Vehicle Description
This all-steel Ford custom UTE roadster pickup was originally
custom-built for LeRoi "Tex" Smith of NHRA and Hot Rod Magazine
fame, and at one point owned by Gas Monkey Garage. Smith was a
supporter of Bonneville Salt Flats in the early 1950s and helped
develop the NHRA. He was editor at Hot Rod magazine and introduced
Street Rodder, Rod & Custom and several other successful magazines.
He helped in the founding of NSRA and Street Rod Nationals, was the
editor of Old Car Weekly, became PR Director for the Great American
Race, introduced his own magazine (Hot Rod Mechanix), and developed
an ever-growing line of specialty books. This beautiful all-steel
phantom roadster pickup was originally built by OZ Rods of
Australia in the mid-1990s and completed a 3-year restoration by
Boyd Coddington's cousin, Bill Miller. It features a built HEMI V8
engine breathing through a custom intake utilizing four Stromberg
97 carburetors built by SEMA award-winner Hells Gate Hot Rods and
is backed by an automatic transmission. The pickup features
Mercedes Cream PPG paint and a custom Canyon-colored leather
interior. The 3-year restoration was completed in June 2015, the
same month as Tex Smith's passing. This beautiful 1934 Ford UTE
custom roadster pickup will be an everlasting memory of one of
hot-rodding's early legends and iconic figures, LeRoi Tex Smith.
**TITLE IN TRANSIT**
