Why I Love My Car is a series in Wheels that features people sharing their love for their vehicle. Owners reflect on how they came to own their car and tell us about the role it plays in their life and why they have such a strong connection to it.
Whether it’s cruising streets or being shown at car shows, Lee Temple’s 1987 S-10 Chevy truck turns heads with its unique purple colour, Hot Wheels graphic and guttural rumble. The Stouffville man designed and built the truck himself. He customized every aspect.
“I’ve been into cars for as long as I can remember. Anything I know has been self-taught. My first car was a 1961 Rambler. I owned a collection of AMC cars, and had seven, years 1968 to 1974, but I let them go and got out of it (hobby cars) for a few years.
In 2012, I was bored, woke up one day and wanted to build something. I always had the desire for the fat tire or pro street cars with really wide back tires. They looked cool and fascinated me.
I always loved square-bodied trucks and used to have a 1976 Chevy pickup. This truck happened to be on Kijiji. It was a rolling chassis, as the guy had bought it for the motor. I wanted to build something that looked and sounded like a race car that I could drive like a regular vehicle.
I had a vision and I used Google and YouTube to learn, and asked a couple of mechanics some questions.
The chassis had tires and I could push it around. It was a pro street frame that I took down to bare. I built the motor in my living room and had parts in my kitchen and some in the freezer. I built all of the truck in the barn, which was insulated with a cement floor and had a propane furnace.
I modified the roll cage, so it was more convenient for me to get inside. I built the suspension and cut out various parts inside the fenders to make it lighter.
I bought the truck in December, 2012, and my first drive in it was June 4, 2016. It took four years to build. I drove 30 km the first time as I didn’t want to stray too far from home. I did a few shows in 2017 and 2018. That was a whole new world to me. I’ve now been to 400 shows and I’m a judge. I’m also a member of Highway 11 Cruisers (www.highway11cruisers.ca).
The interior of the truck is my favourite, because I know what was involved in building it; I did it all by hand and it’s brushed aluminum. It took countless hours. I painted it, then tore it out and took it down to bare, brushed metal again, which a friend powder-coated for me. The truck has a race car theme, so it’s not a plush interior. The Kilduff shifter gets a lot of attention. The truck has a Hardwood Fibreglass cowl hood and a custom rear wing, and custom LED lights.
The truck’s never been on a track. Ninety-five per cent of people who see it ask how fast it is, but I don’t know. I’ve never opened it up to its full potential. I don’t need speeding tickets.
It has a small block 350 engine, bored and stroked to 383 cid (cubic inches of displacement) and 450 horsepower. I bought the motor in Keswick. I took it apart and had a guy in Oshawa do the machine work. I had the transmission professionally done.
I painted the truck myself. I always loved Chrysler Plum Crazy. I painted all the interior parts that colour. I painted the chassis the same colour, but didn’t like it, and kept adding black to the purple until I came out with what I liked. I got it colour-matched and it’s a factory colour, Audi Merlin Metallic.
A friend of mine supplies cars for movies and was doing a TV interview, and had room for one more car and asked me to bring the truck. That’s when I put the Hot Wheels logo on it. I had a wrap company do the graphic. If I drive the truck down Yonge St., at any intersection there are people with cameras taking pictures of the Hot Wheels truck.
The truck had a carburetor, but I heard of a new fuel-injection system virtually anyone could install to replace carburetors. I ordered one and it was one of the first ones installed in Canada. I had to tear the motor apart and change the cam shaft to do it. I miss the very, very aggressive sound of the truck when it had a carburetor, but it runs better and is smoother.
I’m super proud of what I’ve done. People ask if I can do it for their cars, but I tell them no, as I’m not a licensed mechanic, I drive bulldozers and build houses. I built my truck myself but had all work professionally checked. Everything on the truck, I touched. At shows, the back of the truck is covered in trophies I’ve won, but I did not build it to win trophies or for it to be a show car. I drive it everywhere, except in winter when I store it in a shipping container my boss has.
It’s tin. It’s a rattlebox. But I just love it. It’s not the most comfortable vehicle in the world to drive, but I’ve driven worse.
I’ve never had anything major go wrong with it. I’ve been very lucky with this truck. The feeling when I’m in it is pretty amazing. Sometimes I’m out driving, and a big smile comes over my face to think I built this, every nut and bolt.
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