If you see this Oldwick, NJ Café Racer’s WW II truck in your rear view mirror, either nail it or get out of its way.
Paul Fiedler has been afflicted by Car Guy Disease for longer than he cares to remember, and his building, right, chock full of unique hot-rodded vehicles, bares this out. His specialty is vintage retro-looking vehicles with modern power and engineering. The one we are focusing on here is a real World War II four-wheel-drive Dodge Radio Car, above, that has been updated for cruising. Paul is the third owner of the truck since the U.S. Army decommissioned it.
Supplying the power is a 4.3-liter Chevy V6, below, fitted with handmade headers and topped off with a GMC 6-71 supercharged and single four-barrel carburetor. It took no less than 26 different handcrafted and machined components to mate the new Chevy engine and five-speed transmission to the existing drivetrain and chassis.
Backing up the engine is a Tremec five-speed with a 0.46 ratio overdrive, allowing 65-mph cruising speeds with the 5.89-to-l geared differential. Fiedler upgraded the brakes with power discs and fitted the truck with Hummer tires mounted on special wheels supplied by Stockton Wheel Service. There’s a hand-fabricated emergency disc brake installed in the transfer case.
The Radio Car’s bare bones interior was retained with some extra goodies. The tilt steering wheel hooks up to a ’64 Dodge counter-rotating four-wheel-drive steering box mounted behind the front axle assembly. Bare steel floors in the rear now feature luxurious polished wood panels. Tongue-in-cheek (Area 51, UFO) military livery completes Paul Fieldler’s conversion of a kick-ass vintage military vehicle.
For more information about the Oldwick, NJ Café Racers, please visit
http://www.sarasotacaferacers.com/community.html
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