Well, after a bit of work, time and some effort to finalize the title and registration, my inherited 1953 3100 is finally home.
On Saturday, my daughter and I embarked on the adventure of driving this truck the 10 or so miles, (on back roads) to its new home, my house. My wife drove us there and then followed us back to our town just to make sure all went well. It fired up immediately and thankfully didn't initially show any signs of its recent issues of fuel running out of the carb. Problem fixed! Or so I thought.
My body and apparently my daughter's as well are well trained to need a seat belt so we both felt a little naked driving around without the belts. I never really got to a velocity higher than about 45mph and it makes it seem all that more unbelievable that grandpa and I once towed a travel trailer down I-5 to Oregon and back on an 800 mile or so drive. It feels as though it could never exceed about 50mph, so I just don't know how we made it alive on a freeway for all that time.
The clutch is a bit grabby and the un-bled brakes leave quite a bit to be desired. The engine knocked a lot from what seems to be detonation, an issue I now remember from many previous years of driving this truck.
After stopping to confer with the wife, we decided to drive just a little further to some friends house to show off and were met with lots of enthusiasm! I even took my daughter and two of her little friends for a brief drive down the driveway and back. Interesting that they too felt a little weird moving in a vehicle without the comfort of a seat belt, but they loved it anyway.
Onward we went from there, back on the back roads to avoid faster traffic, not knowing if the thing would just decide to cease operation at any moment. As we came into town, we separated from my wife. She continued home while my daughter and I went to the one gas station we know of that supplies 90 octane, ethanol free gasoline.
It is an interesting feeling driving down the streets of our small city, watching heads turn and drivers stare and smile. I have never been one likes to be the center of attention but it is hard to avoid while driving an old relic that looks as though it has just awakened from a very long slumber after being lost for years.
We pulled into the gas station and there at the pumps was a car that both my daughter and I took notice of and admired as one of us exclaimed "Nice car!" After which my daughter said " Ya know, they are probably looking at us and saying 'Nice truclk!" Sure enough, the driver of that car emerged from the station and exclaimed "Nice truck!" My daughter and I both enjoyed a good laugh at that.
After filling the tank, I fired the truck up and immediately smelled that wonderful smell of gasoline, as though there was a leak somewhere, presumably in the gas tank behind the seat.
Despite the possibility of becoming a flaming spectacle down town, I decided to just push on and get it home, but not before we stopped at Dave's Sport Shop, where they love my daughter and I thought may have an interest in seeing our ride. As we pulled into the parking lot, we parked nose to nose with a '56 Ford pickup. We sat there for a moment, amused by our '50s parking lot when the owner of that truck and his daughter came from the hardware store and made a bee line right to me to ask about the truck. First thing he said was "Never ever wash that truck!", a sentiment I seem to get a lot! We talked for a bit and later on that evening I found out that the guy with the '56 Ford had been a school child on the bus my grandpa drove, way back, and he recognized my grandpas truck!
Well, we showed off the truck to one of the guys and then headed home. When I got home, I opened the hood to find that indeed the gas was once again cascading out of the carburetor like a water fall. There was also a pretty healthy amount of oil dripping on the ground. I emptied the extra truck wheels, tires and parts out of the back, swept the bed out and cleaned the windows and mirrors and headlights. I also tightened the bolts on the valve cover as well as the panel on the side of the engine in hopes of stopping the oil issues.
Today, I tightened the screws on the carb, as I hoped that would fix the issue so I could run the wife and daughter around the block but there was still a gigantic amount of gas freely flowing out of the carb and upon further examination, there was a hairline crack in the carb float and one lobe of the floats was half full of gas. At least it is an easy fix!
So, that is how my new toy and family member made it home. Lots of fun and memories and we are just getting started!
She's finally home! Photos
