During a recent trip to east Tennessee we had a chance to visit Dean’s Street Rods. Nestled near the Smokey Mountains, in the small town of Elizabethton, this shop sits off the beaten path with no signs, no internet presence, and we wondered if they even had a telephone. A sign on the wall reads NO Credit, cash only, no checks.

Johnny Holder, former mayor of Carter County and friend of shop owner Dean Pilkton, was our guide for the day. He took us up the long gravel driveway to Pilkton’s shop. Walking in and around the building was a time warp, while still keeping one foot planted in the present.

Pikton has been working on cars since childhood telling us, “I bought my first car when I was six years old. They wouldn’t let me drive it home though, so I’d just go over and visit it.” At sixty seven that means he’s literally been involved in the hobby for over sixty years. Though he shrugs his shoulders and couldn’t really tell us why or how he ended up with a fascination to begin with. For some of us, it just comes natural.

Pilkton spent most of his life working on his own cars, right up until 1991. It was then that he decided to try his hand at making a living building street rods, customs and muscle cars. Through our conversation with Pilkton in the few hours we had there, we found there wasn’t much he didn’t know about. He pretty much had it all covered from chassis design and fabrication, to sheet metal work and paint.

While we’ve met several builders in the past that can only focus on one aspect of car design, Pilkton’s knowledge didn’t end at just fabrication and body work. Carburetors to the latest in fuel injection, differentials and transmissions, Pilkton impressed us with his knowledge of the rod and custom scene inside and out. His work is top shelf as well, there is no cutting corners or doing things the easy way. Holder told us “He will look at something and work it until it’s just perfect, this is old time Tennessee craftsmanship right here.” All it took was an inspection of the work going on in the shop to tell this was true.

Don't call it a Nomad, this is a '57 Safari wagon, getting LS power and a ton of custom updates as well as Pikton's special touch.

He let us poke around his shop and showed us a few ongoing projects. We tripped over some tools and scrap pieces of tubing along the way. What we found overall though is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in the rodding industry. Pilkton is a real builder in the old school sense, who has probably forgotten more about building custom cars than most of us will ever know. His skills with sheet metal alone would rival that of some of the most famous builders in the country or on cable TV these days. One of the old masters, Pilkton’s talents are a true mountain treasure. 

KenRat

The first project that caught our eye was the rat rod truck being worked on that day by Jason Whitehead. This truck belongs to Robert Johnson from North Carolina. Johnson owns a trucking firm and had enlisted Dean’s to build him a Kenworth inspired rat rod truck.

The frame is all custom built from square tubing. The rear has been notched over the axle. Power comes from an aluminum head Chevy 454. Exhaust has been custom routed through the cab and into chrome stacks that come out of the bed. The top has been chopped four inches and the windshield laid back a few degrees.

The rear window section was cut out before the chop and refitted after to allow a stock dimension rear window to fit. An extensively modified Kenworth grille sits out front. There is also a reworked Kenworth sunvisor over the windshield, which serves double duty concealing the trick roof mounted wipers. Big rig cab lights sit across the top too, lending more of the long haul truck feel to the overall look. Door handles have been shaved and the doors have suicide hinges with Chrysler latches. The bed floor will blend around the stacks and be finished with wood.

The whole thing is riding on IFS and coil overs with a four link at the rear. BFG rubber and like old school musclecar wheels. There’s obviously a lot of work left to be done here, but we already love it the way it sits.

The T

How many original Model T roadsters have you ever seen that weren’t in a museum? How many that still have what looks to be original paint, floors and trunk that’s not rotted? This car was sitting right next to the ’46 Chevy truck in the shop, the body had been pulled off the frame, and the frame is now sitting outside the shop. Pilkton and Whitehead have built a custom frame for the roadster, and it rides on a drop axle and flipped spring up front.

Out back is the rear end from an S-10, the only one they could find narrow enough to fit and sits on custom four link and coil overs. Custom spacers will allow the car to run the original style Model T rims. Power is going to remain all Ford coming from a 2.3L four cylinder engine.

The car’s body and interior are going to remain pretty much untouched. We love the blend of modern chassis and powertrain with original patina’d body and interior. This nearly 100 year old car should be up and running probably early this spring if not sooner.

Pontiac and Jeep

We didn’t get a ton of details from Pilkton on these two builds. What we can tell you is the Pontiac is a mid fifties Safari wagon. As is the case with nearly everything built at Dean’s, it’s getting updated with modern suspension and powertrain. There was a donor LS1 engine already under the hood. When we first arrived at the shop Pilkton was inside the car’s dog house doing some welding. This project looks to have a long way yet to go, we’ll keep you posted as it nears completion.

Also tucked away in the shop was a 50’s model Willys Jeep truck. This little pickup had also received an LS transplant, some aftermarket gauges and other freshening. This one looked a little closer to completion, but again we didn’t have time to inquire about everything.

We’re sure we’ll be back in this little corner of Tennessee again to see what’s going on. Pilkton and his crew are hard at it six days a week, and we’d like to see more of their work. Look for us to feature some more cars from Dean’s Street Rods in the future.