1942 1.5-Ton Chevrolet

	Owned by Jack Flagge Florida

The Old World Pizza Truck

From Jack :

           My friend in Connecticut actually started a business three years ago and, being in the restaurant field, I was intrigued.

           I found this 1942 1.5-ton flatbed truck [ pix ], with a 2 speed rear end, in New York in December 07. The guy I bought it from had purchased the truck in Minnesota from the second owner (and the person who actually restored the truck). I had it shipped to Florida and began work on it two days later.

           To refit the truck, we stripped the oak and racks off first, to get down to frame and cross members. I then welded 1 x 2 steel front to back to stiffen the cross members. We then welded 3/16th steel plate on that followed by sheets of stainless.

           The wood-fired oven came from Italy and weighs 4,000 lbs, so I wanted extra support. Tires are 825 x 20 and springs, I believe, are 12 leaves with another 7 in helper springs.

           Once the oven was on the truck, we built the upper frame with 1 x 2 and 2 x 2 steel to form the roof section, which was then wrapped with aluminum. There is a 7,500 watt on-board generator, hot water heater, 40 gallon fresh water tank and 100 gallon waste tank. There is a 12 x 10 foot electric awning, espresso machine, sink, American coffee machine, sound system, 2 door cooler, chest freezer, storage for the wood and storage cabinets on rear with stainless steel drawers.

           The oven is wood-fired and takes two hours to heat up to 900 degrees. Once it is, it cooks pizza in two minutes or less. Yes, two minutes!

           The concept is very unique because of all the things involved -- the antique truck, the wood-fired oven, the sound system. It's just really cool.

The project took me and some friends, (mostly me) about a month and a half to complete from start to finish. The truck was gone through front to back by my mechanic. He changed some seals, gave it a tune up, fixed lights, etc. It runs beautiful downhill at 45 mph. Only problem living in South Florida is, that there are no hills at all, so top speed is around 35 to 40.  (Myself and most of the people on the road, is that we are all in a hurry to go absolutely nowhere anyway!!)  So what’s the rush, right!

           Here is a pic of the truck at work. Week by week, I get a little more work done. I purchased the truck restored then took it apart to do the conversion. It took a couple of months and a lot of money but it came out great. The business is just getting going so keep your fingers crossed -- with the economy and all. Feel free to check out our web site also!

Thanks,

Jack
The man and his Bolt

           This was such a unique story of a "working Bolt," we just had to do a Feature on it. Be sure to check it out. There's more to the story and lots more pictures ... especially as the Pizza truck comes alive!!! Very impressive! ~ Editor

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