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1946 Chevrolet 1/2-Ton


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  Owned by George Smith
Primm Springs, Tennessee
11 October 2008
# 2452

From David :

       My Father’s 1946 Chevrolet was a semi-original truck when he bought it about four years ago.  Originally, I was looking at the truck and was about to buy it. I just had to get the rest of the money together by selling another vehicle. I also had just recently purchased my 1951 GMC Dually

       My Father decided that it would be a good thing for him to buy and we work on the trucks together.

       The truck was running when he bought it and he was able to drive it down the road -- but the brakes had seen better days. The way we stopped the truck was using the parking brake. [ Picture from passenger side ]

       The route my Dad has taken to restore the truck is to make it fairly original. He wants it to be a Sunday driver.  He is making a few upgrades here and there like replacing the original 216 with a 235 and upgrading the 6 volt system to a 12 volt.

       Dad has cleaned the frame and painted it black, installed the rebuilt 235 and re-piped the entire brake system. 

       He does not have a complete bed for the truck yet because the original panels were rusted completely though in several places.  He is going to have new bed sides broke at a local sheet metal shop.  We will assemble the bed and make the rolled over edge of the bedsides out of steel pipe.  All of the welding has been done by my Brother and I. Years ago my Father taught us how and now he would rather us weld than him.  He still has a few places to repair on the cab but for the most part, all of the rough work has been done. 

       The next step for him is to fine tune the brake system and to start making the bed.

       He has taken a sort of break from working on the truck due to a tornado hitting the area on February 5th (no lives were lost).  This tornado destroyed several of my family member’s homes and out buildings.  Luckily, my Dad’s house was safe and he had his truck in the garage of the house.  My truck, on the other hand, was in his shop. The truck was okay but the shop was basically lifted off the ground and destroyed.  I have pictures of damage.  All of the parts for both trucks were in the shop and another out building. The only part that we cannot find to date is one of the rear fenders to the '46.  He is planning on purchasing two of them when the time comes. 

       We finally have everything back to nearly the way it needs to be and it is just in time for the fall and winter months. He is going to start back on the truck in a few weeks.

       I will try to keep you updated on both trucks.  Slideshow of the '51 and '46.

       Thanks for the opportunity to share our passions. I really enjoy reading the Gallery pages and the forums that you have on the site. This site keeps me motivated and allows me to gain great information and knowledge that I may not ever have been able to get alone.

David

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