Boofhead: Tony Murray and Julie’s custom 1948 Chevy

Tony Murray and his partner Julie are no strangers to the rod and custom scene. Based in Victoria, Tony is a lifetime member of the Thunderbirds Rod & Custom Club. Together he and Julie have completed several projects including a ’32 Ford coupe, a 1956 F100, a 1947 Cadillac and even more very cool custom vehicles now adorn their garage.

Original ACT archive feature. Photography by Mark Smyth.

Tony Murray and his partner Julie are no strangers to the rod and custom scene. Based in Victoria, Tony is a lifetime member of the Thunderbirds Rod & Custom Club. Together he and Julie have completed several projects including a ’32 Ford coupe, a 1956 F100, a 1947 Cadillac and even more very cool custom vehicles now adorn their garage.

Our good mate Simon Muntz, who is part of the custom scene in Castlemaine, Victoria, put us in contact with Tony because of one of his bigger projects, a ’48 Chevy cabover affectionately dubbed “Boofhead”. With its sexy paint job and whitewalled tyres, this truck definitely catches the eye.

The Chevy has been extremely modified on the inside and outside to achieve a one off-look as well as the desired practical appeal which Tony designed it for. The idea behind Boofhead was to create a custom vehicle capable of carrying people, luggage and with towing capacity for a fifth-wheel caravan.

Tony tells ACT the build time was only 18-months from paddock to what you now see.

The Loadmaster was originally purchased as an $8K single cab found in a paddock in Montana.

An extensive, and intensive, amount of work has been done, borrowing components from a list of different donor vehicles giving the Chevy a very distinct look. As well as a large list of donor parts Tony also thanks Wayne for the bodywork, Michael Kraus for the paint, Damien Lynch for help with the mechanical side of things, Rob Geisner for the upholstery and his mate Don Burton for his help from start to finish.

For starters, the cab has been extended 840mm using a 75x50mm subframe. The step plates have been removed and the holes have been filled in.

The running boards have been extended and covered with polished aluminium checkerplate.

The robust 54-inch grille was fitted and needed some additional modifications to the bonnet and front guards. The front bumper is off a ’52 Cadillac. The list of borrowed parts continues with air intake pods made to house Mack truck bonnet vents.

Further work went into the fabrication of exhaust and intake lower pods to mask the pipe work and rear panels to cover the chassis rails and suspension components. Additional checkerplate was then used to cover the chassis all the way up to the spare wheel mounts.

Aluminium mud guards were custom made to fit the tyres. The aluminium fuel tanks needed to be built around the leaf spring suspension on the rear.

The front suspension is air suspension, hidden control valves in one of the panel sections which has been converted into storage boxes.

The opposite storage box on the other side of the cab houses the air filter and the battery. A further storage compartment in the rear has been designed to house a tool box.

Tony says a diesel power plant differed from big block engines he had in his other rods that needed LPG conversions to keep fuel costs down. “The diesel was the only option for me,” he says.

The engine in question is a 6.6 litre Chev Duramax that came from a 2008 Silverado. It is equipped with a turbo and electronic fuel injection live adjustable tuning. This allows it to be dialled up to 450 horsepower. He modified the throttle body mount and repositioned it to the centre of the floor tunnel. The engine is married to an Allison six-speed automatic using a Commodore shifter.

The frame supporting the cab comes from a 1987 Chevy short wheel based C30 single wheel truck with its length reduced even further.

The rear has been cut back to the spring hanger and a new 4mm folded plate crossmember was installed. The front of the frame was also shortened and modified. Another crossmember was installed and side plates were installed to mount the power steering unit. The power steering came from a Ford F350.

Another later narrow model Chevy C30 was used to create the rear and the front end as well as providing the vented disc brakes for the front and drum brakes for the rear. The original spindles were replaced by those from a crew cab. Tony also fitted new crossmembers for the engine and transmission mounts.

The exterior and under the hood is impressive but Tony has also spent a great deal of effort on the interior.

He says he removed the ashtray and glove box and replaced it with the right hand drive instrument cluster section in its place.

A centre console has an upper and lower console provides space for drink holders and the Commodore shifter.

The console also hinges up, providing easy access to the engine for checking and filling fluid levels for the engine and gearbox.

The front passenger seat has been modified to look like the driver seat and folds up flat to allow access to the rear passenger seat. It has a rear view camera for ease of reversing mounted above the number-plate with the viewing screen mounted below the tunnel on the dash. The handbrake comes from a mid-eighties F100. To finish off the dash a TPI quad set was used. The trim is all leather. Driver and passenger seats come from 100 series and 80 series Land Cruisers respectively and the rear seat comes from a Silverado crew cab.

Rear Vision: where are they now?

Do you know where this truck is today, or have an update on its story? Tell ACT what happened next. We will verify current updates before adding them to the archive.