Wanted to start a post about a restoration we're doing at my shop on a '50 American (6400), in case anyone was interested. I'm "blogging" about it on the company facebook page, but maybe here I can be a little more Chevy specific.
We're about 10 days in, and so far, have removed all of the fire body stuff - booster reels, fire pump, hosebed body, rear compartment box, most of the emergency lighting. The running boards are staying attached to the body, so they're off. One interesting thing: we are missing the left fender, and from our two donor options I can tell you that one difference among makers was where the running boards met the fenders. American curves theirs to the bottom of the fender and bolts it to it; Central, a St. Louis manufacturer, notched out the bottom of the fenders for their bodies.
I can also tell you that, according to specs., American cut off the rear of the frame shortly behind the spring hanger to make room for their rear sub-frame, which holds the rear compartment box.
We're trying to restore the fire body stuff first, then do the cab and chassis. The chassis has a 2-speed rear end, cab heater, and after-market westcoast mirrors, which we're leaving for the sake of safety.
Gonna be an interesting trip! Working now on figuring out who's gonna paint the thing - can't move too far forward until we choose paint color and type. Trying to stick with single-stage, like it was built with, but nobody nowadays using single-stage. Frustrating. Gonna have to move out to the country and start looking.
-Michael
(BTW, facebook page is for Rosie Restorations, LLC)
