I am fairly new to Stovebolt, so it took me a little while to figure out where was the best place to record our project.
To start, my son Kevin and I have been looking on and off for a project to do for some time. I don't think he will ever quite get over my 1956 Country Squire peoject I sold after my father passed and I lost the storage. In truth, he was right. It was a rare car that had tremendous potential. Alas, you do things when you are grieving that you often look back on with pangs of regret or nostalgia.
In the mean time, we busied ourselves collecting and restoring old outboard motors. Like anything, you can only have so many, but the thrill of taking parts from a scrap pile and collecting them into a fully restored motor that takes you to a fishing hole is quite appealing. Not unlike any restoration I would say.
Fast forward to this last fall. Kevin had been looking at a International K-5. It was a project, but the price was a bit high, but more importantly, parts are harder to find. Then on Thanksgiving Day, he spotted an add on Marketplace for a 1956 Chevrolet 2 ton. The photos looked promising, and even his mom said he should call. Well we set up a meeting for the next day and went to look at it. There had been a lot of activity in the add, but the seller honored Kevin's place as the first one to call about it. There were actually two other groups of folks looking at it when we got there, a distance of about 60 miles from home.
We looked it over. It was a pretty solid truck. Obvious issues, but the engine fired right up, and sounded good. The truck was full of mice and smelled terrible. My wife insisted we first go to a store for disinfectant. It had been a former grain truck in Minnesota. Also available was a 8 x 12 foot flat bed that would fit nicely on the truck. Within the hour, an offer was made and the deal was done.
Now the first order of business was to figure out how to get it home.
Perhaps this should be the end of part 1
Steven A Carlson
