Hunting Unicorns

This is my ten thousandth post on this ere forum and I’ve been saving it to tell you about tale about an impressionable teenager, a lust for rusty old cars, and a unicorn. My unicorn.

For those who haven’t heard the term, a unicorn is a mythical creature, one that keeps getting away from you. So in this case, it would be one of those cars that’s very hard, nearly impossible, to track down and end up owning for various reasons. It might be finances, it might be not that many were made, it might be they were never sold to your local market. It might just be life getting in the way and making the circumstances too difficult for you. I suppose strictly speaking everyone can only have one unicorn.

I can tell you more or less exactly when and where this unicorn appeared to me. It was April 2002, and I was in the sixth form common room of the Hayfield school near Doncaster. I was 17, and I was rather getting into cars by that age. I’d already had a couple of beetles for a couple of years. But I was also buying hot rod magazines and pouring over them for ideas, and my main beetle had various hot rod mods- satin black paint, louvered bonnet, engine turned ally panels, etc.

This was the car that really grabbed my attention. Jimmy shines bare metal ‘34 pickup truck. At that point I knew exactly what I wanted instead of the beetle I currently had.


Back then this car was big news. It won some award at a fancy indoor show in the states, totally turning the hot rod scene over there on its head. Things were all still rather street-roddy at that period, and this newer breed of ‘new school traditional’ cars were something fresh.
It’s also kinda responsible for the rise of the ratrod, but to call this car a rat rod is rather offensive I think. It’s better finished than most street rods, just not painted.
Unfortunately, it’s also almost single-handedly responsible for the massive price hike in ‘32-‘34 ford pickup cabs. So much so they now make repro steel ones now like they do ‘32 coupes!

As a ‘34 ford pickup was way beyond my means (at the time there were probably only half a dozen in the country, and even back then they were a money car), I had to content myself with the other features in that magazine, and as a result my beetle got a V-ed front bumper like Wayne Allmans car instead.

Although Mr. Shines 34 wouldn’t be exactly to my tastes now after 15+ years experience of building hot rods, the idea of a chopped and channelled traditional-ish 34 pickup never left my mind. As a result of this, one of the first hot rods I ever tried to buy about 3-4 years later was a chopped and channelled model A pickup. Tbh looking back it wasn’t that well built and the seating position reflected this. But there was no getting round the fact at 6’4”, I couldn’t actually get in it no matter how I folded my limbs in. I ended up with a model A sedan instead, which I still have.

Over the years I’ve owned and built various other hot rods, but that ‘34 was still there in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to march 2019, pretty much exactly 17 years later, and I see half a ‘32-‘34 pickup cab for sale. This obviously piques my interest. But it’s only half a cab. It’s the cowl without firewall, a dash panel and a full roof skin. It’s a bit rough but not bad for the money.


I dismiss it as being too incomplete, then find myself looking at how difficult it would be to source a cab back. The answer is very. You’re talking thousands plus shipping. Complete cabs with doors etc. Are now easily 5 grand plus shipping. Things get very expensive very quickly.
Definitely pushed out of my mind and forgotten about, I carry on with other things.

Then a few weeks later a cab back pops up for sale in the UK!
This is too good to believe. I message the guy immediately. The cab back turns into a cab back with subfloor framing and some repair panels. I go back and find the advert for the cowl and roof. It’s still available. This is meant to be. So I drop a couple of Gs on some rusty old bits of pre-war pickup, and drive down to London to collect half whilst simultaneously sending a pallet courier down to Devon for the other half.

A few days later and the two halves are united. I’m over the f-king moon with my doorless, firewall-less purchase.
I’ve done it. After 17 years of it niggling away I’ve caught that unicorn.


Then comes the plot twist.
THIS ISNT THE ‘34 PICKUP I CURRENTLY OWN!