Hello, my wifes grandfather used to own a small town hardware store in Swartz Creek, Michigan. The store truck has been sitting in his barn since about 1980, and I finally talked him into letting me have it. Its a 53' 3100, and it seems to be in pretty good shape.
My priority is to get it up and running, and take grandpa for a drive in that thing. His health is not that great, but talking about the truck has energized him. I've gotten the breakdown on some of the customizations he did to suit his needs.
Some of the things I found interesting, there is a compartment in the front of the bed that was used for hauling glass, i'll get some pictures of it on the website. Also the bed is diamond plate. His brother-in-law managed to 'borrow' some from his work, and there was a midnight install of it at the brother-in-laws shop. Its a lot of fun hearing these stories.
I also have some pictures of an earlier AD truck, I think a 49' that was used before the 53. It has decals on the side from the hardware store, and I plan on putting those back on ASAP. Even if I have to replace the wood on the sides I'll just get new stickers made up.
I ramble on...anyway I just wanted to say hello to this great resource, and I will keep updating new pictures and posting them here.
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/hardwaretruck53
