Teenager Built His Own Pickup

Teenager built his own pickup PICKUPS Miscellaneous 16-6-25 You'll never see this pickup in a dealer showroom because high school student and FFA member Neil Yung, Brunswick, Mo., built it himself. The sporty rig consists of a 1972 Chevrolet Cheyenne 1/2-ton body mounted on a Chevrolet 3/4-ton short bed pickup frame. Yung, who has worked in his family's body shop for years, did all the painting, body work, and mechanical work himself. "I started working on it when I was 131/2 years old and finished the day before I was 16," says Yung. "I drove it to school every day before graduating last spring. "The Cheyenne Super 20 was the most luxurious model in Chevrolet's K20 pickup series. I always liked that style of truck, but I wanted one that sits high off the ground. The body on my pickup is 21/2 ft. above ground. The pickup has air conditioning and a 450 hp engine that gets 6 to 8 mpg. I painted it white with a green `spider web' design on the lower part of the body." After mounting the 1/2-ton body on the frame of the 3/4-ton short bed, he mounted the entire assembly on a pair of axles from another 3/4-ton pickup, using new wheels fitted with 36-in. tires. He installed a 4-in. high suspension system and raised the body another 2 in. The Chevrolet "big block" 402 cu. in. gas engine came from a 1971 pickup, and the automatic transmission with overdrive was taken from a 1984 Chevrolet Blazer. Yung spent about $4,000 to build the pickup. It won first place in a recent custom truck building contest sponsored by Big A Auto Parts. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Neil Yung, Rt. 2, Box 561A, Brunswick, Mo. 65236 (ph 816 548-3693).

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