Al's Li'l Red Express Build

Al has always loved all things MOPAR, and when he first saw the “For Sale” sign on the shiny red truck in the strip mall parking lot, he jumped at the chance to own an icon of the Chrysler marquee. The year was 1994, and Al wanted a car or truck that he could tour the local car shows with and as his youngest child was getting ready for college, Al was ready to turn the page and start a new chapter of his life. Al is a car guy who hasn’t had a vehicle to enjoy as a hobby since he had started to have children in the early 1960’s. It was time to experience car culture again for Al.

 The shiny red truck was a 1979 Li’l Red Express in good condition. It was clearly a “driver” as it wasn’t entirely in stock condition and needed some TLC to make it something to be proud of. The noticeable modifications were minor cosmetic and minor performance additions. The rear-end, a Chrysler 8 ¾ “, was modified with relocated spring perches on the underside of the axle tubes to obtain a 3” drop of the rear of the truck. Air shocks were also installed in the back with an airline leading out to the rear bumper for recharging. The two outside rear view mirrors were different from each other. Gold and chrome 15 x 8 inch wagon wheels adorned the wheel wells. The exhaust was the extent of the performance modifications, starting with a set of tube headers added to the stock 360 which flowed through to a set of performance mufflers, and there was no catalytic convertor under the truck as was supposed to be on the LREs built for 1979.

Al drove the truck as much as possible for a few years and enjoyed it as a "driver". He brought it to a few car shows here and there, but the truck was more about it's feel rather than it's looks at this point. Still a rather cool looking truck, the noise that you heard and the power that you felt from burying your right foot is what this truck was all about. The trucks unique exhaust note that permeated from only a few inches from your ears had a hypnotizing effect on anyone that drove it, including myself. I'm Matt, Al's son. 

A long time ago, in a city far far away.....(I had to get my Star Wars reference in), My dad decided to take the truck to work on a Saturday and to make a long story short, he got in to a fender bender, or more like a radiator support bender. I was an aspiring young auto body technician working at plastic bumper repair business saving the world's trash heaps from prematurely discarded plastic and rubber bumper covers. I told my dad that now was a perfect time to paint this truck, we'll fix it and shoot a nice coat of fresh paint on it, and then he'll have something to be proud of. I then proceeded to remove the stacks and bed, piece by piece with intentions to paint the bed in separate pieces and put a nice new wood floor in the bed. The floor was painted red with a brush much like you would paint a wooden fence. Disgusting. This all happened in 1999 as in 13 years ago. Needless to say the project stalled for a bit.

Enter Tony, a co-worker of mine. I now work at a repair facility for aircraft components, and one day I got to talking to Tony (on my break time of course) about this stalled project of mine. Tony told me he was looking to develop his own business that he runs on the side, hence the name "On the side motorsports and diesel performance". He has a history of diesel repair as a career and drag racing his 1969 Firebird as a hobby. Tony is a mechanical and fabrication savant, but he doesn't possess the skill set to do finish work at the level he'd like (neither do I, but don't tell him). We conjured up this plan to work side by side at on the side to finish this project that has hung over me for thirteen years. I took Tony to my dad’s house where the truck danced between the driveway and the backyard for all these years. My dad had attempted to keep the truck running so occasionally he’d move it from driveway to backyard and then back to the driveway where it sat when tony first saw it. My dad agreed to let Tony and I paint the truck and put it back together with some mild modifications, like a four link rear suspension set up with rear disc brakes, new wheels & tires, and freshen up the engine and transmission.

That’s how we got here.

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