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Last weekend my folks were visiting from out-of-state for my dad's birthday. He's been a big supporter of my truck project so I figured I needed to have the truck in a condition to give him a ride while he was here. My list of to-do's was fairly long.

Previously I had painted the interior of the cab. I then painted the upper cowl area where the hood lays. I figured this was as good a place as any to spray the urethane sample I had mixed to match the "Gloss Regal Blue" I used inside the cab. After letting it cure a number of days, and being satisfied with the result, I installed new rubber grommets in the firewall, and the reconditioned fuse holder and voltage regulator (just for looks, it's not in use). I needed to get some of my new wiring loom installed, too, but first I had to purchase a new rubber mat (with the jute backing) for the inner firewall and get that installed. The new mat had die-cut holes for the various penetrations, some of which didn't match up at all. In hind sight, I should not have punched out the holes before installing the mat. Instead, I should have test fit the mat and marked it with a pen through the holes in the firewall, then cut the mat myself. It is what it is at this point, so I moved on. The new wiring loom my dad purchased over a year ago went in along with a new brake light switch and headlight dimmer switch.

To finish up inside the cab, I installed the brake and clutch pedals, the accelerator pedal and its rod, the starter pedal, and the choke and throttle cables. I also installed a new speedometer cable and the speedo I rebuilt. Next went in the re-conditioned seat adjusters, the cleaned (but not yet painted) seat frame along with the original cushions, and finally the steering wheel.

Moving to the outside of the cab, I re-installed the steering box and column (removed when I installed the cab). Then came the radiator, the inner fenders and their support rods.

After installing a temporary temperature gauge that I zip tied to the passenger side A pillar, I filled the cooling system with water. I also installed a temporary oil pressure gauge in the tee fitting at the block. Lastly, I ran fuel hose back to a temporary gas tank mounted on a piece of plywood on the frame behind the cab.

After a brief hiccup involving the distributor timing (quickly rectified by my son) the motor fired right up and idled smoothly. My son and I took a quick spin around the shop area to make sure everything was ok then it was my dad's turn. It was incredibly rewarding to be able to drive him around in my truck!

The first two photos don't do show the blue paint properly. The third photo better represents the dark gloss blue that I had matched to one of my porcelain enamel "Union 76" signs from the 1950's. My son reconditioned the air cleaner (a swap meet purchase) and added the decal which he made from a scan of an advertisement on a 1950's Union Oil road map.

I haven't had any luck uploading video files to this forum, so I plan to upload some video to my YouTube account then post a link.