1950 Chevrolet 1/2-Ton

	"Kirby" Owned by Ron and Kim Plender "Arpee" Bolter # 10489 Box Elder, South Dakota

From Ron :

           Hi fellow Stovebolters! Arpee here and I am WAY overdue for an update on our race truck project. It is amazing how much life gets in the way of finishing a project.

           Anyway, even though it has been painfully slow, we are beginning to see daylight. We hope to see it run this summer.

           Most all of the fabrication is done. The paint work is almost completed. So we need to get the wiring done and some final assembly.

           The pictures: tailgate | chassis front | right front | finished firewall

           The truck now has a name (as all our trucks do!) and it is Kirby. We kind of borrowed that from Mike Kirby who has been so helpful getting the engine built and providing invaluable advice and assistance.

           A quick recap of Kirby’s spec’s:

• 292 late model engine
• .060 over bore
• Approximate 12 to 1 compression
• Crower Cam
• Hilborn injection
• Dyno’d at 460+ hp
• Jerico 4 speed trans
• Ford 9 inch rear end
• 4.86 gears
• Original chassis, boxed and reinforced

           It’s hard to tell from the pictures but the cab, bed and hood (when finished) are a sage green color and the fenders and running boards are black. The whole truck is (will be) sprayed with an egg-shell clear coat. It won’t be flat but it won’t be slick and shinny either. We are hoping it will look like a clean old truck that you might have seen parked in front of a gas station in the 1960’s.

           I wish I could take the credit for all that nice work on Kirby.  Unfortunately, I am not that talented.  Two brothers down the road from me have done the fabrication and body work.  I am a reasonably competent parts replacer and enjoy working on the drive train but that’s as far as it goes.  It is also a big part of the reason it is taking so long to get Kirby on the road (track).

           He will be a Nostalgia Drag truck that should be a lot of fun.

           Otis (our 1964 Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside) and Walter (our 1950 pickup truck) are still both running well and we use them everyday – ok, maybe every week (every chance we get!). The ’56 Chevy street car we do a little racing with is also running well. It’s a 292 (of course) and we had some additional head work done last year and it ran a best of 13.67 at 100.8 mph. We changed the rear end last fall and added a little more gear with a little more tire.

           I’ve also included a picture of a little car we picked up a couple summers ago.  It’s kind of our 4 wheeled motorcycle. Since it was a 6 cylinder, we just couldn’t resist.  I am so fortunate to have a wife that loves old trucks and cars as much as I do!!

           As soon as the weather cooperates here, we hope those changes will lead to improved performance.

           Keep enjoy’n those Chevy 6 cylinders!!!

Ron and Kim Plender

           You build a mean truck. Nice job on the new firewall, very tidy. ~ Mike "Burgandybolt" Allen, Welcome (Panel) Wagon

17 May 2007 Update
# 1476

From Ron:

         I sent in an update on Otis, our 1964 Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside, so I thought I'd include a little bit of update on the "race truck."

         Our race truck isn’t quite done so we are racing the ’56 for the first part of the season. It isn’t nearly as fast as the race truck will be but it is still fun. The race truck chassis is done, the cab is painted and mounted and the bed sides are painted and ready to be installed. Once we get that done we can finish the plumbing and wiring and by then hopefully the fenders will be ready to install. Then it will be time to hear it run. I will get some pics off to you all as soon as things really take shape.

         As you may have guessed we are long time Inliner International members and REALLY enjoy our 6 cylinders. The Inliners have set up their own drag race classes and (at least for the moment) the ’56 is the C/G record holder with a 13.81 in the quarter mile at 98.4 mph. (The picture above is Otis pulling the '56.) It is also a 292 with more head work, more cam and more compression – but it is still a street car that we race when we can. We call ourselves “Six is Enough Racing.” Six is enough to have a lot of fun with and embarrass a lot of V8’s!!

Ron and Kim Plender

20 March 2006
# 1476

From Ron:

         Hi fellow Stovebolters. I had sent some pictures of Walter, our 1950 pickup truck that we use as a daily driver and also do some drag racing with. In that note, I mentioned that we also have a 1964 Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside, Otis that is a nice old truck. This is our second 1950 Chevrolet that we are building as a race truck.

         I’ve included a couple pics of the race truck in progress. He doesn’t have a name yet. We have to get him running and see what “fits.” The frame has been completely boxed and the rear suspension has been changed to a ladder bar, coil over system with a F++d 9 inch housing. The carrier is an aluminum Moser assembly with 4.86 gears using 35 spline axles. A Jerico 4 speed transmission with a Long vertical gate shifter was chosen to keep with the nostalgia racer theme of the old truck. The engine is kind of the crown jewel. It is a 292 with an aluminum 12 port cylinder head and Hilborn injection. It’s running about 12 to 1 compression and a cam with about .700 lift and around 300 duration. We had the engine dyno’d before we brought it home and it made over 450hp on racing gas.

         It should be great fun. I’ll keep you updated as the race truck progresses. It is now completely in pieces so that we can paint the frame and begin the final assembly. It may not make the first race of the season but we hope not to miss very many.

         Best of luck to all you Stovebolters out there working on your own projects. It’s a great way to spend your time, don’t you agree?

Ron and Kim Plender
"Arpee"
Bolter # 10489
Box Elder, South Dakota

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