Rick Regier's 1951 Chevrolet Pickup

Rick built this chopped and louvered five-window Chevy after retiring in Oregon, inspired by a custom truck he first saw crossing the Cascades in 1956. Painted a striking lime green over flawless bodywork, the truck featured a 6-inch chop, reversed rims, and a bored-out inline-six with dual carbs on an Offenhauser manifold. Rick passed away before completing it, and the unfinished pickup later ended up in Kansas. Photo courtesy of Randy Regier.

A photo of Rick with his 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline taken in 1958. Rick bought the Fleetline from his parents the year after seeing the chopped Chevy pickup that forever changed his life. He nosed and decked it, lowered the stance, reversed the rims, and had “Goofy Gus” pinstripe the interior. Fleetline Auto Body in Omaha, where Rick worked part-time, repainted it in its original metallic gray. Photo courtesy of Don Regier.

After retiring, Rick finally set out to build the chopped five-window Chevy pickup he had dreamed about since 1956. Even as cancer took hold, he continued working on the truck, determined to see his vision come to life. Photo provided by Don Regier.

A front view of Rick’s chopped pickup. Photo courtesy of Rick Regier.

Side view of Rick’s pickup. The smooth lines, lowered stance, and wide whitewalls capture the classic custom look Rick admired since the 1950s. Photo courtesy of Rick Regier.

The heart of Rick’s project. A bored-out Chevy inline-six built to 300 cubic inches, topped with dual carbs on an Offenhauser intake and cast-iron headers. A classic hot rod setup done the traditional way. Photo courtesy of Rick Regier.

“Tag, You’re It.” Rick’s son, artist Randy Regier, created this urn for his father’s ashes from a Wyandotte steel toy wagon that the two had traded back and forth for nearly twenty years. Painted in the same lime-green as Rick’s unfinished 1951 Chevy pickup, it stands as a heartfelt tribute to their shared creativity, humor, and bond. Photo courtesy of Randy Regier.

Regier Customs window decal. Designed by Rick’s son, Randy, after his father’s cancer diagnosis, this decal was created in tribute to Rick’s lifelong passion for custom cars, made in hopes that it would one day find its place on the finished truck. Photo courtesy of Randy Regier.

1951 Chevrolet Pick Up owned and built by Rick Regier of Salem, Oregon.

A Dream Born on the Highway

In the summer of 1956, somewhere along the winding roads of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, two young brothers from Omaha, Nebraska, Rick and Don Regier, found themselves following the car of their dreams. Ahead of the family's 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline cruised a chopped and lowered Chevrolet five-window pickup, painted in blue metallic. "It marked my 15-year-old brother’s life," Don told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2025. "He never forgot it."

For the boys, who rarely saw such radical customs back home in Omaha, the sight was electrifying. The truck was sleek, chopped, and full of attitude, everything they had seen in the pages of Hop Up and Rod & Custom, suddenly alive in front of them on the open highway. That fleeting encounter planted a seed that would stay with Rick for the rest of his life.

From Fleetline to Backyard Customizer

The following year, Rick bought the family's ’48 Fleetline from his parents. It quickly became his canvas. He nosed and decked it, lowered the stance, and reversed the rims. "Goofy Gus" pinstriped the interior, and Fleetline Auto Body, where Rick worked part-time in Omaha, resprayed it in its original metallic gray. Naturally, Rick also split the exhaust manifold.

Rick dated his future wife, Florence Dirks, in that car while living in Kansas, but the vision of that chopped Chevy pickup never left his mind.

Building the Dream

Years later, after retiring and settling down in Oregon, Rick finally decided to chase that long-held dream. He found a gutted 1951 Chevrolet five-window pickup, a stalled project sitting on a boxed frame with a Camaro front clip and triangulated four-link rear suspension.

“If I never do any more than chop the top, I’ll be satisfied,” he told his brother. And true to his word, that’s where he started. Rick chopped the top six inches, punched the hood full of louvers, and reversed a set of deep-dish rims. Over his meticulously shaped bodywork, he sprayed a deep lime-green metallic that shimmered under shop lights.

Under the hood, Rick installed a Chevrolet inline-six truck engine, bored out to 300 cubic inches and fitted with a reground cam. Dual carburetors sat atop an Offenhauser intake manifold, and a Saginaw four-speed sent power to a 10-bolt GM rear end. “He installed cast-iron headers, of course,” Don added.

A Tribute to a Lifelong Passion

Rick never got to finish the pickup. Cancer took him in 2012, before the dream was complete. For Don, the loss was more than the passing of a brother; it was the end of a story that began decades earlier behind that mysterious chopped pickup in the mountains. “My dream of crossing the Cascades in the pickup died with him,” Don told Kustomrama.

Where Is It Now?

Rick's Pickup stands as a heartfelt tribute to the spark that ignites every customizer’s journey. The moment when a car on the road becomes more than metal and chrome. It becomes inspiration. After Rick passed away, his unfinished pickup found its way to Pratt, Kansas. The truck was left in nearly finished condition, featuring a 6-inch chop, louvered hood, reversed rims, and a bored-out inline-six under the hood.

If you recognize this pickup or know what became of it, Kustomrama would love to hear from you at mail@kustomrama.com. Help us keep Rick’s story alive and maybe, just maybe, reunite his dream truck with the history it inspired.