Edition 16. Built by Street ROD Factory
Like so many South Africans, I have a soft spot for Pickups. I am a huge fan of ‘30s rods, so when I heard that Ettiene Botma from The Street Rod Factory in Centurion finally got his 1932 Pickup on the road, I just had to go look. Walking into his shop and seeing this black beauty, the only thing that went through my head was – man that looks hot!
Photos and article by Joe Van Zyl
Ettiene is no stranger to SA HotRods, we all spent hours in front of the TV watching him build Riaan Venter’s 1941 Chevy Coupé that was featured in edition10. Many people never noticed what was lurking in the background. There were fibreglass moulds of a 1932 Ford Pickup, something Ettiene has been working on for some time now.
The Street Rod Factory is renowned for building some of the hottest fibreglass ‘33 Ford Coupés and Roadsters in the country. “After things calmed down from the TV show, I decided I needed my own shop truck. I have been working on the ‘32 cabs for some time and I decided it was time to get them out to the market. The best way to show people the new bodies were to just build one myself.”
Ettiene started to work on building the chassis using a similar design as the chassis of the 33 Ford Coupé. For the suspension, Ettiene went for the tried and tested Jag XJ6. “I planned to use the truck as a daily driver so I wanted to make sure the drive was comfortable”.
The 350 Chevy motor and gearbox Ettiene came from one of his previous builds. Next, was the load bin. “I wanted to move motors and parts around in the truck, so the load bin had to be steel. I made it from scratch out of 2 mil steel and the 100 liter fuel tank on the back from aluminum. “I love it when my Rods are loud. However, when doing long trips the straight through pipe does become a bit much, so I put a special valve on the exhaust. She is nice and quiet till I decide to bring on the noise”!
The ‘32 pick-up cab, grill, running board and fenders are all made from fiberglass that Ettiene now supplies in kit form. The bullet front headlight covers are also fibre-glass moulds that SRF supplies with Golf MK1 lights inside. The indicators are from a 1937 Chevy that have been modified. The backlight is from a 1932 Ford.
The interior was kept basic. The bench seat is from a 1400 Nissan bakkie, made to fit. The seats and door panels are covered in fake leather and give a nice old-school feel. The power steering and electric windows are extra comforts added. The wheels are old tiger wheels, 7 inch in the front and 10 inch in the back, wrapped with 195/60/14 in the front and 295/50/15 in the back.
After all the tech talk we took this baby out for a spin. Ettiene loves the open road like most Rodders and because of his background in racing, he loves to go like stink. This thing sits on the road like sh@t to a blanket and goes like a bat out of hell. The cab is spacious and your ride position is comfy. I could just imagine hitting the open road baby.
SAHR went on a wild ride in The Street Rod Factory’s new 1932 Ford Pickup. While cruising, I asked Ettiene what was with the Matt Black paint job and the Jack&Daniel’s branding on the car. He smiled and said “I just got tired of all the pretty shiny paint jobs. I wanted something different. Hence the skull on the grill and the lucky 13 badges on the doors. It’s more my personality than anything else.
As for the Jack Daniel’s logo, Jack and I have been friends for a looooooooong time and we have come a long way together”. Rods have been around for a long time and so has Jack. So they just go together so well. I am sure Jack would have loved to do his deliveries in this truck all over Tennessee.
