Roger Tilley's 1953 Chevy 1-Ton

09 January 2006
# 1355

From Roger:

          These are my two 1953 Chevy 1-ton pickups. The Green truck was my uncle Melvin's truck since new. It has seen some tough times early on like being put on its side a couple of times in the late '50's. Then the truck was put in a shed on the farm in about 1967. I used to play in the truck when I was a young kid and always said that it was "my truck." Being that the farm was Tapolia Michigan (about 500 miles away from where we lived), I did not get to play with my truck a lot .

          As the years went on, my love for this truck never changed and I never forgot about it. When I went up to visit my family up north, I always looked at the truck and saw how it was starting to show it age. My Dad would tell me that it was falling apart and that it would be sent to the junkyard. That was before we found out that these cars and trucks could be brought back to life.

          Then about 2 1/2 yrs ago, I was in a bad motorcycle accident and lost my leg above the knee. So now I was looking at things differently in my life. I picked up a 1970 Cutlass Supreme convertible and started to work on this project with a lot of help from others. It was teaching me things that I never thought I could or would ever know how to do.

          Then I got a call this summer form my cousin who got everything from the farm after my Uncle passed away. He knew I loved that truck and wanted to know if I was still interested in the truck. I said, "Let me think." Actually, I said "YES!"

          Then he said that they had another truck in the field and that I could have both of them. And the price was right -- free.

          Melvin's truck will never be sold. It will be kept in the family. Now my son thinks it is his!

          So I went up north with my son and Dad and my brother-in-law and friend who had a 36 foot trailer to bring them back here. So we pulled the other truck out of the field. And we gathered Uncle Melvin's truck which had sat in the yard for the last five years because the shed burned down after the truck was taken out and the motor was worked on to get it running. We got them both on the trailer and brought them back down here.

          Now after looking at the other truck, it will be a parts truck due to the bad shape it is in. I am looking forward to starting the work on my uncle's truck and my thoughts are to make it into a wrecker and paint it candy apple red and have his name put on the door in respect for my uncle Melvin.

          So I hope and pray I can take on this project and be able to due it justice. Now I need to find a 1,000 square foot house with a 3,000 square foot pole barn to keep them in and start this project. Being now that I am single again (due to the strain on our marriage due to the accident), I at least I won't have to worry about being in the dog house when I start working on the truck

Thanks,

Roger Tilley
Bolter # 9732
Davison, Michigan