I dug my '54 3-window 3100 out from under a palo verde tree out in the desert about a year and a half ago, where it had sat since the mid 1980's; and I've been mining the Stovebolt forums for tech info ever since I first brought it home, so one of my 2020 resolutions was to finally set up a user profile, and post some pics...
After sitting for 30 years, and being packed with rats nests, cactus needles, and various other undesirable debris, The best part of my efforts so far have been to clear away everything that isn't a 54 chevy truck, and expose everything that is... My daughter and I spent a solid 2 days just clearing out the cab- every rodent in southern Arizona had converted the under-seat storage into rat heaven (and one of them, sadly, even made it his final tomb) but once it was down to steel, everything looked good- The floor has one minor rust-through near the battery compartment, and some pitting, but is otherwise still strong enough to bear weight, so I will treat it with Eastwoods rust converter product, and see if I can preserve it.
in fact, "preservation" will be my entire theme in the visual department... The body is outstanding, and the truck has earned it's patina, so it will get to keep it. I'll scratch off the surface rust with a scotch brite pad, and will seal the patina with Everbrite. The bed will get new wood, but I'm not going to get fancy- I'll do it the way it came, with black stained pine. The seat will get a pair of mexican blankets (with brown, green and tan stripes, to match the truck)
Mechanically,The truck seems to be fairly original (minus some very dubious wiring work which will be handled in due time) and even though the engine has been painted red, the numbers suggest that it is the truck's "born with" engine (H 4 4 casting date, and F54X on the distributor pad stamp) . So I am conflicted about what to do mechanically... My wife and daughter are both in love with the truck and will want to drive it, but I'm not about to turn either of them loose into modern traffic with an old 3 on the tree, a 120HP engine that won't be able to get out of it's own way, and a set of drum brakes that are best suited for "slowing the truck down, until it finally stops"
But still- a car is only original once, and the engine turns over (I still have to verify that it makes compression and oil pressure, however)
I don't want to do any hacking on this truck's chassis or running gear, so I'm probably going to get it running, driving and stopping as-is, finish cleaning everything up, and then I will surgically remove the original powertrain and wrap it in plastic; and will put in a donor powertrain with an automatic and open driveline... someday.
