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Jul 21st, 2025 | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 308 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 308 | I keep bouncing back and forth on what to do. My 46 is in fairly good condition body wise, I took the passenger side fender off last week and found minmul rust in the corner and it looks like the drivers side is about the same. I am not sure if I want to just go ahead and take it down to the frame and rebuild everything or just repair the existing problems paint it and go on from that point. The engine smokes a bit so I know that will need to be fixed as well aslo. My delema is I want to be able to drive my classic. If I do a quicky repair and drive I have a 57 210 post that I am also working on that needs a frame off restore. I am leaning towards quicky truck, finsh the 57, than go back to a complete 46 frame off restore. This way I will have a classic to drive during both processes. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance
Ed | | | | | Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 | Ed, I bought a '55/1st 4400 flatbed. Both of my boys were just learning to drive. We drove the old truck around the block ONE time, then dismantled it for the father/son restoration, and there it sits!! I consider this to be one of the ' dumber ' things I have done. If your rig is in any kind of shape, I would drive it now, enjoy it now and fix it later, or not fix it later. As you are driving it around, maybe something more desirable will pop up, or someone will offer you a bazillion dollars for it. My restoration has stalled. Had I left it alone and just driven it, I would have two boys that could double-clutch with the best of them. As they say...my two cents!  Stuart | | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 308 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 308 | Stuart,
That's one of my biggest fears is that I will have a parts truck in my garage for years waiting to be put back together. Good advice,
thanks
Ed | | | | | Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 428 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 428 | Drive it now while you work on the '57. I almost wish that is what I had done, just drive it and leave it alone. I have had mine for 5 years and haven't had it on the road in almost 2 years. This past February I decided to spend most of my spare time in getting my truck finished and back on the road. I figured that it would be finished by June. When that didn't happen I said "for sure in August". Then I said "by the end of the year". It isn't looking good at this point. I don't have much left but it is all time consuming stuff. I know all the work and money spent will be worth it in the end, but I sure do miss driving it right now. | | | | | Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 14,522 Moderator: Welcome Centre, Southern Bolters, Legion Hall | | Moderator: Welcome Centre, Southern Bolters, Legion Hall Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 14,522 | Ed, drive one, fix the other. Its a real "downer" to not be able to drive at least one of them while working on the other. Also trying to do two resto's at the same time will hit the ole wallet with double whammy's! | | | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 32 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 32 | Ed, I would echo the messages you have already seen. I drove mine till the babbets went out. Since then it has been one thing or another, mostly no time or money. For the last year since the kids have left home I have been able to put in a lot of time and the project is progressing, not as fast as I like but it is progressing. Drive it now and fix it later. When the boys come home now we have something to do in the garage together.
Besides - how can you afford two projects at once?
Still At It
48 Thriftmaster
64 Impala
62 Impala
Half the fun is making the mess!!!!!The other half is figuring out now what do I do?????
| | | | | Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 975 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 975 | Ed,
I too took mine down to the frame. If I had to do it again, I would probably have not done it this way. It has been 363 days since I last drove my stovebolt. It is turning out nice, but I am spending a fortune on putting it back together and the body work still won't be any where near perfect.
I compared my project to building a house. If the foundation was done, I could always go back and remodel the top. But just like a house, I can't have much fun with the rest since the foundation is all torn up.
My message may change by spring, but if I had to do it over again, I would have worked on the truck while it was in one piece and still been able to drive it around once in awhile.... | | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 308 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 308 | I do have to admit that while I have been working on the inside and have no floor I really do miss not being able to drive. I am ready to put the floor back and may just get a quicky paint job for now and go ahead and finsh the 57 first. Maybe it will be ready to tow to KC next year.
Thanks again guys.
Ed | | | | | Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 4,066 Bolter | | Bolter Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 4,066 | drive the truck.............
Redryder pixMy HotrodA veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of "up to and including my life."I am fighting cancer and I am winning the fight | Pain is part of life; misery is an option. | | |
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