Yes, I know a 1962 Chevy can't really be considered a 4-wheeler, but this isn't your dad's typical '62 Chevy!

It all started out in the summer of 1971 in Merced, CA, while my brother Michael and I were still living at home, attending college and I had my first good job, making $7.50 an hour...not bad for a 19-year-old in 1971!  Michael and I had a tendency to go on double-dates, in order to the stock car races held on a dirt track every Saturday night during the summer.  Editor's Note:  Sometimes we were challenged to talk our dates into attending stock car races, as the ladies seemed to have other ideas of what to do on a Saturday night.  However, we usually managed to produce a 6-pack of Coors and a pint of cherry vodka, and that usually did the trick...  Getting back to the story, when the jalopies would stall, a "push-car" would be called to the rescue to clear the track, so the race could continue.  Usually the push-car was a CJ-5, but occasionally something more exotic would show up. A seed was planted in our brains...

Editor's Note:  All photos in this article were taken by my brother, Michael Rench.

Both photos:  April, 1972 finds our "four-wheeling" Chevy stuck in the mud on the shores of Lake McClure, I  in Mariposa County, CA.  You can see that we're using the "jack-'n-fill method to get out.

Dad heard us talking about it, and he knew someone that had a pretty-good 1962, lime-green, 4-door Chevy for sale, for the princely sum of $400.00.  Now for our intended purposes, a '62 Chevy was great, is that parts were plentiful and it had a frame, unlike the uni-body construction utilized in later models.

So we bought the Chevy, drove it home and immediately started tearing it apart.  Out came the tools, the cutting torch, the welder, you name it.  We basically tore it down to the frame and built our own custom body on it, sort of resembling a dune buggy, or a sand rail, or a ...what?  Whatever you would call it, after a summer's work, it was a unique creation.  However, it was truly a "psycho billy" car, from whatever angle you would gaze upon it at.

However, underneath the exotic looks, it was totally stock.  We carefully researched the vehicle code and made sure all the required things, like seat belts, horn, lighting, mud flaps, etc., were all up to code. When we took it over the C.H.P. to get it registered, they spent a lot of time checking it out, but due to our adherence to the code, it passed.

Left:  Sweetwater Mine, in Mariposa County, was an actual working mine back in 1972.  Note the "jerry can" and the wooden toolbox at the rear of our Chevy.  The gas tank was located in what used to be the back seat.  Right: Our vehicle poses at "The Platform" in the Sierra National Forest, in Mariposa County, in March, 1972.

So how does this fit in with four-wheeling?  Because we took it places where we shouldn't have!  Since we were teenagers, and didn't really have much common sense; we attempted many four-wheel drive trails and got stuck every time.  After a few good stucks, we learned the strap-and-jack, jack-and-fill and jack-and-rock-'n-roll methods of getting unstuck.  Not to mention the use of a high-lift jack as a poor man's winch.

On the road, this thing generated a lot of attention.  Everybody, and I mean everybody would turn their heads and stare as we'd drive by.  I can remember several times when we almost caused wrecks by people focusing their attention on us, rather than the road.  At the gas pump, or at a parking lot the biggest question asked was, "Is it legal?"  You just didn't see many "custom" Chevys like this one on the road.

This was in the days when "dragging the main" was the in-thing to do on Friday and Saturday nights.  Everybody wanted a ride in our "truck," especially the local girls.  Michael and I didn't object to that at all! For such occasions, we installed a "wolf whistle" on the intake manifold, to better announce our presence to all of the young ladies who wanted to be "seen" with us in or creation.

Left:  Our Chevy gives us a great view of the South Fork of the Merced River Canyon, and it's 300 c.i. six, complete with chrome-plated valve cover, and orange-painted engine block.  Right:  Today, I look at the trail to Footman Ridge, in Mariposa County, and I wonder how we made it up there, as I consider this to be a Class-2 four-wheel drive trail.  Oh to be 19-years old again!

One illegal modification that we performed was to install an exhaust cut-out.  We installed a little lever on the dash, and when you'd pull it out, a baffle would redirect the exhaust into a straight pipe, bypassing the muffler. You can imagine how much noise a 300 c.i. straight-six makes without a muffler!   The kid's on 17th Street loved it!  I don't think Mom or Dad ever knew about it, otherwise they would have had something to say about it.  We were always discreet when the police were in the area and we never got caught.

Alas, all had to come to an end.  Michael got married and I accepted a job out of town.  We decided to sell our creation to a guy who intended to use as a push car at the Saturday night races, interesting as that was the original purpose being our creation.