This past summer we were pulling off one of our patented world tours and found ourselves in Louisville, Kentucky for the NSRA’s Street Rod Nationals. Wandering through the back lot, we found a wonderfully redone, custom 1959 Chevrolet Apache truck. The owner was not around so we weren’t able to ask any questions, but there was a show board with some of the specs on it.

According to the board, this Chevy was originally purchased new off the lot at San Diego’s Campbell Chevrolet in May of 1959. The truck underwent a complete frame-off custom restoration at Grider’s Performance and Restorations in Columbus, Kentucky for owner Larry Helm in 2015. The truck is painted in the original turquoise paint color.

The braking system was upgraded to a power disc brake on all four corners, power steering was added, along with an ididit tilt steering column. Inside the cabin is a Vintage Air environmental control system. The rearend is set up with 3:38 Yukon gears with a Moser axle set.

The only odd component in the build was under the hood. The build team put a de-stroked 350ci four bolt main, Gen I small-block Chevy in the engine bay. De-stroking the engine to 336ci ensures that the engine revs quicker, with some decent low-end torque. This was accomplished with a 327 large journal crankshaft and cylinder bores punched out to 0.60 over stock.

Original GM double-hump cylinder heads with stainless steel valves, an aluminum Edelbrock Street Dominator intake with 650 Edelbrock Street Dominator carb sits on top of the high-revving mill.

We may not have understood the de-stroked engine in the build, but we sure could appreciate it, as well as the rest of the build.