He wasn't able to meet me until dusk, so I couldn't take photos. It's in great shape considering 62 years and one paint job. Never wrecked if you don't count Bovine. It bears 1958 truck plates, and has 69,000 on the clock. The clutch pedal rubber is not heavily worn, just the top left corner but who knows...maybe the odometer didn't roll over. The guy said he tossed the seat frames in a dumpster when he was a teenager, and when they went back for, the dumpster had been emptied. There's an early bucket seat from the late 60's hanging out in it, along with an extra set of rims, two 20 year old NOS tires, as well as a new carby, fuel pump, engine gasket set,spark plugs along with the hubcaps, and the fuel tank. `He hadn't recalled romoving the tank and thought his sister had done it, but I'm glad she did. At least it hasn't been marinating in mud. Lots of laquer is in the tank filler hose. Grandpaw must have left a full tank of gas in it. It's only been sitting behind that barn for 20 years, when he brought it there from Beeville to work on it. He was going to drive it to high school.
I like the smooth firewall and don't plan to put a lot of torque on the chassis. It's not going to carry anything heavier than a vintage Italian scooter. I like idea of the one year driveline items, But I might upgear the rear end.
It has no rust around the driprail but there's a little on the frame inside. There's also a hole in the cowl but it may have been an antenna. The passenger rear door lower hinge broke when I opened it, so I left the other door closed. I couldn't check the ID plate because the door was binding on the cab. Hopefully noone will gank it open before I can get my grubby little hands on it. Other than the front seat, the license lense is the only thing missing. It looks like the taillight on my Panhead would probably fit.
South Texas pastures don't stay muddy long, and we've had more and more droughts in the last 20 years. Hopefully it took it a long time to sink. I remain optimistic unless a chunk of channel iron comes off in my hand like that 57 Fury in the Tulsa time capsule. We did get pretty muddy just looking at it tonight, since it rained last night. I actually felt guilty tracking mud inside to look around. I told the guy I'd wait a few days 'till it dried out to come back, but I'm too excited to wait that long! I'm going to go jack it up tomorrow and get a look underneath.
It's not like I already cleaned my boots.
Much thanks guys. If it weren't for you I'd be the proud owner of a $1,500 AD pole truck with no motor.
