I'm very glad to have found this forum. I've been restoring farm tractors and related implements for over 25 years and have always wanted an old truck to pull them with.
I have a rather unique project though. I wanted a much older style truck, like a "C" cab Mack or similar type, but restored ones are prohibitively expensive, and ones that need restored are worse.
So... I'm building my own.
I've started with a 1951 3600 3/4ton frame.. that was pretty much all I got, having only axles and steering on it. No body, engine, radiator or tranny... nothin'.
But that actually made it easier.
I found a nice little 235 that used to be in a truck that belonged to my old high school. The boys in "shop" class rebuilt the engine, after which it smoked like a coal plant. The school junked it. Having NO engine, it seemed like a start, and to my surprise, I found it was actually in excellent shape.. but all of the ring grooves were lined up perfectly..:)
The radiator is off of a mid 20's 10-20 McCormick Deering tractor, the tranny out of a '59 3/4 ton Chevy, the steering wheel out of a'29 Chevy car (nice wooden one), and the rest of the truck, bed, cab, fenders, running boards firewall, hood, roof, etc, I built.
The cab is white oak, stained with three coats of spar varnish, as is the bed. All wood is trimmed with 1/8" steel, painted gloss black w/ screws and nickel finish washers. The frame was sandblasted clean, and all unnecessary holes welded up and ground down. It was then painted gloss black.
My engine will be smoke gray and I'm taking extra pains to seal it up against oil leaks. The front and back glass are specially cut laminate safety glass.
I know it sounds like a complete morphodite, but it actually looks like it will be really nice when done. It has a "C" cab design with a half door, a squared off, downward angling roof like on a Mack, covered in black boat canvas, a gull wing style hood w/ louvres pressed in each side (will be painted cream color) and double strap front and rear bumpers. The fenders are made of 1/8" thick steel, rolled, with a piece of 1/4" round stock welded around the edges to make it appear beaded. They are gloss black also.
The bed is a flare box design with a chain drop tailgate.
The headlamps are some old teardrop style I picked up, that have a half cone type turn signal mounted on top. The taillights are off of a Model A Ford.
The wheels currently are Ford 3/4 ton 8 hole, painted a beige or cream color, but I hope to build wooden spoke ones in the next yr or so, or perhaps go with a solid, flat steel disc design.
If I can figure out how to post pics, I'lll add some in the months to come... My target finish date is the end of April.
Although very little of this truck is "as original" the fundamental chassis/drivetrain is 50s Chevy and it hs been gone through from stem to stern. I've even disassembled the leaf spring packs, sandblasted them, painted them, and used the plastic liners between each to quiet them down and slow down the wear/rust.
I'm hoping this site will provide the tech answers I need on a few things, like torque values, clearances, etc .. Thanks in advance. Kelley Hulsey, Kinmundy, Ill
