About us
Who runs this crazy website and why do they do it?

High Finances
How do you keep this site going?

HELP!
Problem with the site, a link, navigating, registering, drop us a line

Office Goodies
Got any old truck calendars?

The Stovebolt Page
41370 Friendship Court
Mechanicsville, MD 20659-3853

AD Chevy Trucks

Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. This one is on AD Chevy trucks (1947-1955). Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment for you.

Who / What's a Stovebolt?

Stovebolt.com is proud to be a wholesome, traditional down-home family web site. Families, and their traditional values, are not only welcomed here, but hopefully may even find a cool, quiet rest stop away from the din and racket of the Information Super Highway.

This site is a family affair -- from the family who designs and over sees it, to the families who use it. This is / should be a family hobby, so we recognize and thank our supporting families and welcome their participation.

From all of us here in the virtual garage, we hope you enjoy your visit. Hang out, stay late (just don't get in trouble!) and hurry back.

Thanks for stopping by and participating!

John & Peggy Milliman

About the 'Bolt

Stovebolt.com originated in the Fall of 1995 when John Milliman created this site as a project to learn web site coding and design. With old truck input from Barry Weeks, the site started out as just an information site for 1939 and 1940 Chevy trucks. One of very first Bolters was Don "Down2Sea" McLendon. In 1997, Tom Brownell, then editor of Vintage Truck Magazine and author of "How to Restore your Chevrolet Pickup," suggested we expand the site to cover more models. We created the basic site layout still in use today, albeit greatly expanded! In 2000, we added an interactive discussion forum.

Today, Stovebolt.com is run by John and Peggy Milliman, on the web development, graphics and administrative side of things. Paul "The Geek" Schmehl is our super-powered IT volunteer, working in Texas with our two servers and all the cyber work involved in keeping the forums up-dated and tweaked and handles registrations and spam attacks!

We also rely heavily on our many volunteers who help with content submissions, review, forum moderation, general correspondence, and a myriad of other essential tasks. Their help has really powered up the content on the site!

The volunteer Moderators are listed to the right, but there are many volunteers working in the forums, offering help and guidance to folks who are in various stages of restoring their old truck. These folks are our knowledge base and their combined experience and skills are pretty impressive. Their generous natures in helping other wrench-turners makes all tjhis work!

We have been able to keep moving ahead in this ever-expanding virtual garage in part because of generous donors and loyal sponsors. We've been able to create the very best web site of its kind on the net with up-to-date hardware, software and contemporary design without over commercializing the site. And it helps keep the lights on!

Why do we do it? Because it's fun! From the beginning, we've tried to foster a down-home, family friendly atmosphere that welcomed all -- from folks who didn't own old trucks, but liked them, to the "tribal elders" of the old truck hobby. Having grown to more than 100,000 pages of content, 7 million hits per month and over 35,000 registered users from around the world, we think it's worked! We hope you like it!

What's a 'Stovebolt?'

The term "Stovebolt" actually is an historic moniker for the famed Chevrolet L-6 (straight six, in-line six, etc.) overhead-valved engines produced from 1929 to 1962. The nickname generally applies, as well, to trucks (or cars) equipped with those engines (check our FAQ).

Where the term originates is a subject of much debate! The most plausible explanation is that the push rod covers on the sides of the early sixes were attached with fasteners that looked very much like the typical fasteners used to assemble wood stoves -- either a testament to the engine's ruggedness or a Ford-derived epithet poking fun at the engine's supposed simplicity and lack of elegance. Like flatheads are elegant ... ha!

For the purposes of this web site, however, we take a more "Jimmy Buffett" approach! As Margaritaville can be anywhere you want it to be, "Stovebolt" can be what we want it to be, and therefore, we apply the term liberally to any GM truck (Chevrolet, GMC, Samson or other GM branded truck) built before the 1973 model year, regardless of what engine it has. In 1973, GM introduced the more modern trucks with a plethora of options and we decided trying to cover all that was beyond the scope of what we wanted to do with this web site. We have left that vast field of interest to other ambitious web developers!

Some other related terms:

• Stovebolter, or "Bolter" for short, then is anyone with an interest in, love for or ownership of these great trucks, and thereby is automatically a "member" of this site!
• "The Bolt" is a commonly used nickname (at least by Bolters) for this web site. And we hope you enjoy using it!
• A "Big Bolt" is any GM truck rated 1.5 tons or larger.

    Still have questions? Please try our FAQs, our Tech Tips or the Discussion Forums. Please use the menu bar at the left (or bottom of the page) to explore the site -- hopefully, you'll find what you're looking for.

Even better, we think you'll find something cool you weren't looking for!

HELP!   HELP!   HELP!   HELP!

Okay, so you've read all this and all you really are looking for is a PERSON to contact. If it's a problem with the website content (such as broken links, some information to submit, etc.), contact the editors (John and Peggy). If you have a problem with the internet function of the site (getting or staying connected, bounced mails, registration etc.), contact The Stovebolt Geek. If you have a problem in the forums, or even just an IT question in general, feel free to post it in the IT Shortbus forum. They chat in there about our site and a variety of technology do-dads. If you have questions about something for your truck, you should post it in the appropriate forum, or contact the moderator of that forum. Each forum has at least once moderator, and you'll find a link to their contact information right under the box that talks about the forums -- do you like my arrows on the image on the right (my design guy wasn't here ... so you get my best effort! .

OLD TRUCKS ROCK!