Owned by Louie Rodriguez "Suburban Lou" Bolter # 6571 Quartz Hill, CA

1949 1/2-Ton Chevy Suburban

"Bad Guy"

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More pix of my old Suburban

From Louie :

I bought this classic 1949 Chevy Suburban 1/2-ton with the Clamshell door back in April 2016. It had been at a local body shop (painter) for a long time. I would take parts over to the body shop now and again for the company that I work for and I would see the '49. I starting asking about it and the owner of the shop told me just to get in touch with the owner of the truck.

Apparently, the body shop owner and the owner of the Suburban had the vehicle in "limbo" as they traded on other items. It had been sitting there outside since 1990. So besides bringing the truck to the body shop, the previous owner really did nothing with it. So, after six months of begging and pleating with my friend, I was able to buy it. I was lucky to get it!

The truck is totally complete, minus the middle and rear seats. The front seat was good.

It was not running and it was dirty. I towed it home and set it up in our Shade Tree Garage. A lot of vacuuming to get the dirt out, plus a lot of debris left by previous occupants (mice!).

So, the work done in the shade included:

• New fuel system
• New fuel lines
• New fuel pump
• Rebuilt carb
• Boiled and coated gas tank
• Installed new battery
• New ignition system and starter
• Registered with Year of Manufacture (YOM) plates -- California 1949. I got those off eBay. They are a "hot" item here in California and can be quite prices -- I was fortunate that mine were not $800 like some I've seen.
• New to me 16" rim, tire, caps and beauty rings (bought from a 'Bolter)
• Installed new Installed the new cables -- pretty easy job -- Pullman #105 and Danchuck Nomad 45.5" cables
  

The engine is a 235 ci from a 1959 truck. The PO changed the lifters from solid to hydraulic. It took me about three weeks to get it running and a lot of the Bolters helped me with that, especially Hotrod Lincoln and Tclederman. The truck originally had 216. Since the 235 is now running, I'll just keep it.

I had a final tune-up performed by a local shop, Halseys Automotive. I was very pleased with their service.

In the near future, plan to install Fenton Headers (also bought from a 'Bolter) and Smiths' exhaust. The weather stripping is rotting out but I haven't replaced it yet. Lately, I have been going thru the brakes and rewiring old crusty wires

My Grandson Charlie named the 'Burb "Bad Guy."

The truck was running well enough to join first cruise-in at the country's oldest Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, CA (which just so happen to have been built in ... wait for it ... 1949). They have a cruise in every Friday night. Many of the older folks who come to the cruise-in know what the Suburban is.

I have another Suburban that I got about five years ago. It's a 1966 GMC Suburban 1/2-ton Custom. We are trying to get a Suburban for every era. We'll be looking for a later 1950s and an earlier 1940s. We want the clamshell since we like the open access.

~~ Louie

Keep track of Louie's project details in the DITY Gallery and check for new photos to the Photobucket album. Any and all questions welcome! If you post in the forum, others can share in the discussion. These Panel & Burb guys are pretty tight since their restoration issues are sometimes very specific! Besides this ''49 and the '66, Louie has a 1950 Chevy 3100 that's been in the Gallery since 2004. ~ EditorThanks ~ Editor  

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