The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Old Truck disease strikes again....I bought it (1948 6RWA)

Just went to look at a '48 truck advertised in last nights want ad. You know, just a look, to many projects in the shop already.

Well it's a bedless model 6RWA with 28k showing on the odometer. That's a 161" wheelbase 2 ton according to the book. It's got a matching set of 9.00-10-20 tires on it that look like they were pretty new when it was parked. That makes it a 16000 lb GVW. It's also got a Brown Lipe 3 speed auxiliary transmission with a single speed rear end.

So I'm standing there talking to the son of the guy that bought it new in '48 and I ask him "How much?"

He answers "a hundred and fifty", suddenly there is this voice saying "I'll take it", and I'm wondering who the heck was that? Only then did it dawn on me that Old Truck disease had struck again.

Pictures to follow.

Hello, my name is OlBlue and it has been about 19 hours since I bought my last stovebolt. :o

Oh, man, can I relate! But I definitely couldn't have said it any better. LOL Congratulations on your newest family member. (Wanna bet it's not the last?? hehe)

I've started to wonder if once you fall in love with old trucks you become magnetized or something. They pop up everywhere I go. I'll spot one 1/4 mile off the road behind a barn, give myself whiplash trying to get a better look, say something like "nice truck", and everyone else in the car asks, "what truck?"

Sure am glad to be in such good company in this forum. Can't wait for the pictures, and way to go!

Husker

I had another one follow me home Thursday. There's not much left of it but the price was right. Free. It's a 1/2 ton, '49 or '50.

Husker & Cletis,

Well it's not much to look at it. But the low odometer reading and the three speed auxiliary sure make it worth the price of admission. The body is pretty well 'used' but I'm hoping, at a minimum to reclaim major parts of the drivetrain for use on other projects and fellow bolter 'teen48flatbed' here in town can use a couple of parts for his truck.

In a heartbeat it was just to good a deal to pass up even if it ends up as parts.

Ol Blue - I have been attending SA for close to a year now. Had a close call a few months ago and I would have had an even half dozen AD series suburbans, luckily OldSub came to my rescue. My wife always cringes when she see my daily driver anywhere near my beavertail trailer. The kids wonder if they will ever have a real back yard . . . I am hopeful that the county doesnt do any fly-overs when I have more than 5 or 6 trucks parked outside of barns and sheds at a time. I am in the advanced stages of this disease. Let me know if you want to learn any of my avoidance techniques I am learning. :p

Ken, that makes me want to ask how many you have in the barns. :-)

There's another one trying to follow me home. He's wanting $200, but I think I can get it for $150, and it's tempting. Oh so tempting.

It's a '41 - '46 truck (light duty) in real rough shape. Looks like the fenders have been used for target practice, the paint is peeling and curling, the windows are all busted, two of the wheel rims are bent, and the list goes on...

But the darn thing "winked" at me, said "take me home", and gave me that "stray puppy dog" look. Ughh! So, come monday I'll probably go down and grab it.

Maybe we could have AA "Automobiles Anomynous" meetings? Or how about a prayer support group? What's the cure?

Husker

Cure? I don't want a cure, I want more of the dog that bit me!

I just need a few more barns and sheds to park them behind so my wife won't be able to count them all...

I plan to buy a parts '54 next weekend for no more than a couple hundred. She's almost ready for it. Still haven't mentioned the 4400 or 6400 that haven't come home yet.

Oh, yikes! Will I be able to hear the shouts when the 4400 and 6400 get there? I'm just a couple states away. LOL

Actually, I don't want a cure either. I'm loving every minute of it. However, I do want a garage. Then a big roomy shop with hydraulic lift, grease pit, sandblasting and paint corner, complete set of tools, etc.. etc... Then I will need to hire someone to come and teach me (hands on training) how to restore my trucks.

So, I either need a cure or lots of money and time. I vote for the money and time.

Husker

My Grandfather had a 47 AD tractor he bought used in 48 it had the 6 with a 2 speed rear. He said back in those times 50's Bonnie Motor Express would drop in oldsmobile V-8 with the brown (lite?) Lipe auxilary htat would flat out fly. Unfourtunately his 47 wound up in a salvage yard before I got the urge to tinker. I did find parts in his attic that match my 38.

I'm Cured!.....Well Sorta.....I Think.....Maybe
OK, your opinion, does this count?
I went hunting for a 50 1/2 Ton Panel with my buddy (you are playing with fire even though you are just helping a buddy). It was a way overpriced piece of rust. The next stop is a nice old guy with some Big trucks, and a nice Sub he is keeping to build with his daughter. He says he just got rid of his other stuff. Then I spy a 51 1-ton Panel, well not so much the looong panel as the bullet taillights on it. Hmmm I might be interested in a (taillights) panel. Then as if he knows I am weak he throws me a curve ball. "I'll give you the panel if you want it". I'm dead meat, my life (wife) flashes before my eyes. Then for the final touch he says he can deliver it on his Semi-rollerdeck to my yard (50 miles away over some Big hills) for $100.

So technically I did't buy another truck, Right???

Buddy in AK

We are here for you

Have him deliver it to my place and you'll be off the hook! Just ask him to call ahead so I can send the wife out clothes shopping...

I hate to even think about the freight from AK to WA. ....

Guys, just wanted to say that I was able to pass up the '46. Thanks for the support.

My '61 thanks you also, as this will keep me focused on getting her inspected and on the road.

Husker

http://community.webshots.com/photo/140141928/140145034GfHJXs

Actually its probably easier than most truck transport. You might be able to get it on a barge pretty cheap. Drive it on the barge in AK, and off the barge in Seattle. Ask my neighbor to drive it home from the dock where he works.

Works pretty slick for me!

Well, the latest symptom found it's way to my driveway this afternoon.
1948 2-ton wheat truck

The front tires were flat so half of the rear duals were moved to the front. They're 9.00-20's while the front had 7.50-20's on it. It looked better with the smaller tires on the front.

The right rear wheel was essentially locked up when I first looked at the truck. Fortunately we were able to back off the brake shoes and get the drum off. Found the single shoe return spring broken. Pulled the other side and found the same thing. Both of my '38s also had broken return springs. Must be pretty common on the big truck Huck brakes.

I've never seen an AD with the seat covers still in one piece. It also has what appears to be an original jack and lug wrench under the seat.

The drivers side inner window moulding is a stainless piece that looks like it was painted at the factory. The bottom of it where your arm rests has worn away revealing the stainless.

I'm having minor knee surgery in the morning so I'll have to postpone getting any more pictures for a couple of days until I can get around again.

I am a victim of old bolt fever myself. I kept telling my wife that I wanted and old, reliable truck to work on, and use for hauling remodling supplies. It seems my 97 Dodge 1/2 ton just wasn't up to the challenge. So, I was driving past the local muffler shop, when I saw it. Big, old, truck. I broke into a sweat, eyes glazed over, started drooling and mumbling incoherently, couldn't concentrate, etc. $800 later I drove it most of the way home. Now I just need to figure out why the rear end isn't engaged.
Now everywhere I go, I hear neglected bolts crying out to me for attention. Kinda like Dr Doolittle. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the fever sets in again.

Blue,

That certainly looks like a decent, solid truck from my desk chair! Sounds like you got a good deal.

I'm envious of you fellows (and gals, too!) who live in the "NON-rustfilled lands."

Rusted husks shaped like old trucks cost easily $1000 AND UP in my neck of the woods!

Have fun guys-if'n you got the room, save as many as ya' can!

Regards,
Wannabe

OlBlue - only 150 bucks!? THAT IS SWEET. I like it.

does it run or do you have to sit in the seat and 'pretend'?

-W

Originally posted by OlBlue:
Well, the latest symptom found it's way to my driveway this afternoon.
1948 2-ton wheat truck

that is a real nice truck for $150

Blue, sure is solid, yet dented looking. Not the rusted out junk we have here in IN and my drive! Is that exhaust REALLY change for the wheatfeilds? So not to catch fire then??? New one to me. Love that frame mount gas tank. Wanna save that for me if you part? First time I've ever seen dented cab corner's with NO holes from rust! Did you get a title with it? Seems pretty unmolested, I would have to clean up, repair and drive if mine. Trade you for my 49 Rust Bucket??

AND, Who is this Ken fella with small letters making his name and no other info when he posts??? NO "nickname" either.

Ok new to the site but have been bitten several times newest bite is a 1950 chevy school bus that my dad and I are saving from being cut up for scrap getting it for around $200 in the past I have had at one time a 54 Chevy sub., 2 49 chevy PU and 1 49 chevy pannel had to get rid of those but the bus is going to be a keeper. And my version of a line from a movie"Cure we don't need no stinking cure"