’s 55 Chevy With Modern Flair
Sometimes luck or fate, whichever you believe, plays a huge part in a build. If it weren’t for Penni’s color scheme for their Christmas tree ornaments, Greg’s truck might not have ended up this color. If it weren’t this color, it might not have won the inaugural World’s Most Beautiful Truck award at the Grand National Truck Show, let alone Goodguys Truck of the Year Early. But sometimes the chips fall perfectly and everything comes together, and we’re grateful that it did.”
Before I sign off with a huge congrats to Greg, Ganahl, and all, I’d like to take a second to make mention of some of the incidentals beneath that “nearly complete” project. For starters, the in-progress pickup had already been retrofitted with a Scott’s Hotrods IFS/four-link chassis. Behind the painted Wheelsmith steelies and Coker Classic wide whites, the perfect stance has been achieved with Aldan coilovers, while Wilwood brakes at all four ends are controlled by a Kugel hanging pedal assembly. Beyond that, in case you hadn’t noticed, South City gently chopped the top 1-1/2 inches. The raised bed was fit with NorCal Claro Walnut (try finding species at Home Depot!). Chris Plante Upholstery, as usual, knocked it out of the park with the brown leather and broadcloth interior (also features ’60 Buick deadstock cloth seat inserts) complemented by Classic Instruments’ Custom Shop passenger car gauges in a ’40 passenger car dash, LimeWorks ’40 shifter column, repop Crestliner wheel, and hidden ARC Audio sound system.
Again, until the next one, congrats to all!
Click on this issue’s cover to see the enhanced digital version of Greg Tidwell’s World’s Most Beautiful Truck Award Winning 1940 Ford Pickup.
