The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk My weekend freebie...

A guy stopped by my house Sunday and asked if I would be interested in an abandoned old vehicle on his property. All he said was it's a 53 something and it's rusty and all the glass has been busted out. So I got directions and went to take a look a couple hours later.
Turned out to be a 54 Chevy 3100 with very little rust. So I called him up and asked what he wanted for it and he said " for it to be gone". So I helped him out and hauled it off.
As found

Good score!

Put a battery in it, cleaned the points and with a squirt of fresh gas it started right up!

Great story, but I have to admit I am a little jealous. How fun!

How do people get so lucky!? Very nice!

OK so I am green with envy....congratulations. Enjoy....you have no idea how hard that was to admit.

A good weekend by my definition, congrats!

KMAC

More pics, hmmm? In your first, the tailgate looks beautiful, but the roof looks a little caved ...

Yes....it was vandalized. Busted out all the glass, jumped on the roof, shot out two tires and tried to set it on fire .....I'm gonna call her "lucky"
More pics

Congratulations! Good score!

Looks a lot like the condition my truck was in when I started. Good score and good luck.

Thanks everyone.....this truck has had a hard life yet it still looks pretty good considering. It deserves to be back on the road.
My GF thinks it's cute and can't wait to drive it. She said her dad had one like it when they were growing up. She wants me to teach her 19 year old son to drive a manual transmission in this truck.

Good save


Got anymore pics?

Yes I do. Will add some more.
I had to order a new ignition switch since I didn't get a key with this truck. I put that in last night after work so I won't have to hot wire it every time I start it. I also drained the gas out of the tank and put in some fresh stuff. Had to loosen up the gas pedal because it was pretty stiff and was stuck holding the throttle about half way open. That quick little start on Sunday evening was a little exciting at half throttle. Good thing it only had a little gas in the bowl. So I got all that done and then waited until my GF got their before trying to start it again. I hooked up the battery, turned the key on and bumped the starter and it started up and purred smoothly like it had just been driven yesterday. My GF was amazed and jumped out of her chair and came running over. It had a little valve train noise at first but after a few minutes it got quieter. Had a little bit of slight popping but I think a valve was sticking a little or not seating good. I added some MMO to the oil and gas and after about 15 minutes of idling it went away. Only leak I saw was the rear main sealing dripping. That may go away after it softens up a little.

This forum isn't very pic friendly....especially using a phone. Takes a lot of effort and the pics have a bunch of ads associated with them.

I wish I had neighbors like that!

How come this never happens to me?




Weeds

Well it's the first time it's happened to me......I had to move it to my other place for now. The other place is about 100 miles from my house and I still had it on my trailer. I figured it would be easy to unload.....take off the straps, start it up and back it off. No such luck with the backing off part. Something is jammed up. Not sure if it's the transmission or something else. Didn't have time to mess with it last night. So when I go back for it in a couple weeks I need to take two tires and some tools to see if I can break it loose. Kinda feels like the trans is hung in two gears or something and the shifter is really stiff.

Could be just that. Tranny hung between two gears. Manually move both levers on the tranny to the neutral position. The bushings wear out and the shifting gets sloppy. Be very deliberate on your H pattern to avoid the problem. Hope it is as easy as that.

Yeah I've had it happen a few other times on various vehicles. It will be a couple of weeks before I go back for it and that's the first thing I'm going to check. I'm not doing anything else until I get the title paperwork back from the title company. This went from a free truck to a $700 truck in one day.

Another pic...

Right side

Front

Under hood

Inside

Another front

Inside

Inside

Front

Front

Nothing a little tlc won't cure, nice truck for the money.

well....I went back to where I have this truck stored. I disconnected the shift linkage at the transmission and it shifted through all the gears easily. I soaked the column and every joint I could find with wd40. Hopefully next time I go down there it will be freed up some.
I also found another reason why it wouldn't move. When someone started a fire in the bed the heat warped the passenger side bed panel and it was pushed against the tire. I couldn't get the temporary tire on and that's when I realized what the problem was. I hit it a couple times with a rubber mallet and moved it enough to clear the tire.

Some things are a Sin and should be jailable even though there is not a law against them! Beautiful "Steal"!Jerry

Yep.....should at least be as serious as beating a dog in public or something. Anyway.....the more I mess with it the more I see how much it was neglected and abused. Yet.....it's still a far better truck than some I've started with before. Yesterday I saved one of the new tires. It took 2 patches and 3 plugs. I removed 2 bullets from inside the tire. I know it's not good as new but it will be good for moving it around and slow drives around the neighborhood to fetch parts.
I ordered a new windshield for it yesterday and today I'll be patching up the other bullet ridden new tire.

Everybody's dream!!!

Great deal, and glad to read that you are pulling it back together, vs "parting it out". Looked like a pretty decent truck to just dump like that. I'd sell off those mags and get some rims, and give it a coat of paint to protect from getting any worse, but that's just me. BTW...not a fan of WD40, much better pen oils out there for what you did...I don't even think I have a can of WD40.

Did you get the title all sorted out?

Congrats!!

I've tried other stuff and it's never worked any better than WD40.
I got the other tire holding air again. Had to dig a bullet out that was just under the skin on the inside. Took 5 patches on this one. Those bullets do a lot of damage from the inside as they bounce around after penetrating. I had to put patches over a bunch of nicks to keep air from getting in between the layers and causing bubbles on the outside.
Still working on the title. My buddy seems to think he should have it all done by the weekend.

I'm sure you'll get it worked out....great score!!

Well.....as of yesterday this truck officially belongs to me. Probably go and get it from storage this weekend. New windshield will arrive on Saturday, WS rubber and rear window rubber will be here today. I have all the tires fixed and ready to go back on it.

sweet deal !!!! what are your plans .... daily driver .... fix up and sell it ..???

get it roadworthy and use it for a parts runner for now.

Today is the day the 54 comes home again. My plan was to move my 30 Ford AA truck to storage and bring the 54 back. But I went to a swap meet with the AA on the trailer and a guy bought it. So....that means I have an empty parking space.....the wheels are turning.
Got the new windshield in yesterday and the gaskets are here also.

Got the new windshield installed and got all new tires put on. Been having an issue with the left front brake. If it sits for a few days some rust will form on the edges of the braking surface of the drum. When I try to roll it the brake shoes grab that rough spot and lock the brake up. I've taken the drum off a couple times and sanded it clean. Hopefully that will go away when I start driving it. Got the license plates for it last Friday. Been moving it around the driveway and noticed it's got a serious rear main leak. Guess I will need to fix that before the maiden voyage. I don't want to get an oil soaked clutch disc.
Good news on the caved in roof....took all of 5 minutes to pop it back out.
Also noticed some serious king pin looseness. Ordered new ones and they arrived last Friday. Those things are so wobbly I'm afraid to leave the driveway. So.....that's on the fix it list also.

Great story. I'm enjoying reading about your progress. Check the '51 GMC in my signature - another dead truck brought back to life.

Thanks....haven't done much with it the past week or so. Waiting for the glass shop to get around to cutting my glass. I tried installing the rear glass but just couldn't get it to go in correctly so I gave up on it until this coming weekend. I finally get to pick up the rest of the glass this evening.
I received my parts order from Jim Carter finally after it toured the states. I replaced the choke cable but it looks like I'm missing the correct bracket to attach it to the carb. Anyone have a pic of what it looks like?

whew! a lot has happened since I last updated.I had my 30 AA Ford on the trailer to haul to storage and decided to haul it to a swap meet while it was loaded up. Sold it to a guy that had a whole yard full of Model As. So it went to a good home. Then I hauled the 54 back to my house. Got the new lights and windshield installed, new license plates put on and I'm now working on rebuilding all the vent windows and installing door glass. I took it on its maiden voyage yesterday. Drove it around the neighborhood a few times. I need to do some work on the clutch. Its hanging up for a second when I go to shift gears. I also lost my job about a week ago so that has slowed the progress. I also bought a 49 Chevy Styleline Deluxe that has been getting some of my attention lately.

Look at it this way, now you've got all that time to work on
your new toys.
What's the skinny on the '49? 2 or 4 doors? Complete or parts
car? Rust bucket or candidate for restoration? Original
engine? Automatic or stick? Was it as good of a deal as the
'54?

I had a couple of early 50's two doors when I was in my teens
and have really wanted to find one to restore so I can relive
some of those old memories.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

How lucky! Never happens to me.
You mentioned shifting problems, I remember when those cars and trucks in the 53-55 years, with a column shift, were tricky even back then. You had to learn how to exactly shift, to avoid getting it in 2 gears.