01 January 2013
# 2994

	Owned by Eric Olson "dynosaurus" Bolter # 32724 Colorado Springs, Colorado

1939 Chevy 1/2-Ton Pickup

More pictures of my old truck

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From Eric :

Fresh Out of the Garden ~~

In April 2012, I was lucky enough to find this old 1939 Chevrolet 1/2-ton pickup truck in a backyard right here in Colorado Springs,

This classic truck was parked in the old garden spot and had been sitting there since 1977. So my Son and I dug it up (you can see this in the Photobucket pictures - link above ~ Editor), put some air in the tires and brought it home.

This one has a rebuilt 235 engine out of a 1958 Chevy Pickup (still set up as 6 volt), 4 speed on the floor and the rest of the drive train is all original.

After I brought it home, I had to replace the brake wheel cylinders, drained and replaced all the fluids, had the gas tank boiled out, installed new exhaust, and put some radial tires on it. I put a new radiator in. The old one would have made a nice lawn sprinkler. Three weeks later, it was my new daily driver.

When I first got it, the truck had one of those 1970's style gas pedals. I remember as a kid, we had one of those in our Chevy van. Well, I could cruise down the road at 50. Then I took the big pedal off and now I can only do 46 mph. Who would have thought!

I just had the bench seat re-upholstered in October, so I could throw away the sleeping bag that was covering the seat springs.

The only thing left to do is to install new wood in the bed so I can carry stuff in it. I'll replace pieces on it as they wear out or fall off.

Besides this truck, I found a 1946 Chevy 1.5-Ton Stakebed in December this year. on these two truck projects, I had been into restoring old cars. I am doing a complete frame off restoration on a 1940 Chevy Sedan, in honor of my Dad who passed away six years ago from cancer. He was born in 1940. I was hoping to find a 1940 truck to go with the Sedan but this '39 was close enough and was in such perfect and original condition, I couldn't pass it up. If a 1940 truck shows up, and is worth it, I'll probably snag it and update it for modern driving, similar to what I intend to do with the 1946 Chevy.

Of all the cars and trucks I have owned, this is definitely my favorite to drive. There is nothing like cruising down the highway at 45 mph with the windshield cranked open. These old trucks are definitely a blast to drive. In the video, I had put on an exhaust pipe and asked my wife to drive it to see if it was too loud. Well, she just kept driving and driving. She had it in second gear and couldn't figure out how to get into third!

I'll post progress updates on my DITY forum thread and continue to update pictures in my Photobucket album. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. I'll be checking in regularly ... after the holidays!

Thanks for looking.

Eric

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