So Dave, ya think ya got a corner on “Long-Winded posts, just wait till ya read me!
“Your Just a Kid” is a relative term, for instance, to me your just a kid, in some ways I wish, I were just a kid. But alas, I’m now, just an old fart, I think they call the next step “Over the Hill”!
Maybe you can teach some of us to speak some Chin, then we could deal directly with the factory and skip the middle men. 90% of what we are buying for the restoration of these AD trucks is coming for there now. Do you ever see any AD trucks on the street over there?? When I was stationed in the PI in the 60’s the Philippino entrepreneurs had recycled every part for the good old Jeeps that were left behind after WWII, then they started remanufacturing every part to keep them running, and by the time I got over there they had production lines making the whole Jeep, called them Jeepney’s. Maybe one day you will see 1954 GMC’s from repro parts running round the streets of Beijing.
I have many things of my fathers in my shop, he built lots of nice things for the house also. I often pull a tool of his, out of the, dad made, roll around and go to work on the bench that he built, thinking of how much he taught me, I wish I would have paid more attention to what he was saying at the time.
The truck! I’m new here also but I’ve been keeping old rust buckets running for the 50 plus years that I’ve been driving. I would concentrate on getting the mechanical portion of the Jimmy whipped into shape, and then you can take a number of approaches to the body. Sounds like the interior is serviceable so, that could wait till last if it needs any attention. I’ve talked with quite a few people that say, if ya got a bad fuel tank, don’t try to save it! The new repro tanks are relatively, (there goes that word again) inexpensive and fit right in. You might even be able to pick one up at the factory and stuff it in your carry on luggage when you come home for Thanksgiving.
Any way, good luck with Dad’s truck, restoring it would be a good way to stay in touch with him .
Oh by the way, please don’t grade this paper, I’m real touchy about my English skills teach’!
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
