Eric Bureau's 1955 Chevy 6500 Flatbed

18 May 2007 Update
# 1833

From Eric :

           Hi. Hope all is well. Here are a few of the latest pictures of the 1955 Chevy Second Series. Got the truck painted back in April.

           One advantage of living in Arizona, the weather is almost always cooperating. I bought a 1957 for spare parts. I liked the hood and emblems better so they are now on my truck.

Eric Bureau
Life's an adventure, not a guided tour
Bolter # 13881
Phoenix, Arizona

19 February 2007
# 1833

From Eric :

           Here is the end result of a project I started three months ago. It seems like longer than. I work on it everyday after work and that makes it feel like a bit more of a chore at times. In the November 2006, I bought a 1955 Chevy 6500 Flat bed that was all original. I found it north of Sacramento, California and I towed it back to Phoenix, Arizona.

           I decided to mount the cab on a 1995 Freightliner FL70 complete chassis with a cummins 6CT, 8.3L , Eaton Fuller 9 speed, air brakes and air suspension. Among the main modifications were a complete redo of the firewall and narrowing the front axle 14" so the tires would fit under the fender wells.

           Obviously, many other items had to be modified to "fit." I added the sleeper and also made a bed out of 1/4" aluminum diamond plate. I added a captain's chair for a comfy ride, too! I changed the rear end gears and am running 3.73 and that puts me at 2100 rpm at 70 mph. It has a 75 gallon tank. The motor is the mid-range version, 250 hp and just shy of 1000 foot pounds of torque. I should be getting between 12 and 14 mpg.

           I'm fairly new to all this. This has been a learning curve. I've always been partial to old Willy's trucks and wagons and did build a truck just for towing at one time. BUT you can only go so far and the Willy's have a very small engine compartment. So I looked around and liked the looks of the second generation Chevy's. I tow a sailboat that weighs 16,000 lbs. I bought another 6500 yesterday, mostly just for spare body parts. It was an old farm dump truck that had caught on fire. So there was nothing left in the cab.

           The truck runs great. Painting it is next on the project list.

           Keep up the great work on the web site. I still have not navigated it all and I'm sure there's lots of resources I can use.

Thanks,

Eric Bureau
Life's an adventure, not a guided tour
Bolter # 13881
Phoenix, Arizona