We drive our '50 if not every day, every week. It has a 261 that we warmed over a bit but that's a matter of personal preference. We installed the rearend out of a '78 full size Blazer and it was the correct width and still had the 6 lug axles so we could keep matching wheels. The rearend came with 3.08 gears so when we made the swap we installed a Saginaw car 4 speed. There are 4 versions of that 4 speed and we used the one that has 3 grooves on the input shaft which means it has a 3.5 to 1 first gear. (There is also a version with a 3.11 to 1 first gear and that would work well also.) We drove that combination for several years and it worked great. We even drag raced it on the 1/8 mile a bit. Later we changed the gears to a 4.11 posi unit and changed the trans to a T-5 which then got changed to a Tremec TKO3550. It is a great combination and we have put over 90,000 miles on the truck. All those transmission options bolted up to the original bell housing (we did have to change the clutch), all we had to do was have a correct length drive shaft built. The truck's name is Walter and there are pictures of him in the Gallery under Ron and Kim Plender.
