SHABBY CHIC

DENNIS TAYLOR BUILT A FULL-CUSTOM SHOWSTOPPER LARGELY FROM A COLLECTION OF LEFTOVER PARTS.

- ANDREW WOLF

Dennis Taylor has built and painted hundreds of high-end custom cars and trucks in shimmering coats of metallics and pearls in his time, but it’s his latest creation, a vehicle with nearly three-quarters of a century of weathered patina, that the Arkansas automotive maestro stands back and marvels at most. The project in question, a 1953 GMC “COE” (cab over engine) truck, is a visual masterpiece of creativity and the result of seven years of on-again, off-again effort and problem-solving. These COE trucks, very utilitarian vessels of the era, came in a range of configurations and wheelbases for everything from fuel and car hauling to farming, delivery, and wrecker duty.

Dennis always wanted to build a COE, and when he saw one come available on eBay years ago, he didn’t imagine it would lead to a seven-year saga culminating in one of the most unique builds ever. What arrived from that eBay auction was far from aesthetically and mechanically worthy of the time investment and quickly became a yard ornament at the Taylor household. It came with a key ingredient, though—it sat on a 1976 GMC motorhome chassis. That frame would become the foundation for a dream that combined two trucks into one unforgettable build.

While the eBay find languished, a second truck caught Dennis’ eye years later during a trip to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Sitting neglected behind a building, it was an old work truck, complete with the kind of patina that tells a story. Dennis wasted no time striking a deal, becoming just the second registered owner of the truck in some six and a half decades. Over those next seven years, as weekends and evenings permitted, both the cab and chassis were radically married to one another.