If this is the wrong forum, please move it.... new and not sure where to put this.
I used to drive 1948 Chev 3100 and learned to drive a manuals, etc. with it a long time ago. I was about 10 yrs old when I started driving it and drove it up to about 18 yrs old. . I have always wanted to get another one. Finally found one I decided to take on , a 1949 Chev 3600 / 5800. It's going to require a lof ot work.
But, the guy who had it somewhere along the line obviously towed trailers or something he needed to extend the mirror out further so he could see around it. So, he home made a frame to hold a mirror, just bar material that was bent and screwed into the side of the truck. Then he screwed in a car mirror into that, to have a mirror out there. Would have been difficult to see much. It's pretty roughly made.
The ironic part is, I have a 1954 Chevy 150 , which I needed to replace one of the side mirrors. The mirror he used as a mirror for that truck , is a 1954 car mirror, and in very good shape. Talk about funny though ... this car mirror on top of a home made bracket on the side (I'll get a pic and post it), and being the one I needed.
I saw it and just laughed, the irony of it.... the exact mirror I needed, but not for the truck.
There were other redneck fixes done.... some creative bars welded on the back bumper , and a tail light ... that's not off a 1949 truck .... but looks like a very old trailer tail light mounted onto one of those bars. Another is, on the glove box to work as the the latch ... obviously the latch quit working, so they drilled a hole and made a little flat metal tab like piece, they rotated up to open the glove box and down to hold the door of the glove box closed. It works fairly well ... I may keep that for the creativeness of it... just because. It's like some I remember in the past ... where a string was hanging in a cab and was there to open a vent because the cable broke. I remember us doing creative fixes at times, on farm equipment, trailers, or other things because we needed it to work, and work now so we could get some work done.
Interested in what other redneck fixes people have found ... that were creative, funny, or interesting that they found on their trucks (if any).
Jimks and others, as long as your stories are Chevy/GMC Truck related I will leave this thread alone. Start talking cars or other brands and the thread will be deleted. Thanks
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
On my truck a previous owner had screwed a couple of barrel bolts on the doors to keep them closed. And on the passenger side a big hokey aluminum handle for a door pull. I thought it was kinda cool so I put it on the door pillar for a oh s--t handle.
On my old '63 C10. I sold it to a buddy of mine when I was getting married. Mike had a nasty habit of driving vehicles until they died, then, instead of fixing it correctly, he would just let it rot and buy something else.
Well, I had warned him not to trash this one when I sold it to him. I had done a full body off restoration on it while I owned it and it was in great shape when he got it.
Fast forward about 6 months...
He was over visiting and we decided to go rent a video. (It was the 80's) We walked out and I headed to the driver's side. When he looked at me funny I told him I was driving, so he tossed me the keys. Long story short, we left the parking lot, I punched it and it should have burned rubber all over the place. (300+ hp 400cid SBC). Instead, the engine sounded like it had been punched in the guts. It barely responded to the floor boarded accelerator.
When we got to the video store, I popped the hood to see what was going on. Amongst many other issues, I found a large Phillips head screwdriver where the pivot bolt on the alternator was supposed to be. Mike's explanation was that the bolt had broken and he put the screwdriver there to get home. Seemed logical. When I asked when that happened, he said "About 2 months ago."
I just shook my head. He kept the truck for about 2 years, then sold it to another high school buddy of ours. He tore it down to go through it and fix all of Mike's screw ups, but lost it in an ugly divorce while it was disassembled. Last I heard (about 20 years ago) was that the ex wife's boyfriend was working on it. I never saw that truck again. That makes me sad. :-(
Don't know if this counts as a redneck fix...but it definitely isn't factory approved. The exhaust pipe on my 55 completely rusted/broke (under the bed) and I didn't have time/$$ for a new fix. So I took a tin can with top & bottom removed, cut it with tin snips and used muffler clamps to secure it. Pork & Bean can exhaust patch Quieted the truck down A LOT...and I still didn't get around to replacing it cause it works for now. Probably will get around to fixing it when everything else is done.
55 Chevy 3100 First Series When in doubt, make it stout. Out of things you know about! Prior planning prevents p%$$ poor performance
Sam, great job. If you use a little bit of the two part gray epoxy around it, it will outlast the truck and you can spend the money on some cold Pepsi.
.... I worked on a car once that had heavy duty tin foil around it.....many times. Don't know how long it had been on the car but it was still in tack.
Don't know if this counts as a redneck fix...but it definitely isn't factory approved. The exhaust pipe on my 55 completely rusted/broke (under the bed) and I didn't have time/$$ for a new fix. So I took a tin can with top & bottom removed, cut it with tin snips and used muffler clamps to secure it. Pork & Bean can exhaust patch Quieted the truck down A LOT...and I still didn't get around to replacing it cause it works for now. Probably will get around to fixing it when everything else is done.
LOL Looks like you needed a #10 can for the muffler, too. I blew the muffler wide open on a Model A when I was trying to start it. All the baffles were at the rear and the sides were flattened out when the seam split. I tossed the baffles, grabbed a couple of coat hangers and wired that puppy back together and took off down the road.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Back in 1976 I bought an AD truck for $125. I don't remember what year or model it was but it had the shifter on the floor and the drive shaft had a carrier bearing on the drive shaft. I had just graduated high school and needed a truck to do some local remodeling jobs until I started college in the fall. I made a run to a building material supplier to get a load of dropped ceiling tiles and grid work. On the way home traveling down the interstate the carrier bearing failed and the drive shaft sounded like a dryer with a load of bricks in it. I pulled over on the high speed lane side of the interstate. I walked up and down the emergency strip until I found a length of stiff wire. I crawled under the truck, made a cradle for the drive shaft to ride in and surprisingly made it home (about 10 miles) before the drive shaft could burn through the wire. I learned how to jury rig "stuff" form my dad, who grew up on a farm during the depression. It is s struggle to this day to make myself do things the right way instead of re-engineering with what have at hand.
I'm sure you guys have used the chewing gum wrapper on a blown fuse, right?
~ Victor 1941 3/4-Ton Pickup (in process). Read about it in the DITY Gallery 1955 Grumman Kurbside "Doughboy" 235/3 on tree w/ OD 1957 3100 - moved on 1959 C4500 Short Bus "Magic Bus" - moved on 1959 G3800 1 Ton Dually "Chief" - moved on 1958 C4400 Viking "Thor" ~ moved on to fellow Bolter
I think I did have the clamps laying around...but not sure cause it's been a long time. But those fancy clamps in the catalog just wouldn't feel right.
And now that klhansen points it out...I better find a big can for the muffler and a couple of coat hangers.
Another engineer motto (the 6 p's) : "prior planning prevents p%$$ poor performance"
55 Chevy 3100 First Series When in doubt, make it stout. Out of things you know about! Prior planning prevents p%$$ poor performance
I learned how to jury rig "stuff" form my dad, who grew up on a farm during the depression. It is s struggle to this day to make myself do things the right way instead of re-engineering with what have at hand.
My Father taught me the same things for the same reason. He was born in Red Level, AL in 1921. Small town farmboy during the Depression.
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
