Back in the early 90's my Grandfather gave my brother and me each an old truck, off the farm. My brother got this 1948 Chev, which was used for fueling up the tractors. In the picture attached he's showing me how to use the torch. Not sure what my brother's up to down in the dirt.
By the mid 90's we had my '40 running and we were both learning to drive both the old Stovebolts. Here's an old family video of that at the farm.
By the time we were old enough to legally start driving, my Dad could see that we were both still very interested in the old pickups. We were very fortunate / lucky to have an understanding Dad. He ended up giving us both, on our 16th birthdays, the gifts of a modern drive trains, new paint and all sorts of other extras. At this point the '48 received a 350/TH350, a 10 bolt and a clip courtesy of a 75 impala 4 door. This clip is a bit wide for this AD truck, but fit with a set of custom Billet Specialties SLX01 rims. It also got a set of Classic Instruments, and was painted a shade off Ford Vermilion, and got seats out of a then fairly new Neon, if memory serves. The work was done somewhere out by Kerrobert, SK, Canada.
By about '02 the truck is complete, and heads out from Brock, Sk, to it's new home out on the coast, on Vancouver Island in BC. It joins my '40, which has been done a couple of years at that point, and the fun begins, lots of road trips, carshows, breakdowns and memories!
From 2002 and for the next 15 years, we added a few upgrades just because. Like the Ford 9" complete with disk brakes, posi, the right width and bolt pattern which fell into our laps for 150$. Other things, eventually: the Impala 350 Grenades, so we put a 383 Stroker back into it, which had a previous life in a very nice little lowrider Mazda B2200. While it was apart, the tired but functioning TH350 was replaced by a 2004R out of a Buick (Has the BOP belhousing) and it also received airbags in the front.
Through this last summer, I got through replacing the intake, alternator, exhaust and a bunch of other small things in the driveway. While up on a hoist late in the summer while dealing with some brake line issues (braided stainless line rubbing on the rim during full turns) I noticed a crack in the frame. There was also a bunch of other things with this frame that were less than great (like when I went to confirm the wheelbase, it was an inch and a half longer on the drivers side... It didn't pull, over some 40,000 miles / 15 years, but...) so we made the decision to pull the truck apart, and replace it. We spent some time looking at all the usual suspects in the aftermarket world, comparing everything, ultimately deciding to go, where quite a few others have gone. A S-10 frame. I have a few ideas on suspension setups to go with it, and it's not the route I've seen others take...
I had a friend want to buy my '36 White, he got himself a 2nd Gen S-10 to put it on, and didn't end up getting the '36. He did give me the frame. It has some surface rust on it, but otherwise looks ok, and measures nice and straight. I've yet to cut the mounts off it, and likely won't really get going on this project until closer to spring.
These did show up in the mail. They look good, hopefully they fit just as nice. Custom A arms from MMW to replace the old stamped control arms. These ones are 3" wider than stock (we won't be using spacers, as is commonly done with these s-10 conversions) and have been made to fit our existing, taller spindles with the bigger brakes. We'll also be able to reuse those billet specialties rims.
Back in the early 90's my Grandfather gave my brother and me each an old truck, off the farm. My brother got this 1948 Chev, which was used for fueling up the tractors. In the picture attached he's showing me how to use the torch. Not sure what my brother's up to down in the dirt.