The Runt
“Chevy II with an attitude”
Copy by John Aschenberg
Photos by – Julia Aschenberg
It’s amazing the amount of women that are coming out of the woodwork who are involved in cars and hot rodding. What once was considered a man’s only sport or participation in hot cars is rapidly changing by leaps and bounds where you’re seeing more and more of the other gender at the shows. One certain individual is a lady by the name of Gerry Kerna of Cranberry Township, Pa. Gerry is no stranger to the automotive world as she has been involved with cars since high school and had friends who were also gear heads. Not only does she own this bad boy, oops or should I say this “bad girl Chevy II”, She also owns several other beautiful rides as well, from a Pro Built ’41 Willys Coupe all the way to her two very cool pickup trucks and including her muscle car GTO. In fact her very first muscle car was a ‘1970 Chevelle SS. Gerry was in search for another car to build, one that would have lots of grunt with a lot of get up and go. This ‘1962 Chevy II in front of your eyes was located in Missouri and in fair condition overall, with the body being very sound which was huge knowing the car would be gutted and the goal was to build a Pro-Touring Machine.
The little Chevy II was originally a plain Jane white Nova with red interior, 6 cylinder and hubcaps. All that was to change over an 18 month span when Gerry hooked up again with custom car builder Curt Ukasik of RPM Hot Rods of Warrendale, Pa. Gerry said as the car was being dismantled, the crew at RPM along with herself said the car looked small and scrappy. So one day Curt Ukasik, the builder said it looks like a Runt – so the name stuck and that’s why the little Chevy II was nicknamed “The Runt”.
A good foundation is a must for any project, so the frame consist of 10 gauge fully boxed fabricated frame rails from the Roadster Shop out of Mundelein, IL. Up front they installed a Heidts modified Pro-G crossmember for the front suspension, while out back you’ll find a Currie 9” nodular rearend with 3.70:1 gears in place with the help of a Parallel 4 Link and Panhard bar. The reliable ride is handled by RideTech single adjustable coil overs, while sway bars consist of Speedway Engineering Nextel Cup style. A roll cage is a necessity in a car this serious so Jeff Lutz of Lutz Race Cars of Evans City, Pa. got the nod to fabricate the full Chromoly roll cage. Stopping this little beast is provided by Wilwood brakes with 13 inch rotors, 6 piston calipers up front and 12 inch rotors, 4 piston calipers out back. Dressing out the chassis is custom wheels called “Throttle” supplied by Billet Specialties in a custom finish by RPM / C4Labs, 18 x 9s in the front and 18 x 12s in the rear all encased in BF Goodrich g-Force rubber.
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