The Gallery
 

1953 3/4-Ton Chevy


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Owned by Rich Guarino
"rust bucket 53"
Bolter # 8635
Wakefield, Massachusetts

Talking about this truck
in the Paint & Body Forum


01 August 2010 Update
# 1232

More pictures of my old truck

From Rich :

It has been almost five years since my truck made her first very conspicuous appearance in my neighborhood, on the back of a ramp truck, late at night. Since that time, I have done a complete frame off (amateur) restoration. It has been a tremendous journey learning all I could about these trucks from this site so I could do all the work myself … from welding and body work, even paint. I am sure I would not have gotten results this good without the expert advice and encouragement and good will of Stovebolt.com.

In May this past year, I finished up some wet sanding. I wanted the truck to look like a work truck that was well taken care of. I sanded with 1000 grit initially and hand compound, then hand polish. My paint skills left much to be desired. A lot of orange peel was coming off.

I didn't want to get a real shiny look. I thought it would look more authentic this way .... Am I crazy?

My Father-in-Law thought the effect was pretty cool. I don't know if the pics on Website do it justice. The color is Marine Blue from TCP Global. It is very close to the original color. It looks a little lighter in the pics than in real life.

I decided to sand off all the orange peel and leave the 1000 grit scratches in. I had done significant body work on this truck trying to straighten the panels but not take out every single ding. It just feels a little funny to spend this amount of time and money to not have a perfect glossy paint job. But on the other hand, I thought this effect fits this old Maine farm truck. I figured, if worse comes to worse, I could always further sand and buff or (kill me now) repaint.

I stood on the frame in the back and used a step ladder for the sides. My new gun is gravity feed which helped. It was very difficult to do this with the suction gun I used to prime it. The can was in the way and that gun has a very limited angle of tilt before the gun stops working. It was still difficult, especially subsequent coats since now there was fresh paint to avoid as well. I should have had my son do it. He is 6'4" and has arms about 6" longer than mine.

I had a hard time painting the bed (not just the crappy job I did). I found it near impossible to paint the inside of the bed. When I primed it, the bed floor was not installed -- much easier. Trying to put a second coat on was ridiculously hard since I could no longer stand in the bed.

When I first got this truck and began peeling off the bad repairs, I found a small piece of floor board that had the original color on it. It was about the only remnant of that color. I nailed that artifact to the garage wall ... five years ago! This was exactly what I pictured the truck would look like when I finished!!

This old work truck had her maiden voyage home on June 26, 2010. We went 105 miles back to Cornish, Maine where I found her. She is now ready to live out her retirement riding in parades and going to cruise-ins and small town car shows thanks in good part to the gang here on the site.

I’ll tell you … she may not win any trophies but she sure turns a few heads on the road.

Thanks a million for such a great web site! I can’t wait to start my next one. When I find her, you will be the first to know.

Rich [an error occurred while processing this directive]

27 September 2005
#1232

From Rich: 

Ain't she a beauty? I found her in Cornish, Maine. I have a summer place there but live full time in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Something drew me to this truck but I was too slow and the guy sold it (on a handshake) to someone else. After hoping the deal would fall through for two months (the truck was still sitting there in the yard), I finally gave up. A week later the guy called. The first buyer backed out and I was next on the list. 

Funny, once I decided to buy it, I went directly to your site to browse -- but it was down. I was so disappointed. It is truly a great site with great members. I'm so glad you're back. I have posted my question and got 12 response in less than 24 hours. What a great group of folks you have!

So, it turns out that she is actually a '53 not a '51 like I originally thought. The serial number (J53N) indicates a 1953 3/4 ton built in Norwood Ohio. I knew there was something amiss when I saw the side mount spare tire and the push button handles. I purchased yesterday and had to leave her at my place in Maine until I can arrange shipping. (Hopefully soon....getting very anxious to start).

I went back to Maine over the holiday weekend to close the deal and bring her home -- provided she runs like I have been told. She is missing a few bed parts and has had work done on the floor and back of the cab. Hopefully good work. It is so much harder to fix someone else's poor work than to do it right the first time.

No sleeping in the dog house for me. My wife loves old trucks. Not to brag but she is already talking about the tools I will need to do this right. What a woman!

I plan on keeping the restoration as simple as possible. Yeah right! I've read a few stories on Stovebolt to know that won't likely happen. Anyway, I have not done this type of resto myself before but I am the only one of my brothers who has not built a hot rod or restored an old classic. I hope they remember how much I helped them. I will send more pics as I go.

So, this past weekend, I got my truck running. I was able to drive it out of my garage and back it back in. So now that I know it runs and the transmission has at least first, second and reverse, I can tear it apart and rebuild. I would have loved to driven it more but it has no brakes (although the let rear wheel feels like the brake is on).

I have some frame repair to do which I was not aware of. It's a bummer but it would not have kept me from buying her anyway. Just one more thing to add to the list. Looking forward to seeing her on your site.

The old gal made quite an entrance in my very quite neighborhood when she arrived by ramp truck with lights blaring and backup alarms beeping at 11:30 PM. They were supposed to come the following morning. I had to hop out of bed and run out in my bathrobe and move my other truck to let them in.

Rich Guarino

-30-


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