As a native Ohioan, whenever I mention my home state to out-of-towners, the response is typically the same. “Is that somewhere near Nebraska?” I get it. Ohio isn’t a vacation destination nor is it usually a line on anyone’s bucket list of places to visit. But we can proudly call our state home to modern marvels and innovations you can’t live without. The godfathers of flight – the Wright brothers – are from Ohio. And Wendy’s. Yeah, we can proudly lay claim to the juicy, heart-stoppingly delicious Baconator.
When you scan your eyes up and down the modest list of Buckeye State badassery, you can’t help but notice the name of a little ol’ hot rod shop near the shores of Lake Erie. Boris Maryanovsky’s world famous Street Machinery has helped keep Euclid, Ohio, on the map. We chronicled his shop way back in our first issue, so we won’t go into details here. In short, let’s just say that Boris and his insanely talented crew know how to put together killer builds and the proof is in the pudding.
Take this story, for example. One of Boris’ customers called him up and mentioned that he would be dropping off a rough-ish, original paint ‘67 long bed C10 at the shop. The front sheetmetal was clean and he wanted to use the truck as a donor for a front end swap on his ‘70 C10. As they got closer to embarking upon the sheetmetal swap, Boris began to take a closer look at the donor. The more he looked, the less he wanted to pick the truck apart. In typical Boris fashion, he called the owner and pleaded with him to spare the life of this Vermillion Red survivor. The two talked over different options with the project and came to an agreement that put Boris’ name on the title of this cool red ‘67.
Once the truck was wheeled into the shop, the boys at Street Machinery wasted no time getting busy. Jeff Jasik had the long bed sides on his operating table, slicing and dicing them into shorties. Over in the body shop, Garret Lamont and Brayden Kelley got to work removing the typical rust spots on the cab so they could replace them with fresh sheetmetal. They prepped the firewall and underhood sheetmetal and gave everything a fresh lick of paint to complement the retro-cool engine that would be dropped between the frame rails.
In the fab shop, the guys tore down the original frame and updated the suspension components with some of that Street Machinery secret sauce. Ridetech air management and a Chad Chriss valve block control Dominator bags, front and rear. All air and fuel system plumbing was done with hard lines from front to back. The custom 3” stainless exhaust system is an absolute work of art. Street Machinery’s signature Corvette C5 13” brakes adorn the front corners while Wilwood calipers and 12” rotors do work out back. Slotted and drilled rotors provide the clamping surface at every corner and stainless lines provide rock solid pedal feel.
Boris loves his Billet Specialties wheels and they were a natural choice for this truck. In this case, their Turbine model finished in matte bronze was hand-picked by the man himself. Up front, 20×8.5 wheels with 245/40R20 tires fill the arches while big dog 24×12’s and 305/30R24’s do their thing out back.
Under the hood, things get a bit interesting. Instead of the tried-and-true LS or LT swap, Boris went deep into the vault and pulled out a cooler-than-cool 348 from his stash. 348 and 409 cubic inch engines made a short run in Chevrolet cars from 1958 to early ‘65. These “W” engines were the predecessor to the big block 396 that was introduced in the 1965 model year. The unique cylinder heads resembled an upside down “W” (not an “M”, duh) and were arguably one of Chevrolet’s most aesthetically pleasing engines ever built. The example in this truck is a 348 which has been freshened from top to bottom. A Weiand intake manifold and trusty Holley 600 cfm carburetor provide the air and juice and Hooker ceramic coated headers send the pollution to the exhaust pipes. Is it a rocket? It’s no LT4, but it easily makes enough power to melt those big 305’s and cruise like a champ thanks to a TH400 transmission with a Gear Vendors overdrive unit.
A walk around the outside is like a trip down memory lane of sorts. The original paint and bruises tell a story of life in a different time. Although the guys fixed the obvious holes and rot here and there, they put their sweat into preserving the spirit and soul of the truck. The stories that sheetmetal could tell if it could talk! Once the body shop guys were done with working their magic on the sheetmetal, Jerome Borris did his thing, expertly blending his new patina with the truck’s hard-earned past life.
Inside the cab, things get downright plush. Sit your butt down in that seat by Big Body Interiors covered in vintage Ciadella fabric and leather. Grab a hold of the modern-sized Street Machinery restomod ‘56 Bel Air steering wheel. Tilt the Ididit column til the position is just right. Turn the key and listen to the Flowmaster mufflers light off while the needles of the Dakota Digital gauges come to life. Reach over and turn on the tunes and flip the switches on the Vintage Air control panel. With one touch of the Ridetech air management controller, the suspension comes up to ride height and you are ready to roll like a king.
When we caught up with Boris to shoot this feature, it was three days before he was setting off for an epic cross-country drive to Dino’s Git-Down in Phoenix in this very truck. We can proudly report that aside from some rain and cold temps, the trip was flawless and the truck made it to the show as you would expect any king’s chariot to do.
