Photo: Classic Auto Mall
Depending on where on this planet you are located, the history (and name, and means of transportation, and so on) of Santa Claus may differ a bit. We westerners for instance like to believe it was Coca-Cola who invented the gift-bearing fat guy, when in reality all the company did was to make an existing character very famous.
Coca-Cola and its 1930s marketing gimmicks not only made Santa famous, but it also burned into our collective brains the image of the character riding around, wearing his fancy red and white suite, in a red magical sleigh powered by even more magical reindeer.
But imagine for a bit Santa did not get famous on account of Coca-Cola, but thanks to, say, Ford. Would his sleigh still have been a sleigh, or a pickup truck the likes of which the Blue Oval has a real talent of making?
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to picture Santa driving (or being driven) around in something like this here 1934 Ford pickup street rod, displayed in all its glory on the lot of cars being sold by Classic Auto Mall.
Powering the thing along are not reindeers and neither the 4-cylinder engine it originally came with. Instead, a 350ci (5.7-liter) V8 is what makes this thing tick, backed in its mission by a 3-speed transmission.
The body of the truck, all red and jolly, was reshaped using fiberglass and steel, and wider running boards were fitted. The bed at the back comes in varnished oak, while the interior makes use of beige faux suede broadcloth. The dashboard of the build, also in red, holds Autometer gauges, and a rally steering wheel with a drilled chromed center sits in front of it.
Now, the truck has the proper looks of a street rod from that era, and one can even go the extra mile and imagine this as a ride for Santa. There is one element though that spoils all that beautiful image, and the truck as a whole: the yellow flames that lick their way from the absent side panels of the engine bay and over most of the doors.
For some, myself included (and probably even Santa), flames on a car are a deal-breaker, and not even the $34,000 asking price can make me overlook that.
But imagine for a bit Santa did not get famous on account of Coca-Cola, but thanks to, say, Ford. Would his sleigh still have been a sleigh, or a pickup truck the likes of which the Blue Oval has a real talent of making?
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to picture Santa driving (or being driven) around in something like this here 1934 Ford pickup street rod, displayed in all its glory on the lot of cars being sold by Classic Auto Mall.
Powering the thing along are not reindeers and neither the 4-cylinder engine it originally came with. Instead, a 350ci (5.7-liter) V8 is what makes this thing tick, backed in its mission by a 3-speed transmission.
The body of the truck, all red and jolly, was reshaped using fiberglass and steel, and wider running boards were fitted. The bed at the back comes in varnished oak, while the interior makes use of beige faux suede broadcloth. The dashboard of the build, also in red, holds Autometer gauges, and a rally steering wheel with a drilled chromed center sits in front of it.
Now, the truck has the proper looks of a street rod from that era, and one can even go the extra mile and imagine this as a ride for Santa. There is one element though that spoils all that beautiful image, and the truck as a whole: the yellow flames that lick their way from the absent side panels of the engine bay and over most of the doors.
For some, myself included (and probably even Santa), flames on a car are a deal-breaker, and not even the $34,000 asking price can make me overlook that.
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