Yesterday, the last day of our vacation, the weather was very nice, perfect for a drive in the old GMC. It also hasn't snowed yet so no salt on the road; I should get my driving in while I can. When they do salt I'll stop driving for the winter, or spring as it may turn out...
Planned a trip up the road to an antique mall the other side of Staunton, about 45 mile drive.
Before heading out I checked the truck over and got it ready to travel.
Previously I had greased the front end and now greased the u-joints and rear springs to complete that job. The wiring is pretty sketchy the more I look at it. Saturday (or sometime earlier) a wire broke off at the brake light switch and I crimped on a new bullet connector. The connector didn't fit snug enough and the brake lights gave up again when it jumped off the terminal, a little squeeze fixed that. Also topped off the engine oil which does a pretty good job leaking out of pretty much evry place it can, though not very fast thankfully.
Map of Sunday's travels
https://goo.gl/maps/vUun9WC1Z3U2 First stop at the local farmers co-op to fill up on non ethanol fuel. Then we just headed up Rt. 11 almost to Staunton where it was faster to hop on the interstate for 8 or 10 miles. Must have been moving along quick enough because no one passed us on 11, and we almost kind of kept up on the interstate. The speedometer is broken and I didn't bother checking the GPS.
Didn't find much interesting at the antique mall, I was hoping for some VA 1951 licence plates but no luck. Also looking for a nice clean 5" Unity spotlight because at some point the truck had one. I wouldn't install one from scratch but with a hole already there I'll put one back, they can be useful.
On the way home it was already dark as we left the mall. We stopped in Staunton for a nice dinner and then left on Rt. 252.
252 is a real direct and more interesting way to get home, it pretty much ends at our house. It's also not busy at all and most comfortable at 50-60 MPH which the truck is also most comfortable at.
The heater works OK running the 12V motor with only 6V but if real cold out it probably couldn't keep up like that. Eventually a 12V system will solve that, and new weatherstrip will help too.
I also took a bunch of overall and more detailed pictures of the truck Sudnay, not enough to see every detail and flaw but a decent start, need to take some more pictures in better light still.
The picture album for the truck is found here, and is same album with most all of the pictures linked throughout this thread.
1951 GMC 1 ton PICTURE ALBUMNext, waiting on seat belts to show up, looking for a 14 bolt axle to swap, little further out is a new wiring harness.
Grigg
