HISTORY: I purchased the truck in November, 1995, from a man in Aurora who had bought it from a farmer in Greely. I had to winch it onto the trailer to haul it home and then it wouldn’t roll of the trailer because the brake cylinders leaked and seized the drums. I had to winch it off the trailer. I did all of the work except for: upholstery was stitched by Dave Schilling of Upholstery Plus and installed by me, Flowmaster exhaust system was installed by Ken’s Classic Muffler, Pin stripes by Mart Ford. Truck was first shown at the ColoRODans Twin Peaks Mall car show in 2001.

AWARDS: Platinum Award for Best Pre ’48 Pickup at the 2001 Rocky Mountain Rod & Custom Show. Also have several awards from regional shows for best truck.

OTHER INFO: We have had the truck to numerous shows in Colorado, Nebraska and Utah -with Moab, Utah being our longest. We had a great time in Moab but had to drive home in the rain-- make that snow over Vail Pass and the Eisenhower tunnel.
The Truck had been problem free until May of ’07. We went to Grand Junction with the Club and participated in the Gateway Canyons Car Show. What a great place to go!! On the way home on Sunday, the old Chevy truck decided to get rid of its Ford parts. We lost the right front wheel bearing on Vail Pass. Of course when you lose a wheel bearing you lose your brakes. It’s a good thing we were going up hill and the emergency brake worked, stopping the truck 18” from the concrete barrier. Thanks to all the fellow rodders who stopped to help. We managed to have enough tools to chisel the old bearing off the spindle. Fellow club member Joe Lopez stopped in Frisco at the local NAPA store and bought bearing sand seals and brought them back up to me on Vail Pass. Thanks Joe. We installed the new parts and drove on home with without further incident. Oh yes—it rained on Vail pass and we got wet.
Comments from fellow club members about my location for a break down were --way too far from a drinking establishment!

Taken from the old site...

Harold Aldridge didn’t go looking for his current project, a 1956 Pontiac Star Chief two-door sport coupe. “The car found me; it was offered to me by a co-worker” he said. Harold purchased the car with the intent of fixing it up for his wife to drive. “My wife will drive the Pontiac most of the time,” he said.

Harold’s wife, Linda, said she is excited to get behind the wheel of such a large car. “I keep thinking that we can pile in a bunch of people,” she said. “He’s going to put a governor on it so I can’t get it going too fast.”

Harold, who has been a ColoRODan for about five years, has always enjoyed working on cars. He does most of the restoration work himself, he said, and past projects have included a ’62 Volkswagon for his daughter when she was in high school, as well as his pride and joy — a 1946 Chevy Pickup.

Family and classic automobiles have always gone hand in hand for Harold. When he brought home the ’46 Chevy, his grandson Jacob took one look at it and said “Papa’s ’46.” When the pickup was finished, Harold topped it off with a license plate sharing the name Jacob gave it.

The restoration on the ’46 took Harold about five-and-a-half years, and he did almost all of the work himself. It wasn’t in the best shape when he found it, though, which Harold took as an opportunity to improve the classic. With the bed mostly rusted out, Harold used oak for the new surface. The pickup has a 350 engine, a 10-bolt rear with leaf springs, air conditioning and a 700R overdrive transmission from a 92 Caprice. Harold has put 11,600 miles on it himself, so suffice it to say the pickup doesn’t just sit in a garage and look pretty.

Harold estimated that his current project, the Star Chief, will take about four years. He was looking for something a little different to restore, and he found it in the Star Chief. It will be a resto-rod, he said, which means that it will look stock but will be modified. The car’s frame and undercarrieage are pretty well done. He is currently working on its body. The car has a Pontiac 400 engine that has been bored .060, which makes it a 412 cubic-inch engine. He figures it will make about 300 horsepower. The car will have a T400 automatic transmission and Air Bag suspension.

Harold learned to work on sheet metal when he was an aircraft mechanic in the early ’70s. He later got a job at Arapahoe Chemical in Boulder, and worked as a master mechanic and manager, among other duties. Harold is retired now.

Apart from spending his time with the ColoRODans, Harold works on his yard, enjoys country-and-western dancing, skiing and being with his family. Harold said he likes the camaraderie in the ColoRODans club, and especially enjoys attending shows with the group.