Paul Yacabitis'

1948 Chevy 1.5-Ton Dually Dump 5-Window


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12 August 2005
#1190

From Paul: 

       Finally, I am an official Stovebolter!

       I have always had a fascination with old vehicles, especially trucks and panels. I just never got around to seriously looking for one of my own. This year my 16 year old son decided that he wanted to find an antique vehicle to "fix up" for his senior project at school. We started looking through the local classifieds and settled on a 1957 Chevy Panel truck. He bought it and a '77 Blazer which is donating its frame and power train to the '57. The fever started to overcome me! I was so proud that my son had a truck that was three times his age. I joined the Stovebolt Page forums so that I could seek advice on how to go about helping him with this extremely worthy cause. The project is well underway now and has a fairly clear path.

       My wife is well aware of my love for rusty metal, especially old trucks, and has always wanted to get one for me. She too, never seemed to get around to it. About a week ago, we went to look at a '58 GMC that I had spotted in the classifieds. It was a BIG 'Bolt ... 22,000 GVW. I think she was kind of intimidated by it, and although she would have bought it for me, I knew deep down that it wasn't what she had in mind, and I decided to pass on it.

       As we drove back home, we spotted a '52 Chevy panel for sale. I stopped to inquire about it. No one appeared to be around when I pulled into the driveway, so we wrote down the phone number. Sitting back behind the panel truck were a few other old 'Bolts -- another early '50's panel and an Art Deco school bus. I decided to knock on the door. An old man came to the door and told me that the panel belonged to his son who was asking way more than we could afford for it. I thanked the man for his time and for allowing me to look it over, but explained that it was not in my budget. He offered to take my wife on a trade, but I didn't think she would go for it. LOL.

       We again headed for home. I was disappointed that I had forgotten to bring the camera along! So much old iron left just to my memory.

       We came to an intersection a few miles down the road and as I turned the corner, I noticed some rusty hunks of metal behind a closed-down country store. I pulled into the lot to get a better look and couldn't believe my eyes. In front of me stood a large collection of Stovebolts. Some were rusted far beyond repair and others I could envision breathing life back into. One of them was an Advanced Design dump truck which I immediately fell in love with. Fortunately, there was red paint on the windshield indicating that it was for sale. My wife told me to look for a phone number. I walked to the door of the store and found a note with the phone number to call for information on the vehicles. The number seemed strangely familiar. When I got back to the car, sure enough, it was the same number that was on the panel up the road.

       Back on the road and heading for home, I told my wife that I would really like to get that dump truck. But judging from the price of the panel, this guy knew what he had and probably wasn't going to part with anything cheap. Nevertheless, when we got home, I called ... answering machine ... message ... no return call. The next day, I called again ... person ... conversation ... SOLD ... to me!!! ...

       One 1948 1.5-ton dually dump with 5 window cab and lots of mouse poop.

       Actually, I bought it without knowing what year it was. The title listed the VIN but no year. I used the VIN Cruncher to get the specifics. The guy said he had it running about three years ago and that everything worked except the brakes.

       Here it sits with two of it's little brothers...

       An interesting side note -- I purchased the truck on July 30, 2005. My son pointed out that the date of issue on the title I got with the truck was July 30, 1970 -- 35 years to the day.

       Enjoy the Pics.

Paul Yacabitis
"Inky05"
Bolter # 6995
N.E. Pennsylvania

"It's not that I haven't done it ... It's that I haven't done it yet..."


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