Project: Old Monster Truck, New Life

[Colt Cobra]

warning, Lots of pictures

In 1982, in Sulphur Louisiana, a man by the name Mart Williams built a Monster Truck called Southern Sunshine,

he crushed cars, pulled weight sleds, floated it across rivers, participated in the one of the first Monster Truck "Race" events, and he was by all reports an all around great guy, He also built a Cadillac body'd Monster Truck in 1983, called Cajun King.


in 1986 he died in a drowning accident, and his trucks were parked inside the family's shop and did not move for 23 years and 10 Months.

3 Months ago, a buddy of mine from the West Louisiana area who has been a Monster Truck fan all of his life was driving around in Sulphur and saw a set of rotting Monster Truck tires behind Billy Navarre Chevrolet's used Car lot, and he went to give them a look over. This is what he found









after some digging, he found the current owner, Mart's brother, Glenn Williams. they hit it off and soon the race was on to get these trucks back in working condition

[Colt Cobra]

3 months, $800, 32 foot of 1 inch radiator hose, alittle fuel and a few man hours from lots of people, The motor was turned over by hand to make sure it would turn over, then it was time to set the date for fire off.

April 3, at roughly 1:20 in the afternoon, the truck was fired off

YouTube- Southern Sunshine Monster Truck first...

and then, after we assessed everything, and fired it off one more time, it was time for this beast to MOVE.

YouTube- Southern Sunshine Monster Truck moving...

Now, this is only the beginning for Marts old trucks, the 66' tires still need to be reseated and aired and slick'emed up, and a full tune up on the motor, tighten up a few leaks, and then its time to tear into the King to get it going.
These will be Pure Show trucks when redone, doing parades, Displays, car shows, and the occasional Car Crush.

for all the photos of Sunshine and King, here is Matthew Isons photo account

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n...shine/?start=0


OH and if your ever in the Sulphur area, Stop by the shop, it is behind the used car lot for Billy Navarre Chevrolet in Sulphur Louisiana and if Glenns there give him a holler, he's always glad to tell his brothers story and show off those trucks.

[joe231]

Cool story, glad to see it moving again

[GmtGmt]

Im Thomas AKA GMTGMT from Monstermayhem

nice to see you post this here

[moneyeater]

Great Story!
Cool truck!
Thanks for sharing.
Volker

[Colt Cobra]

Hey Thomas, Im Paulcurtis from mayhem, Cool to see other Mayhemers around the net!

[GmtGmt]

Hey Paul.
colt cobra threw me of thought it was Glenn at first but could have been Gene too lol

[Colt Cobra]

Yea, I went incognito on here, I figured this would be a good place to show the rebuild, I tell you what, it was a heckuva moment when that thing fired off.

[LiveAnimals]

Brings a tear to my eye, I'm glad the truck was found and rebuilt.

[Colt Cobra]

Well, to be honest, it didnt need much, a Carb Kit, 32 Foot of 1 Inch Radiator Hose, a new set of Valve covers, some new fuel and oil lines and some new clamps and alot of cleaning and Presto Chango!! it runs again.

Now Glenn is waiting on the Tire Man to come and reset the tires on the rims so we can sand down and repaint the rims, then we can mount the 66's and maybe run over somthing!!!!

Also, I learned a good way to clean up Rusty Dusty Chrome, some 0000 scrubbing metal(cant remember what the real name for that stuff is) and a lot of wax, douse the scrubbing metal in the wax, and scrub away, then wipe it off with a dry rag and Presto Chango!! Chrome Like New!!

[Scootin 81 C20]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I'm in love.

[Restrorob]

Awesome story Colt !!!

I think I can say this for everyone on this board, Thank you very very much for sharing this piece of square body history with us.....

I'm subscribing to this thread to see the old Caddy come back to life, So make sure you don't forget about us.....

Thanks again Man !

[Colt Cobra]

Dont worry, I wont, and Ive only hit the high points on this thing, the full thread can be found here:
http://www.monstermayhem.org/forums/...ad.php?t=12785

on a side note, me and one of the other guys that have been apart of this sat down Saturday and put together as best we could a timeline for this truck and we came up with something very interesting, with a Completion date that is believed to be in Spring of 1982, this could very possibly be the first full time 66' tire Monster Truck (I-E that did not start out as a street truck or mud truck)

[Restrorob]

WOW, You wasn't fibbin about only hittin the high points here.

Looks like I've got alot of reading to do now, And I will read it all too just because I think it's very cool that Glenn is finally doing something with these history making vehicles. Props to EVERYONE making this possible and I'm sure Marty is looking down and praising everyone for seeing his dreams come back to life....

Thanks for the full thread Colt !

[dbmx66]

you gonna redo the frame and suspension? make it something more modern?

[Colt Cobra]

No, the truck is planned on being a display piece, a Tribute to the innovation that started the industry and a tribute to the man who Built it.

Now, as for King, it looks to be in rougher shape than Sunshine, but the plan is to get it up and going to, and use it as the Car Crusher of the two.

I talked to Glenn today and he told me that he found a crack on one of the rear steer components, so he's waiting for the Welder to come weld that up(cracks like 2 inches long, and is where the rear stearing ram attaches to to the Axle if I understood right) also, still waiting on the tire store to come out and rebead the tires, hes got 2 wheels sand blasted and painted already.

the truck could be tired up and on display by the end of the month if everything goes good.

[ChaseDale3and8]

I love this! A classic monster truck survivor! It doesn't get much better than this, thanks for sharing! I sent this to my brother since he lives in Sulfur Louisiana, so that he can go check it out in person. ....Joe

[Jhogan830]

beautiful

[Colt Cobra]

Been awhile since Ive updated you guys, 2 weeks ago they got the truck out and washed and waxed it, the tires are ready to go on, were just waiting on Glenn to get his jack back from the shop, and earlier this week Glenn was poking around in the Office in the shop and found the orig build sheet for the motor(454) and according to the Build Sheet, the motor dyno'd out at 675 Horsepower when it was first built. They reset the timing on the motor replace the distributor and leaned it out to where its supposed to be and Glenn told me that he lifted the front tires(small tires still) off the ground moving it out of the door, he said that motor has come alive.

pretty soon were going to start doing shirts and caps and stickers and that type of stuff for the trucks, along with towards the end of July a Display at the Lake Charles Civic Center if everything goes well

oh, be sure and check out the website www.southernsunshineracing.com

No Guts No Glory!

[Colt Cobra]

so, Minor update.
the truck is just a few days away from being called done. some paint on the rims for the 66's and then tire her up and then its on to the big ole caddy.
the Caddy is alittle rougher around the edges, it sat in the shop uncovered and its got some rough spots on it and were kind of iffy on the shape the engines in, but it should all be decent tho.
anyone near Sulphur, get in touch with Glenn and he'd be happy to open the shop up to you if you want to see em in person....

[justpball]

awesome sorry! hope someone will dust off my old rides when I am gone!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool story! Thanks for sharing it with us. It is pretty cool to see how these really started out and it isn't what people think at all.

[69BBsuburban]

Awesome!!!!
Old monster trucks are just *****in' man.....

[Schwinn68]

I've been a fan of monster trucks since I was a kid. My favorites were Bigfoot(obviously) and Bearfoot. They were legends even back then.

Good luck on the restoration of this incredible machine.

[Colt Cobra]

for any in the East Texas, S/W Louisiana area, SOUTHERN SUNSHINE will be on Display @ the West Cal Arena in Sulphur for Nat'l Night Out on August 3



and will also be making an apperence at CARS AND DICE at Isle of Capri Casino on August 28th.