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A FORMER race car driver has built a one-of-a-kind vehicle never before seen on the roads - a 1952 Ford pick-up truck that drives BACKWARDS. Davey Hamilton, from Indianapolis, built his creation after being inspired by a former racing driver pal who owned a truck – so Davey decided to get one but give it a unique spin all of its own. Incredibly Davey’s backwards driving truck can reach speeds of up to 85mph, amazing other road users everywhere it goes.
Video Credits:
Videographer / director: Dan Wagner
Producer: Kalina Van Vlack, Kim Nguyen
Editor: Alex Lubetkin
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0:00
Number one, it's attention getter. Number two, it's definitely a fan favourite. Number
0:10
three, it was a lot of work. Former car race driver Davey Hamilton has swapped the fast lane to build a one-of-a-kind 1952
0:21
Ford backwards pickup truck. I'm Davey Hamilton and this is my 1952
0:30
forward, backwards truck. Wait! It drives backwards! What the heck? So a friend of mine up in Maine, who is a former racer, I went to his place and he actually
0:43
had a truck that was somewhat like this, but I took it another step farther
0:54
So a lot of the trucks, older trucks, have really small back windows
0:58
They don't have the wide ones. They're still little. and I'm from Indianapolis
1:02
So I looked all around the Indy area, couldn't find a truck with a big back window. I happened to find this truck
1:06
like three miles from my father's house. He sent me some pictures, I go, perfect, get it
1:11
As far as the body it all the original body the frame original The steering column and the pedals it all still original And then we had to put the lights on obviously going the wrong direction
1:22
I didn't know what to do for a bed cover, so we figured to keep it rustic looking, we just use this piece of plywood
1:31
But then you can see inside, it's just a 350 Chevy engine with a turbo 350 transmission. Yeah
1:40
One key thing was a big radiator because the air going through the tailgate wasn't that good
1:46
So you can see we had to cut a hole for your feet to go inside the bed, so we had to seal all this up
1:51
make sure no water and stuff came in inside the truck. We actually took seats out of a Clarisse Razor. We just had them, right
1:58
But the dash, we built it. My dad actually built and broke this dash out of aluminum, got all the gauges in it
2:05
I always get mixed up on which door to get in, but obviously this is the door
2:10
The right door is the one you're supposed to get in all the time
2:14
So I just took a racing fuel cell and put it in for a gas tank. Fenders brake lights taillights blinkers It has to have windshield wipers It passed It has everything that required to have in a car All the body mounts had to be turned around and switched So getting it to where it looked proper and like it was a regular truck per se like it looks pretty good
2:41
It looks like it's supposed to go forward and so it took some time to get everything leveled out
2:45
and make sure that it was mounted properly so it didn't bounce around
2:49
This backwards vehicle is also easy to maneuver once you get the hang of it
2:54
It's easy to drive. It's got, like I said, good brakes and all that that goes with it
2:59
But it's still, in the day, still a 1952 Ford truck, right
3:03
So, but it's fun. It's not too aerodynamic with the cab backwards
3:09
I'll tell you that. The front end is so long. It's the bed, and you're looking over the bed
3:13
So it takes a little bit to learn where you're at. And as you can tell, it's a little tighter, right
3:18
The cockpit's not quite as much room as if you turned around
3:22
I've had it up to 85. I really don't want to go any faster. It goes pretty good at that speed
3:26
It doesn't handle great. I definitely don't want to put it on a racetrack. It's really a 52 Ford truck
3:35
I don't even know how to value that thing, right? I don't have any idea what it's worth to somebody, but it's unique
3:41
I been offered some money for it but I wasn ready to sell Unsurprisingly this unique vehicle gets a lot of attention out on the road See now you guys at the bar over there
3:52
People get a kick out of it, that's always fun, right? When it makes somebody's day, it's probably cool
4:01
People have told me that, I haven't smiled like this for a long time, so that's pretty
4:06
cool, right? That's the kind of reaction you get, right? Yeah
4:20
People just like this gentleman, they want to stop you, they want to talk to you, they
4:26
want to look it over and ask questions, so you definitely don't want to be in a hurry
4:31
The town I'm from, everybody talks about it, but it still gets reactions
4:35
There's new people that see it every time we take it out. It's definitely a crowd getter
4:40
I haven't been pulled over yet. I've kind of been waiting. I actually passed a cop once
4:44
He waved and off he went, like most people. You know where in the rules it says where the body's supposed to go
4:50
Yeah, it doesn't matter
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