1938 Chevy 1/2-Ton

	Owned by Michael Lawrence "artillaryman" Bolter # 3776 Placerville, California

From Sarge :

        Well it's been a long time since I've written however wanted to show you the update on our 1938 Chevy 1/2-ton. Much has been done. It's just nice to have it on the road.

        The '38 scooted the 1936 Chevy Low Cab aside for a while, since it was running and was going to be a quick clean up ..... sighhh. After neutralizing the surface rust ... and getting a clean set of white walls ... and instead of putting new tires on rusty rims, I powder coated them. Then, you know, the truck started perking up.

        Although it started out being a "going to the 152 year old hardware store truck" in Placerville, it started to transform into stages that I felt I couldn't just leave it half done (probably the Marine in me).

        We left the beautiful foothills of California to raise the kids near family in the farm-filled Central Valley of California. The '38 fit right in. It ended up changing her destiny into a local parade truck.

        I kept her original other than the color. She's still 6 volt, same old beautiful Stovebolt [ head picture ] plugging along.

        The wood in the bed [ pix ] turned out especially nice. More than anything, it's turned into something that the local community seems to appreciate -- and that's all we could ever hope for. She gets smiles on the road, and curious inspectors in parking lots. She's come a long way from her time up in the foot hills to now in the Valley.

        She's still a long ways away from Pebble Beach in a lot of ways, but she was cleaned up merely to be driven and shared. We feel mission has been accomplished.

        Our Daughter and Son [ pix ] ritually climb inside the truck and have me sit on the lawn mower each night and act as though we are driving to schoo l... "Beep Beep ...vroom." Some days the trip is longer than others, but always an adventure.

        Our '36 ("Millie") came with us as well. She sits nobly in an retired chicken ranch barn along side her cousin a 1936 GMC. We have plans for full resto's on them hopefully. Time will tell (and money, heh).

        Thank you once again for a wonderful site. I thoroughly enjoy seeing the Gallery grow and grow. I think that it's a unique bunch we have. I'm happy to be a part of it all.

Semper Fi,

Sarge

                Wow, sounds like much fun for all! Farm living is good for everyone. Thanks for the kind remarks about the site. Yea, we think there's a pretty neat bunch here. And you are part of it, for sure! ~ Editor

01 March 2005
# 1036

From Michael: 

      Here is my second submission to the Stovebolt Gallery. Along with "Millie" our '36 stock low cab, we now have this 1938 Chevy pickup in our collection.

      My wife actually found the ad, and with our state tax refund arriving that same day, we saw it as a "sign from the Vintage Chevy gods" that this was worth checking out. [ pix ]

      She is in pretty good overall shape [ pix ] . She runs and drives like a champ. A few bumps and bruises ... a couple of missing teeth ... but that's common among many of the 67 year olds you might know ... hehe.

      As you might have guessed, we are keeping her original. In fact we are probably going to just de-grease the engine and clean up the breaks and drive her as is to the hardware store and such -- for a while -- until the '36 is completed. (Newborn Lil Addy May has put all on hold for a while!)

      She seems pretty complete but will be needing another passenger side running board due to some holes and hopefully some better fenders maybe an grille? Would love some period correct artillery rims if anyone knows of any.

      Enjoy the pictures and thanks, as always, to The Stovebolt Page for providing a great site and venue for all of us to drool.

Semper Fi

Sarge

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