Franklin Brown's 1950 3600 Pickup

(Note . . . Franklin's truck has a new owner!  We will modify this page when the new owner touches bases with us!)

August 2000

From Franklin:

              No bodywork or paint yet, but some mechanical improvements. I have installed new brakes all around; four wheel shoes, cylinder kits, hoses, and front wheel hardware all came in a kit from Kanter. A local tire shop put on four new steel-belted radial tires with new tubes and flaps on the original wheels after they were blasted and painted. Some gaskets, new filters and other soft parts went on with a new (rebuilt) carburetor about six months ago.

              I added three lap belts from Kanter and a new windshield gasket from Jim Carter. The latest thing was a coolant recovery system I bought locally. The old original radiator uses a 0 lb. radiator cap, and I could not find a replacement locally. A 4 lb. cap pressurized it too much and it began to leak. So I installed the upper gasket from the recovery kit that seals the cap to the radiator neck in my old cap, and the whole thing works great. Thanks to an article in the August 2000 Auto Restorer magazine.

              I’ve put about 1500 miles on it and The 50 starts, runs and drives great.

Thanks,

Franklin Brown
"Frank 50 "
Bolter # 619
Central Illinois
Amish Country [an error occurred while processing this directive]

    I really love the web site.  I have always loved old trucks and cars, especially Chevy 6s. My first car at 12 years of age (1967) was a 1940 Chevy 4-door with a 216.  After that, I had a '57 BelAir 2-door with a 265 (V8, sorry), a '62 Chevy car / 235, a '66 C-10 Pickup / 250, a '71 Pontiac Ventura (Chevy Nova clone) / 250.  My favorite trucks are Chevy Advance-Design. From '89 to '92,  I owned a 1955 First Series 3600 5-window pickup project.  I have enclosed a picture of my current Stovebolt: a 1950 3600 Pickup (it's up above now ~ Editor).

    Picture was taken March 6, 1999 at Uniontown, MO, where the seller kept it stored at his dad's place. You can see from the tow-bar attached that I decided to buy it on the spot.  I am the third owner of this truck that shows 91,337 miles on odometer. This 3-window cab truck is very solid, even the floorboard.  About 20 years ago, the original owner's sons (I am guessing with the help of their HS ag teacher) replaced the 216 with a '69 307 V8, stock, 2-bbl, dual exhaust.  They did a very clean conversion; fabricating motor mounts, moving the steering gear a little to the left, enlarging hole in firewall for the steering column, beating a little distributer clearance in the firewall, and rebending the brake pedal rod to bring it thru a new hole in the floor, for clutch linkage clearance. They also converted to 12 volts.

    About the same time, the truck was repainted inside and out by the ag class.  Original color is a lighter blue. The rest of the truck is apparently stock/original: 4-speed trans., 2-pc. drive shaft, rear end, springs, front-end, steering, brakes, radiator, 15" split wheels, hubcaps, glass, even the upper seat cover, I think.  The man I bought it from, bought it 12 years ago at the estate sale when the first owner passed away.  He kept it running though he didn't drive it much.  He was good enough to actually deliver it to me.  Some brake work and a tune-up was all it took to get it driveable.

    My plans are to keep it as a driver, and fix it up a little at a time. Maybe someday I'll put another inline 6, like a high-performance 261, in it.

    Thanks,

Franklin
Calvert City, Kentucky