Don Cochrane loves cars and trucks, but he isn’t content with just any old vehicle. He likes to create his own. 

 “I’m retired,” Cochrane said, “and my interest in cars won’t go away. I’m up by 6 a.m. and bored by 7:30 unless I have a project to work on . . . I need to challenge the mind, and I need to challenge the hands. When you’re done, it either turns out well or it’s a big mistake.”

 Cochrane, of Independence, is an automotive magician. He stirs together unlikely parts and pieces of various vehicles to create something only he can imagine. The stubby panel truck that looks like Mighty Mouse has the nose of an Ford cab-over truck, the body of a Ford panel truck and the shortened frame of a 1980 Chevy pickup. The engine is a 350 Chevy V-8.

 “I like a vehicle that stirs you,” he said. “People always ask if this is an old milk truck or a beer truck.”

 Lately, Cochrane’s creativity has been moving him in a new direction. He’s intrigued by rust. He created a vehicle that looks as if it existed during the Dust Bowl, but it has the frame and mechanical heart of a Ford Courier pickup. “If I use a bolt or part that is new, I put a little muriatic acid on it and I have a nice coat of brown the next morning,” Cochrane said.

 Cochrane lined the inside of the roof with street signs, covered the seat with a serape and installed a small wooden house where a truck bed would be. He even built a tiny teardrop trailer for trips.

 “I had a wreck in it a few months ago. The guy behind hit me hard. The policeman came out, took one look and said ‘Whoa! Did you suffer any damage?’”

 “Yeah, he broke the board on the back of the doghouse.”

 Cochrane sees his cars as a counterpoint to megabuck hot rods. “Some street rodders get too serious, and their cars cost $80,000 or $90,000,” he said. “Street rods should be fun.”