1972 Blaze Red Crystal Pearl Chevy street rod owned by PebbleCreek Classic Car Club members Dave and Jan Byerley (photo by Linda Babcock)
Linda Babcock
From humble beginnings, this 1972 Chevrolet truck is now an award-winning street rod. When “Hughy” was brand new, he was owned by Dave Byerley’s brother, Tom, and was used in his carpet cleaning business. Hughy did not last long in that industry and was sold in June 1973 to Dave and Jan Byerley. While living in Oregon, Dave needed a truck for camping and pulling his travel trailer. They were also building homes and needed a truck for hauling construction materials. At one time Hughy could be seen with a 20-foot 2 x 12 resting on the cab roof.
This very sound ’72 Chevy sat outside in the Oregon rains for years. In the late 1980s Dave and Jan’s daughters each had a turn while in high school driving the little Chevy truck to school. Only getting 10 mpg, the rides were usually short unless Dad would provide gas money for a beach trip. A collision with the youngest daughter at the wheel provided a valuable life lesson that was learned in that you always, always use your seatbelt.
Forward to Dave’s retirement in 2002. He always wanted to build a street rod. For his first project, Jan suggested rebuilding Hughy and thus the new life began. At this point, Hughy was moved into Dave’s shop and was fully disassembled down to the bare frame. There are only a few original parts in the humble ’72 Chevy. Dave, together with Jan, did all of the disassembly and then reassembled the truck. The paint job was professionally done in Hillsboro, Ore., by Arturo of Black Ball Customs, who produces award-winning paint jobs.
In 2020, Dave was looking for a “COVID project” and guess what, Hughy was on the disassembly block again in Dave’s new Arizona shop. Dave purchased a “Total Tubular” suspension from Classic Performance Products in California. This “Week to Wicked” project took Dave a little longer than one week, but Hughy now has a modern custom suspension and drives at 75 miles per hour with perfect tracking. Auto-cross racing, why not? Dave and Jan have entered their prized truck Hughy in several car and truck shows, bringing home more than 30 awards, primarily first place. So, if you see this beautiful 1972 Chevy street rod sporting a Blaze Red Crystal Pearl paint job with very subtle flames, give Dave and Jan a wave.