23 June 2013
# 3017

Owned by Shane Kamerer "buggy5872" Bolter # 1037 Beaver, PA

1957 Chevy Low Cab Forward 5700

"Big Bertha"

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From Shane :

I have finished my 1957 Chevy Low Cab Forward truck.  I stretched it into a crew cab and made a custom box out of a combination of a 1958 Fleetside and some step side fenders. 

The chassis and running gear are a 2003 GMC w4500. It has a Vortec 454 and 4L80E tranny. 

I did all the work myself.  I custom made it to pull our 36 foot fifth wheel camper.

i bought the truck in July 2011 from a salvage yard in Hagerstown, Maryland. I always wanted a truck like this and it stuck in my head. With a family, you have to have a four door. So this was my first major custom body job.

I started cutting.

The bed is a combination of a 1958 Fleetside and Stepside. I stretched the Stepside fenders and molded them into the Fleetside bed.

I did all the custom work myself in a seven foot high garage. We have three stalls in the garage. I made a rack to hold the cab so I could build it all on there. I had to do it all in pieces.

I took two cabs and cut the front off one and the back off the other. Then I slid them together. The hardest part was the rear doors. There are four doors from a regular truck, cut apart and put together to make a regular door.

The roof is off a 1957 panel truck. Lot of cutting and welding to get that to fit.

On the interior, it is all leather out of a Suburban. It has power windows, air conditioning, a drop-down DVD player for the kids.

I did the interior work, too. I found a back seat for it I didn't realize it was too wide until I got it home. I had to cut 1.5 inches out of the center to make it fit. I cut the frame apart and had to re-do the upholstery to make it work.

Half of the floor and half of the fire wall all was fabricated, made it all from scratch. I have a metal break and bead roller.

I did most of the work in the evenings (sometimes working until 1 a.m. -- and getting up at 5 a.m. for work!) and weekends. My two boys (8 and 10) helped a little bit.

It was quite a big deal. I had enough people come by and saying "Are you crazy?". Wife calls it the one truck show.

I do not do this for a living - I am an accountant - this is my hobby.

Our first trip with t he camper was Memorial Day 2012. Last year we spent about 30 days in the camper. Mostly East cost. Next year. we'd like to go out west. The project was on the fast tract and I'll get back to finishing the 1959 after we move (which is soon) ... and I have a bigger garage.

You can read the whole "build thread" here.

Shane

Shane has been with us a long time. He has several trucks in the Gallery and some impressive work! In 2002, the sent in the story of his 1959 Chevrolet Apache Fleetside. In January 2011, he told us about a cool 1959 Chevy Apache 32 NAPCO. We got a story on his all custom work 1957 Chevy Low Cab Forward (that he made into a four door!) in early 2013.

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