Life of Dave

Life of Dave

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Phantoms

This past weekend was dedicated to cars. I’d been anticipating a Volkswagen show on Sunday for some time, but another car show, this time hotrods, street rods and muscle cars was brought to my attention on Saturday, so we took in that one too.
One interesting trend that seemed to have affected different realms of car nuts is the Phantom. This particular niche has been around for a while and it is distinguished by creating a model that the factory never mass produced. The first one I saw was at the Abbotsford show held in the east end of town near Essendene. It was a late 50s Chevy pickup that had been stretched into an extra cab truck. They’re very popular now but they didn’t exist when these 50s models were initially produced. Phantoms require extensive fabrication and usually at least two vehicles are needed in order to produce the desired effect.
A 1955, 56 or 57 (I can'tell) phantom pickup.
The second one was observed at the Great Canadian Volkswagen Show held adjacent to Science World in Vancouver on Sunday. Strangely enough this truck wasn’t entered in the show. I happened across it as I was leaving. It’s a habit of mine to always check out the parking lot as well as the show vehicles. It’s almost always worth it.
This time it was a truck I’d seen advertised for sale some time ago on The Samba, an air-cooled VW enthusiast website. It’s an early 60s model initially (I’m pretty sure) made to look a lot older with the addition of a barndoor roof clip and dashboard (the ”barndoor” nick-name came from the huge engine lid which lasted until the middle of 1955). It started life as a double-cab truck but this one’s bed has been shortened to accommodate an extra-long cab. The rear portion of a panel van was added, including the two side opening doors normally featured on a panel van. I’m not sure if this would have required lengthening the frame, or if the shortening of the pickup bed made up the difference. Tail lights from a barndoor were also added for the vintage effect.
The front barndoor features of a phantom double-cab.
The rear barndoor features (i.e. tiny glass tail lights) of a phantom double-cab.

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