Hello, Dave Martin here. A few months ago, I inherited a family heirloom 59 Chevy flatbed. More on the truck in a bit. I found the Stovebolt forum doing a google search about the lugnuts, and have been soaking up the help and information ever since. I had a pretty long thread about freeing up the frozen motor, and it gave me the idea to ask about setting up a project journal. I talked to the moderator, pitched the idea of a novice restore journal, and here we go. The idea is that I can get expert advice as people want to chime in, without a lot of redundant ignorant questions on the forums, and maybe other newbies can get something from my experiences and perspective. I'll spread out posts to bring the project up to real time in the next couple of weeks, and then who knows where it will go from there. Wild and crazy times I am sure.
So, about me. I am turning 40 tomorrow. I grew up in a rural town in Southern Az called Patagonia. The term redneck is often thrown around. Everyone in my family was born with a wrench in hand, and most people I know are of a similar bent. Not me. I am not necessarily as.... "mechanically disinclined" as they like to call me, but I am very very ignorant. Prior to this year, my wrenching claim to fame was a few oil changes and the occasional bad alternator or starter. I have been away from home since I was 18. Tried college, lived back East in MA for a while, came home a few years ago to leave again in an rv full time, and have finally settled for a season in my home town. I parked the rv at my grandfathers, and have been trying to reclaim some of my lost mechanical youth. I helped him swap out a fuel pump on a 80's Chevy van, attempted to bypass a fuel pump on a Dodge with a Cummins, fabricated a new alternator bracket on a Suzuki Samurai, and am restoring an 87 Jeep Cherokee with my girlfriend. We are mostly done with that, but we learned how to install a 3" lift by watching youtube videos. It included replacing all of the suspension, and was a very educational experience for both of us.
So about the truck. My grandfathers yard is pretty typical for the area. There is a vast collection of equipment, vehicles, random pieces of steel, and "yard art" sprawled all over the top of the hill. The collection spans his entire life, and there are some interesting pieces. His may be a bit more unique, because he acquired some mining equipment many years ago when the mine shut down that he worked at, and later he ran an excavating company. I had to use the loader to drag a grader, gooseneck horse trailer, water tank, stock pen, an old 59 Chevy, and some telephone poles out of the way just to fit my fifth wheel into our spot. We got to talking about the truck one day, I was just admiring the lines of the sheet metal, and asked him about it. "Well, it ran when I parked it there. Used to be the water truck from the mine. Had a bit of a rough idle, and I never got around to fixing it. I bought that from your Great Grandfather you know" (I did not know that). He mentioned that he was thinking of selling it, I mentioned that I was thinking of buying it, and somehow I ended up with new project. I pulled some numbers, ran the vin buster, looked up the engine casting, was educated on truck grilles on this forum, and eventually put together the pieces. It is a 59 (not a 58 like my grandfather thought) Chevy Viking 2 ton with the 261 motor. More than likely all original. Was worked hard it's entire life, until it was backed in over the telephone poles somewhere between 15-20 years ago, depending on who you ask.
I also learned a lot of the history of the truck. We are not sure who bought it new. The yellow paint showing through the blue makes most think it was a county or utility company truck. A local ranch picked it up in it's relative youth, painted it blue, and put some cattle racks on it. For a while they were the only ones transporting cattle in the area, and the truck made a lot of runs down the washboard ranch roads we have out here. They decided to upgrade in the late 60's or early 70's, and this is when my Great Grandfather picked it up. The original cattle pen went to the old ranches new truck, so my Great Grandfather hired the grandfather of one of my buddies, to fabricate a new pen and flatbed. They tacked on an extra 3 feet of bed, just because. My dad's cousin tells me about taking the 90 mile drive to Wilcox for a load of grain, about how he could get it up to 55 mph unloaded. Another cousin tells stories about hauling cattle and horses, and backing up to old railroad beds to use as ramps. At some point my Grandfather bought it and an even older 50's stovebolt (yes, it is behind my trailer), and converted it to a water truck for the mine. My dad waxes poetic with a dreamy eye about being a water truck driver. Swimming in the river while the tank filled, resting in the shade waiting for a run, ah, the good old days.
So anyway, now the truck is mine, all chock full of nostalgia and potential. Half a dozen people told me "that old truck? Thing is a tank, she will fire right up, light a fire in her, and lets go to town" I'll leave it at that for now, with a little foreshadowing that she did not "fire right up", but I will talk about the tires and dragging it out of the weeds in my next post. This is what led me to Stovebolt after all.
