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Glen Emery's1963 3/4-Ton"Old Red Truck" |
14 May 2004
From Glen:
Here are some pictures of my 1963
3/4 ton. When it was new it had an 8 foot stepside bed. My parents bought this
pickup new in the summer of 1963, when I was only one year old. Five kids learned
to drive in the "old red truck." It had a 230 cid inline 6, SM 420 (granny low)
4-speed, and a 5.13 ratio rear end. None of us went anywhere very fast, but
it always got us there. In 1980 I graduated high school,
and my parents bought a '77 C-10 Silverado for me to drive back and forth to
college. The "old red truck" was parked out back for whenever it might be needed
again. A couple of years later my parents adopted a teenage girl and she learned
to drive in the "old red truck." We kids all grew up and went our
seperate ways and life went on, and the "old red truck" was still there if anyone
needed to haul something or needed an extra vehicle. My adopted sister got married
and she and her husband needed an extra vehicle so they took the "old red truck"
and started driving it. The stepside bed was falling off, the floors were gone
and it was running poorly. Her husband found an early 70's 250 cid and slipped
in it. He repaired the floors with the sheet metal from an old washer and dryer.
He found a flatbed off a 2-ton truck and put it on. I tore it down just leaving the
cab on the frame. I pulled the 250 and had it bored .040 over and rebuilt it.
I put in new floors, new rocker panels, new cab corners, and new guts in the
doors. I shortened and narrowed the flat bed and re-installed it. I've had to
fix a few other things that time has caught up with, but it was well worth it.
Now when my teenagers complain
about wanting a new car, I just tell that I'm still driving the one I drove
in high school. That usually shuts them up! After getting it back
together I drove it in primer for a couple of years, and then finally had it
painted GM Torch Red. As you can see it still works for a living. That's me
and my main helper (Opal the dog) sitting on the 25' gooseneck trailer with
a 1939 Montgomery Wards Twin Row tractor and a 1951 Farmall Super C tractor,
which I take to antique tractor pulls. The tractors weigh 6500 pounds and the
trailer weighs around 4000 to 4500 pounds. I figure I'm pulling between 10,000
and 11,000 pounds with the little 250. I do have a electric trailer brakes on
the two front axles of the trailer. The hitch is well secured and is located
2" forward of the axle for good weight distribution. Eat your heart out Duramax and
Power Stroke. Glen Emery 
I was the fourth of four kids and Mom transfered the title into my name when
I was 16 so the insurance would be a little cheaper. I drove it for most of
my high school years and went on many dates in it. We pulled a livestock trailer
hauling our 4-H calves to shows for many years. When I was about 14, I started
driving it in the pasture to feed cattle. I kept this up all through high school.
That is me standing next to pickup in the circa 1978 photo, with snow on the
ground -- I was 16 at the time.
As time went by, the "old red truck" fell into disrepair again. They parked
it out back and left it. After a few years my adopted sister and her husband
filed for divorce. I asked my Mom "what about the old red truck?" My Mom told
me that she thought the title was still in my name after all these years. No
one had ever bothered to change it. That was all the encouragement I needed.
I had a tow truck at their house the next day and hauled the MY "old
red truck" home. 
Tulsa, OK
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