1951 Chevy 1/2-Ton

	Owned by Jerry Hawthorne "jerry 51-52" Bolter # 17441 Coshocton, Ohio

From Jerry :

       When my wife Marla and I were in the busy stages of raising our daughter Rita (doing the dance lessons, ball games, etc.), I would always say "Someday I want a 1951 or 1952 Chevy pick-up to restore." Well, in the spring of 2005, just before Rita graduated from college, my "someday" came along when Marla located this 1951 Chevy truck at Phil Stallings Classic Cars in Newark, Ohio.

       Without telling me, she had contacted them to find a truck for me. She told me we were going to Newark, and when we got there, we were taking what they had. We went to see it on Good Friday, bought it, and drove it back to our home in Coshocton that same day!

       It was in good running condition. In fact, it had very little rust on it at all as you can see from this photo.

       I drove it the rest of that year the way it was (and loved it!). In the winter of '06, I started to tear it down to begin the restoration process. Our nephew Lee has been involved, too, and so have some of his buddies. They were a huge help when it came to lifting the cab off the chassis [ pix ] and other heavy work.

       By summer of '07, parts were ready to go to the painter, Dave Kiger, also of Newark, Ohio. We took the parts to Dave a few at a time and got them back the same way. We've had parts strung out everywhere, from the garage to the basement to the spare bedroom!

       We took most of the chrome to Jon Wright's Custom Chrome Plating in Grafton, Ohio for restoration.

       When we got the cab back in January of '08, I began putting it back together. When it's finished, it will be a memorial to my Dad who owned and operated an excavating company and had a truck very similar to this. Unfortunately, he died in an excavating accident in 1965 when I was 13 years old.

       The color choice (as close to Caterpillar yellow as we can get) was made because my Dad always owned Caterpillar equipment. His company logo from the 1960's will be on the driver's door.

       The boards in the bed are oak that was harvested from trees on our property. The logs were taken to a local man who has his own sawmill and drying operation. I did the wood working to get the boards to fit and there are five coats of marine varnish on both sides of them. [ pix ]

       According to what I've been able to trace about the VIN number, it was manufactured in Kansas, but came to the dealership from Colorado. Interestingly, though the VIN would tell you it's a 1951. There are attributes that would lead you to think it's a 1952.

       It's been a good experience overall but I'm anxious to get it finished now!

Stay posted!

Jerry Hawthorne

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