I wanted to keep the stock look; tires, wheels, hubcaps on my 1939 GMC, but have the safety of disc brakes and be able to cruise at highway speeds. After a lot of deliberation I went with a 270 engine, T5 transmission and a disc brake rear end out of a 2002 4WD Blazer. The rear end is the exact same width as the stock 1939 rear end. Just have to move the spring perches to install.
Originally I was going to have some wheels made; 16" with the 5 lug 4-3/4" pattern, but I couldn't find any that looked right and the stock hubcaps would work. I wound up sending my front & rear brake rotors and rear axles to Moser Engineering in Indiana. They welded up the stock lug holes and redrilled to the stock 6-lug pattern so I can use my original wheels.
