Life in the Brazos.com

Ric Ploeger
College Station, Texas

Eddie's Truck

Eddie Ryan's 1947 Chevy Panel Truck

Award Winning Streetrod

Before Restoration - Used to store hog feed!

Bryan / College Station, Texas

From this..... to THIS.....

Take a LifeintheBrazos.com VIRTUAL TOUR of the Restorationand result of Eddie's work!

PPG Cool Blue¯ is the answer to the most common question about Eddie Ryan™s 1947 Chevrolet Panel truck at car shows. It™s the name of the color. I once heard a woman exclaim That™s a lot a blue¯. The truck is also an award winning streetrod that is popular at every event in which it appears.

Eddie found his truck after years of looking. It was in Franklin Texas being used to store hog feed. Over the next four years Eddie rebuilt this tired old tuck into a beautiful ride. The frame was fitted with independent front suspension, an Olds 442 12 bolt rear axle, a Chevy 350 crate motor, and a 700r automatic overdrive transmission. Before the body was mounted Eddie fashioned a temporary steering wheel and seat and drove the frame up and down his long driveway to try it out. He also obtained two similar vintage suburbans that provided a few needed replacement body parts. The body was prepared and painted by John Treeter™s body shop in Caldwell, Texas. Then Eddie carefully fitted the body to the frame. A lot of experimentation went into finding the right springs to get the best ride height.

As the owner of Ryan™s upholstery, Eddie did not have to go far to get the upholstery done right. The finished product is beautiful and the Chevy bow tie emblems on the inside of each backdoor, were fashioned by Eddie. With power steering, power breaks and air conditioning this is a great long distance cruiser.

Shortly after completion and with only a few miles on the truck, Eddie set off for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville Kentucky. Since then, the truck has been to Oklahoma City twice, Pueblo Colorado and back to Louisville attending various events. Several trips to the GOODGUYS event at the Texas Motor Speedway, as well many other events around the state, have made this a very well known truck. Eddie Ryan is currently the president of the Bluebonnet Street Rod Club that produces the annual Rod Run at Central Park in College Station each June.