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Pierre Dreyer's

1941 Chevrolet 1-1/2 Ton


14 September 03 UPDATE

From Pierre

One year down the line and here she is, my brand new  1941 CHEV LOVER.

We will be hitting the road soon. Thanks to STOVEBOLT for your excellent and very enjoyable page.

 

 

 

Doors and bonnet back into place, interior completed and now  busy with  the load back.

 

 

The back completed with Saligna,  a reddish local hardwood. Must say that this was the easiest and fastest part of the whole rebuilding project.

 

 

 

 

Curator "Pierre, you have done a great job with your "Lover" - looks like time well spent.  Thanks for the update!"


1 November 02  

From Pierre

MY 1941 CHEV LOVER. 
Fell in love with this baby eight years ago, but could only get my hands on her February this year when the previous owner eventually decided to sell her. By the way, if you fall in love with one of these, you will definitely develop tennis elbow. As you can see she arrived in Kimberley (South Africa) with basically all her parts in tact..

Stripping was next and yes, every nut and bolt is rusted and will either brake off or must be cut off. That is the easy part, sanding, sanding, sanding, cleaning, sanding and cleaning again (did I mention tennis elbow). The real serious rusted parts were sandblasted as I realised I will not be able to work with two painful arms, one is bad enough.

At this stage everything was stripped and this is when the real work began. I decided not to work on one body part only but changed from the cab to the bonnet to the mudguards to the bumper just to ensure that boredom or laziness don’t interfere with my work rate. I am sure that this is the point where you need to be in love with your truck to be able to carry on day after day.

The mudguards were full of dents, but luckily the thickness of steel makes the panel beating so much easier. The back window had to be cut out and rebuilt. Below the window we also had to cut out a badly rusted area. The roof had a massive dent, but a hard kick from the inside sorted that one out.

The bottom section of both doors were replaced with new panels. At this stage the outside of cab was done but still needed some work on the inside. I know a lot of people would not agree with the red in place of the green but surely this one will be a real eye-catcher.

Cab back onto the chassis. Mudguards in place.

About 1000 hours down the line and the grill is fitted in place. Luckily now everything is clean and painted (used PPG 2k three coats). On the engine we didn’t have to much to do, took off the head, pistons and sleeves ok, drilled out two broken plugs, cleaned and seated the valves and back she goes. Changed over to 12v and fitted a new alternator, still busy with the wiring now.



Two of the back rims are incorrect, found one at a scrap-metal yard and still searching for fourth one.

There is still a lot of work ahead and I need to get back to it now.

Please, any ideas, suggestions or info is welcome.

Need to get some pills for this arm now.

Pierre Dreyer.

 

Curator "Pierre, your truck looks like a hard task master.  It is doing a great job keeping you busy!"


Last modified: July 26, 2022.
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