To all who have responded to the fits and spurts of progress, thank you...
To jb66ss396: The photos may have not clearly indicated the truck to be a Fleetside long bed. It is sparsely appointed and little changed from, "as delivered." The only options are heater, cigar lighter, driver's side visor and armrest. It didn't come with a rear bumber and remains so. The big problem was oil, everywhere. Other than the valve cover gasket, no other seals had been addressed prior to my becoming caretaker. With much of the accumulated oil potentially due to the road pipe and obvious trouble spots, addressed first were: side cover gasket, transmission plug and differential.
After these repairs and several hours of driving, the truck was parked and left for inspection. I wanted see how much leakage could be attributed to the rear main seal before replacing. The repairs virtually eliminated the problems. A couple drops fell from the transmission cover hole - that's all. The test proved no replacement necessary, at least for now, of the rear main seal. As I understand, from reading on this site, even when new, the old rope style seals wept a little oil.
There was an unfortunate and selective paint job, at some point, that it did not include all sheetmetal and looks to be primarily below the beltline. The cowl, roof, front fenders appear to have never been touched. Being a low-miler, with no filler and only minor suface rust in a few places, I can't imagine the reason for painting - and skipping panels. There are a few scratches but it's a driver. And after sixty years, I dont mind them at all.
I prefer to keep nice, stock vehicles just that way - stock. If a part needs repalcing and NOS is not available then a reasonable reproduction is okay. The only changes to original equipement is a more modern HEI distributor, installed prior to my purchase. A brass tag attached to the radiator allowed me to trace and contact the shop that re-cored the original radiator. So far the only other obvious replacement part is the gas tank; again prior to my taking possession. I was kind of bummed about that. Since the truck was relatively unmolested, I was hoping to find the build sheet behind the tank. The spare tire still had "hair" and had never seen contact with the road. It's a Goodyear Hi-Miler, 7.10-15, 6 ply. After a lot of digging online, I decoded the date code to '61. I'll attach the number if anyone wants to confirm or comment (see photo).
The rubber floor was gone. I recently installed a nice reproduction floor and it really improved the apprearance of the cab (see photo). The seat is in excellent, original condition - except for one, tiny puncture about middle of the seat bottom (see photos). I don't want it to turn into a larger problem over time and was seeking help to stop the brittle vinyl from tearing further. The upholstery shop I have used in the past will only do a full recover and I have to supply the material from SMS. I want to keep the seat original, just stop the hole from getting worse. Any suggestions?
