Hello All,
So
here is my truck as purchased a little over 2 years ago in Iowa. A 1951 chevy 3100 5 window, originally from Missouri I believe. Still 3 on the tree, but the engine is from a 1 and 1/2 ton 1955 grain truck and the rear end is from a later chevy as well.
I am lucky enough to have a
visor from a 1952 I had originally purchased but sold/replaced it with this one. Have gotten a few of the major bends/dents out of it, but I am still working on/looking for brackets to attach to the drip rails.
Since my resources and time is limited, I only started work on her this past year with smaller projects. I started simply by painting the
wheels . The color is temporary since at the time I hadn't found a match for the truck color. I now have a match and repainting will happen soon.
The previous owner planned on putting in a more modern radio and drilled holes for it but never completed it. Since my goal for the truck is to restore it to a more original state, I had to plug the holes in the dash, and I found a reproduction radio that looks original but has modern functions such as Fm/auxillary input/satellite capability. My uncle did the welding since I'm still learning.
Dash repair pictures And for a quick fix (I'm driving my friend to her wedding reception in a little over a month in the truck) I'll paint the plugs to match the rest of the dash, but eventually I will redo the interior the dark grey as it would have originally came.
I wanted to make side rails. Midway through the side rails I decided to redo the bed with new wood so the two would match better.
Here is the side rails project. 90% complete, just need to drill the holes for the 3 boards in front/back of the cab and then poly everything. And
here is the project of replacing the wood bed. The previous owner had some "custom" support cross sills which I had to replace, which is where I'm currently at. All the wood for the bed and the side rails I stained a dark walnut, sanded down, and then restained with golden oak. A lot of work but I think the result brings out the grain and is pretty cool. Still need to poly the wood but that's pretty much it. (The wood bed album shows the wood stain progression better)
So that's where I'm currently at. The side rails, bed, wheel paint and dash touch up paint will finish in the next month so it can be ready for the wedding. After that I want to get the visor painted and installed and clean up the interior. Well that's it for now. Let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts or tips.
