01 February 2013
# 3003

Owned by Garth Vincent "GarthMC" Bolter # 31991 Placerville, California

1955 GMC 1st First Series Deluxe Cab

More pictures of my old truck

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From Garth :

My Father, who passed away about four years ago, bought a 1955 1st Series GMC Deluxe Cab Long Bed pickup truck new from a local dealer. I have pictures in the Photobucket album of the day Dad brought it home new -- one is colorized and one is black and white. I also have the original sales receipt -- the truck cost $2260 back in December 1954!

My Dad had this truck, plus a couple of parts trucks he collected over the years. He parked this one a while back with the intention of fixing it someday. That day got farther and farther away. Dad said I could have it long ago ... it just took me a while to get to it also. Well, perhaps some motivation helped: my son Josh (14) wants to drive it to high school! He is really into mechanical stuff as am I (I rebuilt my first lawn mower at age 12). Josh has enjoyed practicing the skills he has learned and seeing how everything works.

So last year, we rescued three of these trucks from where they had been parked outside for over 30 years. We trailered this one home (that's why there is so much stuff in the bed in the picture above!). This one is our restoration project. The truck is basically complete. One of the trucks I gave to a friend and sold the other one after removing some of the parts for this project. We have extra parts that dad collected in storage and will keep what we need and sell the rest. We can use that money to put back into the restoration.

I grew up with this truck and so I remember a lot of the details about it. I feel like I have an advantage in restoring it. I also remember lots of rides and sitting on my Dad's lap steering while driving down the road.

I found and purchased a two-page centerfold ad from eBay titled "5 Years Ahead" which came from a 1954 Saturday Evening Post. This was before I decided to rescue the truck. It looked exactly like Dad's truck except for the one pictured has the hydromatic and no Barden bumper. Very Cool! That is probably what inspired me also.

The engine is a 1955 to 1962 270 (the door tag lists the horse power at 115 so I think Dad changed out the original 248). It has a four speed "granny gear" and retains the starter pedal.

Dad’s old truck will be basically stock except for radial tires, restored upgraded seat to match the original appearance and probably a replacement stock appearing AM/FM radio. I still have the original and the headliner mounted speaker and grille I found it stored outside in an old file cabinet that I almost threw in the dumpster while cleaning up Dad's property a couple of months ago.

The rear view mirror was missing and we found a power wire and a ground wire protruding from the mirror mounting hole. I could not find the wire on any wiring diagrams. I traced the wire, which ran under the windshield rubber thru the bottom of the window post and to where the radio used to be (now in storage).

I also noticed there was no place in the dash for a speaker. The Z-series GMC truck (54/55) had a completely different dash and radio than in a 19551st Series Chevrolet truck. The Owners Manual, under the truck radio section, stated "The full size Alnico permanent magnet speaker is mounted in the roof of the cab for increased sound performance required in truck operation." Well, the front half of the headliner was gone.

Maybe the design engineers just overlooked needing a speaker location so this was the fix. I do know that the radio, heater, and clock were dealer installed options so with the wire stuffed behind the rubber, I doubt it they came from the factory pre-wired.

In researching this, I found a neat piece on Jim Carter's Radio Trivia: "The dash on the 1954-1959 GMC and 1955-59 Chevrolet has no place for a speaker opening. Thus, the factory speaker is placed between the sunvisors above the windshield." This was a dealer installed option and they apparently just cut a whole in the headliner. The grille of the radio wasn't latched on to anything specific to give it a good hold. Fortunately, Dad didn't toss his out the window when it (probably) popped off.

In the interior, all the soft parts are shot. The door panels are just cardboard. The replacement headliner and door panel are not available in the original color so we will end up buying replacements and paint them to match . We will build  a stock-appearing seat (better padding and material in the same stock color scheme).

The Deluxe cab had a light blue and dark blue combination. It matches nicely with the two-tone exterior of blue and white. Regular Production Option two-tone interior / exterior options were available on GM pickups and panels in 1954/55 (GMC and Chevrolet).
As I understand it, at least on GMCs in 1954, the two-tone exterior and interior were standard with the Deluxe package. When I was 12-15, it was just two colors. Now, it seems pretty cool!

I still have the hood ornament. I took it off a while before I towed the truck (seemed like something that could be easily stolen). I was a bit surprised that it hadn't been taken before. Two Phillips screws came out like they were new.

We will paint it as original (no fancy show quality stuff) and we will retain the dealer installed Barden bumper. Might not be perfect but they weren't perfect when new and it's a truck. One of the extra parts is a complete grille that is painted. I am going to have it chrome plated.

Once we get it rolling and running, we will do body work paint and interior. I figure (hope) we can get it on the road in about two years. Josh will be 16 then. I have an Aunt (my Mom's sister) who is almost 90 and I told her we'd come give her a ride. She's quite excited about the idea.

And for a little more background, I have a 1969 Z-28 Camaro that I bought when I was 20 (now I'm 50). I was the second owner. It's all original material. It hasn't been butchered and won't be.

Stovebolt has been an incredible site !! The guys in the forums have been very helpful already. Thanks for including me in all this fun! Will keep you posted on progress in my thread and will keep adding photos to the Photobucket album!

Garth

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