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Oak Lake Rat Rod Builder Wiltshire
Dirty Word Customz Team of rat rod builders: (l-r) Dave Walko, RJ Wiltshire and Dwayne Wiltshire, the 1947 Farmers & Stockmens Bank truck awaiting transformation behind them, a custom made shop wagon displaying Wiltshire’s event sponsor logo – SolderWeld.
Dwayne Wiltshire of Oak Lake is a car-builder hobbyist who’s bringing an historic armored car back to life for a car show in Las Vegas, the International RATical ROD Build/Drive Off.
Not only is he restoring a rusty relic, it’s a timed build. The build team began Jan. 1 and by late October Dwayne and Cindy Wiltshire expect to be cruising from Lincoln Nebraska with a convoy of rat rods into Las Vegas in one of the most unique vehicles you are ever likely to see.
“You’re building something that was never built”
Last year, he purchased a 1948 Farmers & Stockmens Bank truck, complete with the remnants of bullet-proof, ready-for-action features; a hulk that only a builder could love.
There’s no pattern. The RATical ROD Build-Off means that Wiltshire can let his imagination run, and the more art and attention grabbing features on the low slung, traveling bank, the better.
“Dirty Money” as she will be called, will become a fancy caricature, reborn out of history.
“We’re taking it apart and keeping 90 per cent of it,” says Wiltshire.
He’s a licensed automotive mechanic, but has worked in the oil industry for 20 years; for the last 12, he has been a pipeline inspector with Canadian Natural Resources.
“I’m envisioning where the pipeline’s going to go, how it’s going to get there, what the riser’s going to look like and how it ties into the wellhead. Same thing as this,” he points to the pieces of his project. “You’re having to envision something that’s not built.”
He’s been modifying and building for years, mostly in his two-car garage, until now. This winter, Wiltshire and his team are working out of his recently purchased 3,000 sq. ft. shop in Oak Lake under his business name, Dirty Word Customz.
The challenge of turning a rusty monstrosity into a sleek and unique running automobile intrigues Wiltshire.
“It’s the thinking, it’s non-stop, because you’re building something that was never built.”
But the reward at the end of nine months is the RATical ROD Build-Off & Drive-Off, a competition that is into its third year, separate from but running alongside the largest car event in the world – the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show. “And you’re taking it to show it to your peers,” says Wiltshire.
The build team includes Brent Campbell, Doug Echielin, Dave Walko (Cindy’s brother, a recently retired pipefitter/welder) and the Wiltshires’ son RJ (Raynor Jack), 15 (who also has his own project truck).
Wiltshire has been a welderup, fixer and builder all his life.
“I’ve been building vehicles non-professionally, enthusiast wise … I was 14 years old when I got my first ‘49 Chevy half-ton. I built that right from scratch, fixed it all up, drove it to high school, drove it to college. I drove that till I was 20 years old.”
Born and raised on a farm just a few miles north of Miniota, building and fixing stuff was just part of life.
“It’s in my blood, right? My grandfather was a tinkerer; my other grandfather was a farmer/welder.”
Last year, co-building with Tyler Turton out of his Zombie Body Shop (Selkirk, Man.) Wiltshire helped build “Big Bandit”. This gleaming copper-orange, black–fendered luxury vehicle took top prize in the International RATical Rod Build/Drive Off.
That’s how Wiltshire got called back to the invitational Build-Off.
For the show in Vegas, this is a new brand of rat rod. The vehicles are classy items in their own right and have to be safetied and road-worthy at US posted speed limits (75 mph).
For more on the incredible rat rod construction, see Part II, coming soon.
Auction find leads to unusual project for Oak Lake builder (Part II)
‘47 armoured truck was ATM of its day
Rat Rod Builder Wiltshire holds a piece of window glass over an inch thick from the ‘47 armoured truck. The thick metal sidewalls are pierced with firing holes to fend off robbers
Owner of Scotsmun Steel Dean Munchinsky (r), presents Dwayne Wiltshire of Dirty Word Customz with a bolt bin package in sponsorship of his RATical ROD project.
After being part of a winning team at last year’s RATical ROD Build/Drive Off in Las Vegas, Dwayne Wiltshire of Oak Lake knew he needed to come up with something unique for this year’s competition. He did. He made a real find at an auction in the US that specializes in unique antique vehicles.
Wiltshire brought home an armoured truck – a 1947 Farmers & Stockmen’s Bank truck that was made to accommodate a bank teller and a guard or two.
This vehicle is outfitted with bullet proofing and thick-walled panels pierced at intervals with pistol firing holes out the side. On the roof, there’s a turret with rifle perches. It was a seriously well-armoured Brinks-style truck.
“They took this out to the gold and silver mines on the western side of the US,” explains Wiltshire. “As a gold miner or silver miner, you would stand here,” (steps up into the back) and be served by a teller.
“It was an ATM, back then. That’s exactly what this was, it was a mobile bank.”
The Farmers & Stockmen’s Bank company still exists. In fact, their website boasts “Mobile banking is here”.
It appears to be a New Mexico institution catering, as the name would imply, to agriculture.
Wiltshire did some investigating.
“I was actually talking to a bank manager in Clyde, New Mexico, from the Farmers & Stockman’s Bank, but his branch never had an armoured truck. Only the Phoenix ones did because they ran out to the mine,” says Wiltshire.
“They weighed the gold and silver and then they gave cash value for what they bought.”
Gold, silver and eventually copper mines were the strength of the economy in Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona, with prospecting becoming strong by about 1850.
From its earliest days, numerous accounts of conflict surrounded mining. Starting as early as 1884, miners sought better working conditions/pay and unions grew strong around the turn of the 20th century.
By 1947, when Wiltshire’s bank truck was manufactured, the state legislature of AZ enacted “right to work” legislation which would allow “scabs” to cross the line, weakening the striking miners’ position.(www.azmining.com).
By 1950 underground mining was being replaced by open pit mining and relations between mining companies and their workers were apparently improving, with companies providing better conditions for labourers.
Next October, Wiltshire’s Farmers & Stockmen’s Bank armoured truck will once again run the desert roads as a rat rod named “Dirty Money”.
Wiltshire’s competitive team, Dirty Word Customz, is one of two Canadian entries that will head to Las Vegas for the 2019 International RATical Rod Build & Drive Off competition. The other is Maple Leaf team from Saskatchewan,
Wiltshire’s ’52 Chev truck a World of Wheels winner
Wiltshire’s Dirty Word Customz customized Chevy 1 ½ truck provides an air ride
Dwayne Wiltshire’s sleek, black custom ‘52 Chevrolet truck was a winner at the World of Wheels, the Winnipeg show on from April 12 – 14. Seeing the work of his own hands, shining with a First Place and an Outstanding Truck award was a significant moment for the Oak Lake builder.
“The World of Wheels, wins are very important for me. There are only two World of Wheels shows in Canada and this in the biggest car show in Manitoba.”
The Chevy 1 1/2-ton customized vehicle required an immense amount of work. working out of his recently established business, Dirty Word Customz, in Oak Lake, Wiltshire spared no details, personally doing all the custom fabrication, the interior and upholstery himself. Painting was by Zombie Body Shop in Selkirk, Man.
“I have 3,000+ hours invested in the build… over 200 hours in the hood it itself.”
The specialized build and service shop was founded in 2018. In Wiltshire’s words, “We have evolved from a small, two car garage, to a 3,000 sq. ft. fully equipped facility, complete with all the tooling necessary for chassis production, custom sheet metal fabrication and car restoration.”
RIDING ON AIR
Building customized vehicles that look awesome and are mechanically sound is the Oak Lake builder’s specialty. “It has many custom up-grades,” says Wiltshire. These include a side flip-up hood.
And under that hood, “a 5.9L Cummins Diesel with aggressive engine modifications built to make over 500 HP.”
Other details include a five-speed standard transmission, a twin disk clutch and a specialized exhaust brake system.
Imagine gliding down the pavement in this black princess on 22-inch highway truck rims, low profile tires, a full air ride suspension, plus passenger air ride seats.
Along with the Outstanding Truck 2019 award there was a $200 prize, presented by the International Show Car Association. The First Place in the Truck Class was judged by local judges. Wiltshire received a trophy for this and for the Outstanding Truck award.
He says, “This is a very large appreciation of my building abilities, at this level of judging, at this level of car show.”
Truck ‘built from the ground up’
Under the hood of Dwayne Wiltshire’s customized 1952 Chevrolet 3400 truck. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun) 
Behind the wheel of Dwayne Wiltshire’s customized 1952 Chevrolet 3400 truck. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun) 
The back end of Dwayne Wiltshire’s customized 1952 Chevrolet 3400 truck. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)
OAK LAKE — Dwayne Wiltshire’s first-place finish at the recent Winnipeg World of Wheels has been a labor of love five years in the making.
The award-winning truck is a custom diesel Chevy 1952 boasting an original body of 16-gauge steel that has been stretched, lowered and sits on air.
The truck was essentially built from the ground up. Wiltshire began collecting bits and pieces for the vehicle five years ago.
“My passion has always been building something,” Wiltshire said.
His first vehicle was a 1949 Chevy pickup half-ton step side. He bought the truck when he was 14 and worked on until he was 16, rebuilding it so he could drive to high school and later college.
At 17 he bought a ’57 Chevy four-door, but the bottom rotted right out. Fortunately, he was able to use parts for the rat rod.
His modification and restoration bug has only grown over the years.
Wiltshire considers himself a Chevy guy, and finds that he gravitates to the brand.
Everything on his 1952 truck is original — including a factory fender, hood and bumper.
But Wiltshire has made some modifications.
“Everything I do, I work the metal, I weld the metal,” Wiltshire said.
He limited his use of Bondo Body Repair, mainly employing the tool to clean the fine lines.
“It took me five vehicles to find a bumper that wasn’t twisted and a grill that wasn’t beat up,” Wiltshire said.
The running boards of the vehicle are factory made and are unique because they start slim and go wide. It took Wiltshire seven running boards and countless harvested parts to find the perfect fit for the cab.
Creating the truck involved years of intense background work. Wiltshire has tirelessly hunted for unique pieces, finding what worked with the vehicle with a lot of trial and error.
His vision was complicated because the ride is a ton and a half truck.
“It’s different than the half ton, the three-quarter ton and the one ton,” Wiltshire said.
The ton and a half truck is about 13 centimeters wider, 13 centimeters longer and the hood is about eight centimeters narrower. On top of that, he needed length and width in the front to get the diesel engine under the hood.
When he first put it together, the engine fit perfectly, but when he put the body on the frame, the wheels didn’t line up at the center of the fenders.
He had to slide the engine more than 30 centimeters back to accommodate, so he could fit the radiator in and have wheels in the center of the wheel wells.
To create the unique look for the truck, Wiltshire transplanted a cab on to the original chassis which was spring ride and changed it to independent front suspension so it could go air ride.
“When I landed it in there, I had to move everything back,” Wiltshire said.
It took two air rides systems for him to find one he liked.
His current system is RideTech, which allows him to operate it from his phone.
Wiltshire is always pushing himself to learn and perfect his skills, and draws from experience as a licensed mechanic.
“You know how all that stuff works — it’s just trying to get it down to an application that you can fit in,” Wiltshire said.
He talks to a lot of people for advice, and working out calculations to create the most effective airbags for the truck.
“I’ve learned a lot in this,” Wiltshire said.
When Dwayne Wiltshire first set eyes on the mobile bank truck that would be transformed into “Dirty Money,” it was a stripped-down body with only the most basic of components, he said, but he could see the jewel within.
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/truck-built-from-the-ground-up-510364312.html
‘Dirty Money’ a rich rat rod
Dwayne Wiltshire and Brent Campbell show off their rat rod “Dirty Money” at Dirty Word Customz in Oak Lake last Thursday. 
Dwayne Wiltshire and Brent Campbell show off the interior of their rat rod “Dirty Money” at Dirty Word Customz in Oak Lake. 
Dwayne Wiltshire pops the hood of his rat rod “Dirty Money” at Dirty Word Customz in Oak Lake. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)
After nine months of intense labour and planning, an Oak Lake team is ready to drive their one-of-a-kind custom rat rod to Las Vegas to compete in the renowned International RATical Rod Build Off.
When Dwayne Wiltshire first set eyes on the mobile bank truck that would be transformed into “Dirty Money,” it was a stripped-down body with only the most basic of components, he said, but he could see the jewel within.
He picked up the bank truck in Kansas and brought it back to Oak Lake.
From there, Wiltshire said he and his team of Brent Campbell, Doug Eichelberg, Dave Walk, Marty Delk and Shawn Taylor set out to create something that had never been seen before.
This is the first project of this kind Campbell has been involved with, he said, but he was happy to get on board because Dirty Money seemed like a great opportunity to collaborate with Wiltshire.
“It’s been challenging, but fun,” Campbell said.
He estimates that more than 10,000 man hours have gone into the creation of the rat rod.
“It was three or four hours every night, and then 12-hour days on the weekend,” Wiltshire said, adding they spent many a sleepless night planning on how to create his vision.
“There’s been a lot of hours sitting on chairs staring at it, saying, ‘what do we do,’” Campbell said.
The mobile bank sits on a 1991 Chevy chassis, Wiltshire said, adding that the front end is a 1947 Diamond-T with a Model-A front suspension.
“Diamond-Ts are extremely rare,” Wiltshire said. “Not a lot of them came to Canada, and the ones that are here are pretty sought after.”
The team added an Allison Automatic Transmission, extended the cowl, extended the front fender and added Diamond-T fenders to the back half of the bank.
“The body lines all flow together,” Wiltshire said.
A 6V53T Detroit diesel 225HP two-stroke diesel with 650 ft-lbs/TQ sits housed under the hood.
The back end boasts an air ride HD floor-length system from RideTech, Wiltshire said, while the front end is a completely custom-built system.
The transmission placed in the mobile bank truck is designed to be in a school bus and the output shaft has a massive universal joint. The team custom built the driveline along with an adapter to connect the engine to transmission because of this.
Dirty Money weighs in at 11,000 pounds now that the project has been completed.
As part of the RATical Rod Build Off they were unable to begin working on the project until Jan. 1 of this year, Wiltshire said, explaining that the team had a total of 280 days to bring their vision to life.
“By the first week of January, we were ripping and tearing and pulling apart the vehicle,” Wiltshire said.
They spent 10 days in July doing body prep, knocked down, sanded, primed three times for a special paint finishing off with an acid wash that gives the bank an aged look.
“In eight days, we went from totally unassembled to fully painted and fully assembled vehicle,” Wiltshire said, adding that there was a lot of pre-work before this.
Dirty Money was officially accepted as a SEMA show feature vehicle on Aug. 16.
The 2019 SEMA show runs from Nov. 5-9 and features automotive specialty products from around the world in a celebration of the automotive industry.
“You’ve already built for six months to the point you have half your life savings in this thing and you don’t even know if you have a spot,” Wiltshire exclaimed, adding that four teams have already dropped out in the last couple of months due to financing, timing and other factors.
“There’s some and they’re still not even assembled.”
The RATical Rod Build Off officially begins in Lincoln, Neb., and ends in Las Vegas, travelling more than 2,200 kilometres. However, Wiltshire and his team will drive Dirty Money to Lincoln from Oak Lake adding more than 1,300 kilometres to their trip.
“I bet that out of the 1,000-plus vehicles that are there, we’re the only ones that drive there,” Wiltshire exclaimed with a grin.
Part of the excitement of the drive is that participating vehicles are required to travel a minimum of 320 kilometres on a single tank of fuel.
“They’re going to find out who played by the rules, who can do the 200 miles,” Wiltshire said.
The Dirty Money team has faith in their vehicle can pull it off, Campbell said.
The first fuel stop is 147 miles from their departure point, Wiltshire said, which could potentially have some drivers sweating as they get closer to their destination and their fuel tanks gets lower and lower.
“Some of these vehicles are going to be pushing it.”
Oak Lake’s Dirty Word Customs, revving for ‘Vegas show
Detailed work makes this RATrod very interesting
Dirty Word Customz shop owner Dwayne Wiltshire with his assistant in the RATrod Build, Brent Campbell, and Dirty Money, a Manitoba entry for the RATical ROD Build-Off/Drive Off. The mobile bank from 1947 is equipped as it would have originally been: a weapon for the driver (this one is symbolic), gun turrets and firing holes in the body. The big six under hood is different as is the air-ride suspension plus a few other details.
Six cylinders have replaced an originally smaller motor.
Interior details are impeccable and include a built in safe for the “money”.
Oak Lake’s Dwayne Wiltshire is ready to roll to the biggest car show in North America, with his newest RATical Rod Build, a mobile bank.
In 2018, Wiltshire participated in the Build Off, with Tyler Turton out of Zombie Body Shop in Selkirk. Big Bandit was last year’s RATical ROD Build-Off/Drive Off winner.
Wiltshire’s Oak Lake shop, Dirty Word Customs, has once again prepared a truly unique vehicle, Dirty Money. Before it’s re-make, back in 1947, the vehicle was where miners’ gold was traded for cash in the southern USA.
The re-design was right out of the builder’s imagination.
Hours of cutting, welding, motor and drive-train mechanics, not to mention body work, paint and upholstering, have gone into this antique. Asked what was most challenging, Wiltshire smiled and said “All of it.”
Wiltshire opened the side flip-up hood, true to the late ‘40s style, and pointed to the big six-cylinder truck motor that he custom fit under that hood.
Every evening and free weekend since January he and several helpers, but especially Brent Campbell have worked on this vehicle. “Roughly 10,000 hours we have into it right now,” says Campbell.
On Oct. 29 the 2019 RATical Rod Drive Off launches a 1,400-mile journey from Lincoln, Nebraska to Las Vegas, Nevada. Wiltshire, however, is planning to drive Dirty Money all the way, leaving from Oak Lake on Oct. 26
At Lincoln, they will become part of a caravan of amazing custom RATrods, all going to the SEMA show in Las Vegas. SEMA is the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world. You must be sponsored, to enter the show.
There are 15 vehicles from an international base competing, but Wiltshire says anyone is welcome to join the trip from Lincoln and they estimate over 100 people will make the drive to SEMA this year.
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/dirty-money-a-rich-rat-rod-562782342.html
Dwayne Wiltshire, ’47 Diamond T Model 306h
Scheduled to Appear: Solderweld Inc. #11543
Dwayne Wiltshire travels from Canada to enter BOTB with a ’47 Diamond T Model 306h. The build features a Detroit diesel controlled by a 2500 Allison automatic transmission. The vehicle sits atop a JK Motorsports wheel and tire package with Brakequip brake lines. The suspension includes a Ride Tech HD four-link in the rear and Slam Specialties SS7 bags in front. The project also features Grote lighting, an Icebox Performance radiator and New Vintage USA gauges.