Thanks for the introduction, John. This is a great site!
First, some backround
I have always been interested in old cars and trucks, and I knew that when I was able to buy my first car, I wanted something older than 1975. So, about 2 years ago, when I got a chunk of money from my grandparents for helping them sell a Sportsmobile 4x4 Camper that they inherited, I started looking. At the time, my family was renovating a house, and we did not have a truck, so I decided I needed a pickup, something I could drive now and restore later. Being a die-hard GM fan, I was looking for any GMC or Chevy light or medium duty truck between 1936 and 1972. While doing some internet research so I would know what to look out for, I came across Woogeroo's (very helpful!) 60-66 buyer's guide, which led me to this site. Four months later, after looking at about a dozen trucks I found this one on craigslist in West Virginia, advertised as only needing brake lines and a fuel pump to be driveable (1st picture). I went to look at it, and saw that it also had a sizable dent in the drivers side of the cab, but that would just be a little welding and some hammer work, right? The engine didn't run, but turned over easily, and it appeared to be the original straight 6 with the 3 speed column shift transmission, which where both things I was looking for. It had most of the typical rust issues to one degree or another, but overall it looked to be very original and in pretty good shape, particularly the bed (although I didn't know at the time that long stepside beds are difficult to find), and it was my favorite color combination to boot! I went home and thought about it, and offered them $1600 for it ($200 under the asking price) and waited on pins and needles for the reply: Yes!
I rented a U-haul trailer, recruited my grandpa and his Ford F-250, and went to pick it up. We used a come-a-long to winch it up on the trailer 3 feet at at a time, dragging the locked up rear wheels (2nd picture). I later found out this was because the parking brake cables had rusted in place. We only had one scare on the trip home - about 5 minutes after we left, while decending a particularly steep hill, my grandpa shifted into low gear and killed the engine. We coasted to the bottom, restarted the engine and went on our merry way. I brought the truck to my grandparents house, because my grandfather, who is an aircraft mechanic, has a very nice collection of tools and a garage/shop. It's actually a hanger, they live in a subdivision built around a private airstrip.
After we got it home and unloaded, I went through the brake system and ended up replacing not only the lines but all 5 cylinders. All the drums and shoes looked to be nearly brand new, but I had to replace the rear shoes because dragging the truck with the parking brake on tore the lining off of one of them. I also replaced the parking brake cables, sandblasted and painted the wheels brigade blue and had new tires installed, rewired the tail lights, rebuilt the carburetor, replaced the fuel pump, Changed the oil, and found an air cleaner at Leon's. I am a very fortunate Stovebolter, as Leon's is less then 5 minutes up the road from where I live!
All this took about a year and a half, and the final step was to get the engine running. I rigged a temporary tank out of a one gallon gas can sitting on the frame. The first attempt was aborted because there was a gas leak where the fuel line goes into the carburetor. I tried a few different things, and eventually found that there was a crack in the carburetor right where the fuel line went in. I put some JB Weld on the crack and came back a few days later for a second attempt. The fuel leak had stopped, but the engine still wouldn't start. My grandpa hooked a timing light up to it to see if the timing was off, and while cranking it to check that, It fired up!
All this took about a year and a half, and the final step was to get the engine running. I rigged a temporary tank out of a one gallon gas can sitting on the frame. The first attempt was aborted because there was a gas leak where the fuel line goes into the carburetor. I tried a few different things, and eventually found that there was a crack in the carburetor right where the fuel line went in. I put some JB Weld on the crack and came back a few days later for a second attempt. The fuel leak had stopped, but the engine still wouldn't start. My grandpa hooked a timing light up to it to see if the timing was off, and while cranking it to check that, It fired up! Two days later, with my family watching, I put it in gear for the first time. I wasn't used to a manual yet, and I think I let the clutch out a little fast. I shot out of the garage like a bullet, spinning the rear tires (leaving some commemorative skid marks on the floor!)
. I went about 50 feet and the engine died. After jump-starting it, I made sure I
did have it in first gear. That transmission has some very high gearing for someone who is used to tractors! My family took turns riding with me around my grandparents property, and I eventually got pretty good at shifting the transmission. My high school graduation was a few days later, and we had a party at my grandparents house, so I got to give all the guests rides! The third picture is what it looked like after I had gotten it running and driving.
I trailered it to Homecoming last year (2016) and SWEET and some others helped me get the engine running smoother. A LOT smoother. Thanks guys!
By this point I was beginning to decide that the truck was not in good enough shape to fix up a little and drive, which was my original intention. One of the things that helped me decide this was a miserably ineffective attempt to repair the cab dent. Ten minutes of continuous pounding with a pneumatic hammer had almost no effect. That probably wasn't the correct way to try to repair it, but that plus the rust issues, which were worse than I originally thought, convinced me I needed to find a new cab. since I would have to tear almost the whole truck apart, I decided to go ahead and tear the truck down to the frame and rebuild it from there. There was a 1961 C-70 sitting derelict in a field next to my Aunt and Uncle's house which the owner had already let me pick some parts off of (including an original bench seat in surprisingly good shape). I had a closer look at the cab, and it was also in fairly good shape, even though the front sheet metal was completely shot. The only problem was that the body of the truck hung over the top of the cab and there was only about 3" of clearance. I spoke with the owner, and he said If I could get it off, I could have it, and the 348 engine too! So I spent the next few months removing the front sheetmetal and disconnecting all the wires, hoses, lines and linkages (picture 4). With a lot of help and the neighbor's tractor, The engine and transmission were wrestled out, and finally the cab came off . It took a lot of maneuvering to get it out, and there are a couple new dents in the roof and drip rail, but we got it! I plan to sell the engine and a few other spare parts to help finance my project.
After bringing the cab home I stripped the truck down to the frame and started sandblasting. My rear trailing arms had started to rust, (the two halves had up to 1/4" gap between them in places!) so I bought a spare '66 frame that had a very nice set of trailing arms. Again, I am planning to sell the remains, including a decrepit oldsmobile 350 and TH400 transmision that had been grafted onto the chassis. The amount of spare parts I am accumulating is becoming alarming!
Me and my grandpa rigged a sandblasting area out of a collapsible canopy and some tarps, and I am almost done with the frame.
Whew! I think that gets us all caught up to where I am now.
