Wild turkeys are, in a word, ugly. In two words, they’re REALLY ugly. (And they fly like errant basketballs that were soaked in a barrel of Wild Turkey Bourbon.)

But Doug Weigel’s “Wild Turkey Express” is one show rig that’s far from ugly. In fact, it’s hauled home some serious gold from two big indoor shows this year, and was invited to Blackie Gejeian’s Fresno Autorama as a result.

Based on the design of a 1915 Ford bus, the Wild Turkey Express is a study in creative fabrication. “It’s all hand-built, there’s nothing Ford on it,” says Weigel from his Steel Sculptures shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “We fabricated the frame, seats . . . basically everything except the radiators.” That includes the body, which has a cartoonish-looking curve to it that makes it look like something you’d see in a classic Tex Avery or Chuck Jones cartoon.

Among the items not crafted in Weigle’s shop was the 350 Chevy-based powertrain, which also boasts a shift kit-equipped Turbo 350 tranny and a Ford 8.8-inch rear end. “The intake and all the blowers were all built by us, in-house,” Weigel says.

What inspired him to build it? “We’re just trying to do a different one, something more unusual every time,” says Weigel. And how did it get the Wild Turkey Express name? “It was going to be a school bus until we put the wood on it, then it just didn’t look like a school bus. So we just came up with that name one afternoon.” That was just one aspect of this show bus that didn’t take a lot of time—just like the build itself, which Weigel says was finished in under six months!

At the San Francisco Rod, Custom & Motorcycle Show, it won its early-truck class, along with the prestigious Don Tognotti Memorial Award. Then, at the Boise Roadster Show, it scored the “Wild One” award and Best Engine, along with another class win. By then, Blackie Gejeian had seen it, and invited it to his all-winners Fresno Autorama over St. Patrick’s Day Weekend.

The Wild Turkey Express is far from the last thing you’ll see from Weigel’s Steel Sculptures shop. “We’re working on another one right now, and it should be through in June. We haven’t decided where we’ll come out with it yet.”