Owned by Travis Sinard "Sweet T 29'" Bolter # 40378 Home in middle Tennessee

1929 Chevy 1.5-Ton

More discussion about this truck

From Travis :

I was initially heavy into dirt track car racing. I was anticipating the upcoming racing season and had invested heavily into my car. I came home one day and someone had stolen the engine, which I had already torn down. It was on the stand and they took the stand and all! That really took the wind out of my sales. I turned my attention to street rods. I kinda needed something to take all of my free time when I wasn't with my family.

A friend talked me into taking his 1929 Chevy 1.5-ton that he bought from a guy in a neighboring town. It was a project he was intending to rod out but it sat for almost four years behind his shop. He had a nice 36 x 46 poster of the actual truck in its original shape, though.

There was an 80-something year old guy from the area where we lived, who had seen the poster and said he had a truck just like that back in the '40s or '50s. My buddy told him the truck in the poster was sitting out back and he responded, "If I can see the front bumper on it, I can tell you if it was mine."  He had wrecked the the truck and he had welded two pieces of angle iron in place of the bumper. Well, there was no doubt about it, this old truck had been his!

My senior year in high school I decided that if I was going to go to college, I wanted to go to a place where I can learn to build race cars. I have a degree in Hi-performance Technology from Northwestern College (now the University of Northwest Ohio). They teach theory and design of all things fast or powerful, as well as building dirt modifieds and owning a dirt track facility. They build dirt cars. I built race cars and we ran around the country for a lot for races, after college. 

We were 4th out of 3100 in the nation in 2004.  In '05 we were 15th. It wasn't a hobby but it was really a job.  We went to a race in Ohio and I told them I was alumni. We went out for a heat race that was the Fall finals double points, last race of the year, held at the El Dora Speedway. We had a new car that we got just a week prior to this as a bare frame and hadn't finished completion until the tech inspection at the track. Zero laps in the car and first time out we were 3rd fastest overall out of 147 cars. The people from the school I previously attended weren't so friendly when the under-funded guys from the south thoroughly cleaned house. They wouldn't talk to me after that. They taught the skill to do it.

Back to the truck

When I got the truck, almost a year ago now, it was the complete cab on the complete rolling frame (as you see in the picture above). I thought I was getting sheet metal (no usable wood) and a complete rolling chassis in great condition, considering it had not been stored all these years. This truck was a basket case.

When I brought my trailer over to load it, I found out that the truck was only half way put together.  It was just panels stuck together. I had to load it in pieces on to the trailer. It wouldn't travel down the road that way without the pieces blowing away. So, I just removed them, laid them flat and ... well, it traveled real well that way.

The hardest part was not knowing what was missing (no actual body part diagrams). I made a platform / jig to reconfigure the cab but didn't have door sills that I know of and have no idea what connects top of windshield to rear top quarters. So I built a temporary wood frame to support.

I'm sure many will cringe with what's next but that's ok.

After I got it home and started some work, I went ahead and started to chop it.  I wasn't worried about setting it up right. First thing I did was chopped eight inches out of the top. I cut the frame in three pieces, narrowed and notched the rear. I took the frame and cut in half and used the top of one side and box in the other side to be a rectangle. I took front half off to put in my modern truck to bring it up here where I could work on it. I scraped the idea of using the factory frame. I marked out halving the frame and using the top of one side, 180 degree spin, to box the other side. I have since decided to just build a new frame from scratch 3 x 2 x 1.875, notch and narrowed rear section.

I got it chopped and was building a new frame. I had 15" x 15" wheels all the way around. I made pieces for the front fender. I fabricated a cover on the side, so it hides behind the wheel a little to look more like a '37 front fendes that I have on the rear. Read on.

Hold your breath and don't laugh: I have '37 front fenders on the back but they are turned around. I have the '29 front fenders that I fabricated on the front. It look similar to a car style. The splash guard is attached to the front fenders and the main body. Some custom bed fab over the inside of the fenders and we have it. It's a project with lots of ideas.

After I chopped it, I removed all original steering, suspension and wiring and replaced the front steering and suspension with former parts that were used in my race car stuff.

I was elbow-deep in all rat-rod stuff. I was trying to make it work with whatever I had.

When I picked up the truck, it was the truck and a few miscellaneous parts, half a cab and parts, a full roll and chassis. What was in the bucket was pedal covers, weather stripping, trim, and stuff I didn't expect.

Then the previous owner informed me that I had boxes of some new parts and some with the disassembled parts (original) that I still needed to pick up! I didn't know about all the miscellaneous parts in all these buckets. The truck was missing a lot and I knew it would be hard to find this stuff. I was formerly a Chevy mechanic but newer and older stuff is not the same.

I found out that the first guy intended to restore it original. He had a lot of NOS original parts; all correct.  I didn't even know they were there. I knew there were a lot of parts that came along with the truck, including two transmissions and the grille shell. So now I have lots of parts for sale.

Moving on

Now, I work for the railroad, based out of Jacksonville, Florida (largest rail only contractor in the country). I am a "Thermite welder" (a maintenance welder). But, I work out of the area three weeks a month and then I come home to Tennessee one week. I have two kids and wife. Needless to say, I do truck work at night while they sleep.

This very old truck had a dump bed on it that was gravity operated. You just pull the pin, give it some gas and it lifts up.  To drop the bed, put on the brakes. Very crude.

I have been at it for over eight months.

I found one door sill (and a few other much needed pieces) in the corner of the previous owner's garage, thank God. I couldn't build the body on the frame because I have no floor to support anything and the temporary structure wasn't keeping it square enough for door positioning and so forth.

I came into this with a "rat rod just make it function" mentality but the more pieces I find the more I want semi-original. I have no idea what entails making the roof other than the side sheet metal and two cross pieces. Thought I had two more different pieces but I am thinking they are actually hood seal holders.

I began making wood supports for replacing rotted door wood and have made good progress but am halted by not having the door latching assembly.

I had one outside handle and recently acquired another. I've got one window regulator and glass. But glass broke and I was gonna use lexan anyway.

Had it mocked up but took apart for frame work.

Thanks for any and all help, suggestions or comments.

Travis Sindard

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I have lots of racing stories and even my racing stories have racing stories. We have been fortunate to have had a lot of good things happen to us as well as the bad things (the car in that story was totaled 2 weeks later). Shoot, I even had the car unload itself while going down the road and pass me .... true story. Head on into a tree -- brand new body -- total loss. I keep hoping someday maybe overhaulin' will here one of my hard luck stories and pick something I own to re-do.

Since the race cars I ran were late models, I have a lot of left over parts and I'll just run the front with that stuff.

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