Hey Shmoo, I thought you guys went extinct in the 50’s? I caught one of those lovable little creatures back in the 50’s, stuck a set of smokin’ slicks on him while he sat for his portrait to be painted on my front fender, I nick named my ride the “Smokin’ Shmoo” cuz she was an all white ‘56.
About your ride, I've been known to have a thing or two to say so here goes my composition! I have a ’50, 3600 all original with Huck brakes completely rebuilt, she stops just fine from highway speeds and you can lock up the brakes if you stand on it really hard, taint power brakes you know.
The front end is all stock, completely rebuilt except for one component, the steering box, which was just adjusted with an electronic fish scale, (with no tight spots) and she handles just fine and I occasionally take her up to 55mph on the toll way. I get a little road wander, (read tiny bit) on the two lane black top because of the basic design of the suspension and the new 7.00x15, 6ply bias tires, but that’s to be expected from a truck of this era. She runs straight and true on the four lane.
Have you ever notice in the old movies, the driver cranking the wheel back and forth while driving straight down the road? That’s called driving, ya had to work at it back in the day!
Rebuild and properly adjust/align your front end and you can eliminate 95% of your problems. For the other 5% you will need to put a Mustang front end under her, tilt wheel and radials. The guys here can give ya tons of good advice about getting it right if you want to work with the original suspension.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
lovable creature
