The Gallery
 

1950 GMC COE


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Owned by Dallas Evans
"Dallas2254" - Bolter # 17052
Bellevue, Washington


25 March 2008
# 2283

From Dallas :

        I have owned at least ten 1972 4 x 4 Chevy pickups over the past 25 years. I would buy one. Then if it needed lots of work, I'd work on it and get it running. Then I'd promptly loose interest in and sell at a loss. It has been my therapy trip.

        The problem is that I usually only worked on one at a time. Then two years ago, I ended up with two of them in driveway. My wife said get rid of one so I ended up putting one on Craigs List. The guy who came to look at it ended up buying the other one that I was not prepared to part with.

        I ended up selling the other one two weeks latter.

        For the next year, I went through serious withdrawals. I tried everything from buying three Boston Whalers to restore, to water skiing every day. But nothing could shake my passion for working on these trucks. I had it bad.

        Then in one week I located three different 1972 4 x 4’s that somehow all found there way back to my garage. I was told that I would be eating out until at least one was gone (on the doorsteps that is). I made parts out of one and quickly took the rest of the truck to the wrecking yard before I missed a dinner.

        Over the next five weeks, I worked on both of them side by side in the garage. One morning, I walked into the garage and realized I was so over-working on 1972 Chevy 4 x 4 truck! I had burned myself out and I had two trucks sitting in my new garage (we built a new house). I had two very nice cars sitting outside the garage in the elements.

        How did I end up working on two at the same time? I was starting to see why my wife was not happy with my therapy sessions.

        I went back down to the computer and started to type out a Craigs List ad, again. But as I was thinking about how to sell two half running 4 x 4 trucks, I started scanning the truck ads (I have no reason why other than I was having a lapse and need some more therapy under the truck).

        I saw this ad for a 1950 GMC COE in parts up north of where I live. I went back to my therapy garage and then it hit me. I need to build something that might take more skill than a 1972 truck to put together. How about mating a COE with a 4 x 4? One truck got moved to another garage and the other one got stripped down to the frame. That is how MY HOOPTY project began, back in September of 2007.

        The COE is now made up from at least seven different vehicles.

  • A 4 x 4 K10 Chevy frame
  • A power steering unit out of international truck
  • A power brake system out of a late model Chevy van
  • Seats out of a late model Silverado pickup
  • Two pickup truck beds from 1950 Chevy pickups that have been welded together
  • A 14 bolt semi floater rear end out of an '80’s Chevy pickup (I kept the whole truck 6 lug with 1/2- ton suspension to give it a soft ride)
  • A dash board out of a same year Chevy pickup truck
  • A new wiring harness for a '70’s Ford Bronco (Ok so it is not all GM but I had this brand new harness and it came with the ignition keys and fuse box.

        The truck is now titled and has plates and is almost ready to be road worthy after six months of fabricating the truck into something that suits my creativity and is unique.

        Therapy sessions have turned into really productive sessions. See more pictures of My Hoopty on Webshots!

-30-


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