The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk What's your story.....?

In noob68's thread 'Is this one worth the effort?' bullet triggered something in my foggy memory of the distant past that is directly responsible for me being afflicted with ownership of a rusty, beat up moneypit that I can't even drive yet. As a teenager I worked for a trucking company and frequently drove their one ton '64 F*** flatbed to go get parts or pick up a head from the machine shop, etc. I LOVED that truck! They had a custom paint job on it, diamond tuck upholstery, the whole works. It was NICE! I've wanted a one ton ever since. (That was back in the early '70s) I was really wanting a F*** because I like the way they look, but a buddy of mine found me a 'great deal' on a '62 c-30 (http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/images/knokey_david_1962d.jpg) It's actually a good thing I got a Stovebolt instead because John and Peggy don't have a F*** site! I would really be kinda lost without this site. Anyhow, that's why I'm a stovebolter. How 'bout the rest of you?

The first thing my dad let me drive when I turned 16 and got my license was a '47 Chevy 3100 pickup. All the kids thought it was way cool. It was a repaint with some aqua or turquoise Cadillac color on it. The engine and transmission were allegedly replaced with a 6 and 3spd stick from an Olds and the motor mounts and such were allegedly cut and rewelded. I was too young and mechanically naive to care. All I knew was I loved that truck. About 6 months later Dad sold it and picked up a '62 Chevy II wagon with a rust problem so I could haul my brothers and sisters around.

Ever since then...

I've restored or rodded a few things in my time, some older, some more current at the time. The '47 panel is the oldest thing I have ever tackled. I picked it up about a year ago, 30 some years after that first AD Stovebolt.

When I was a kid I worked at a greenhouse.They had an older AD 1/2 ton we used to haul materials around the property.The roof had been cut off,but it was a lot of fun to drive.Then when I went in the Army we had a lot of AD pickups in the motor pool.I always thought they were really cool and fun to drive.I have the 55 2nd series and one of these days I want to get an AD.

Growing up on the farm, you had to learn to drive very early of age. Stand up to push clutch, look thru steering wheel to see where you was going. First truck I remember driving was a 55 chevy. The neighbor lady had a 54 wich her grandson now owns and redid all orginal.

I did cars for awhile but truck's are and always will be part of my life. If I didn't own this 59 I would be doing a 61 GMC because that was the first truck that I owned. It was a horse 305 6 so easy to work on. Ben

popcorn The Truth is Out There (Plus the many memories of my 2 sisters and I riding in the back of Dad's Chevy's.) He is a Ford man now but I still love him!

learned to drive on my grandaddy's farm in his old 46 pickup. I later got a 46 tinkered with it and gave up and sold it...then it was a 50 AD which I kept for a few years...then a 70 C/10 then a Ferd.....I got smart and for years have owned only the bowtie's....currently a 37 restorod pickup and a 2000 Silverado....they will take you and bring you back!! OH, and not to mention all the tri fives my 3 brothers and I demolished along the way including a 58 impala! Still my fondest memory was jamming the gears in the 46 while on the farm.

When I was a kid my dad wouldn't let me drive the car until I was 15. But my grandfather would let me drive the old Chevy farm trucks as long as I could see and reach the pedals. I always liked the AD's and the mid 60's C-10's. I had restored and refurbished a couple of old Harley's but had never tried a truck.
A friend of mine bought a 1951 1/2 ton Chevy and I was bitten by the bug. I first bought a 1958 Fleetside and trailered it back to Illinois. I must have gotten a pretty good deal on it because someone made me an offer and bought it from me before I even got it home. I liked it but not as well as the AD's or the C-10's. My friend said if I could ever find a 1955 1st series I should get it. I waited almost a year and found one last week. Now I'm going to start my first truck project.

I learned to drive in a 53 burb. My first car was a Hot Rod 51 sedan Delux with a 54 235, fenton headers, et, full synchro--close ratio 3 speed, and 4:11 gears. My current 1970 1/2 ton was sitting along side the hiway near my house for sale for $1500, I wanted it, but then he dropped the price to $1100, and "want it" turned to NEED IT! Since then progress has been slow but steady. I'm so in to it that I'm selling the last of my motorcycles to buy truck stuff!

Boo

I've long been a fan of the '55-'57 trucks. In more recent years my interest has grown to include the '58/59 which I used to look upon as ugly.

Events in my life drove me to put my motorcycle fanaticism behind me and move to a more conservative, yet equally consuming, pastime: truckdom. Perhaps it was the obscene prices associated with Tri-five cars that drove me to their heavy-healed counterparts. Or maybe it was the versatility and the modular design that really piqued my interest. Whatever it was, I am now so entrenched that it is unlikely I'd ever get it out of my system, even if subjected to some sort of Clockwork-Orange type of treatment.

My dad traded his Spitfire for a '64 GMC when we moved to the "sticks" around '74, now around here it is almost "in town". My spoiled buddy in high school had a restored 64 swb Custom Cab Chevy (sm blk 400/th350+3.73s)which he destroyed. I started looking to find one to go thru & end up w/two 64 swb trucks. Brian

My Dad and his dad always had Chevy trucks from way back. In their electrical business, they started out with a brand new 1956 Chevy 1/2-ton, then a 1963 Corvair Greenbriar wagon (piece of crap that was!), then a nice green '66 C-10 LWB with a big Six and auto. In '69, my Dsd and his brother ordered identical C-20 350 4-spd trucks, and they ended up sequentially numbered! That was the first Chevy truck I ever drove (at age 14), and I really loved that truck! My first Stovebolt was a '56 GMC with a 326 Pontiac engine I bought that same year ('74) for twenty bucks, and it ran like a scalded cat!!!

That, and my brother and brothers-in-law owning Mopar musclecars ('70 340 'Cuda, '69 Dart GTS 340, '68 Barracuda 340, and '69 Sport Fury 383) got me into both Chevy trucks and Mopar cars and trucks.

Now, 441 cars and 72 trucks later, I'm still primarily a Mopar and Chevy owner, with Hudsons being the relatively latest (since '01) additions.

i started driving in the hay fields of maryland in my dads work truck which was a early 50's 21/2 ton stakebed truck. i don't remeber the make. he would go help his brother farm on week ends. i could barely see over the dash when used the pedals while he shifted. it was so hilly there that they baled hay and the younger kids, my brother and i rolled the hay bales to the bottom of the hill and loaded the hay on the truck or the wagon, otherwise the bales would not stay on the wagons they tip over. i haven't lived there since 1956 but went back that way 2 weeks ago, my how things have changed. took my mother back, she is 84 my be her last visit back. ron

Funny how we all start, "When I was a kid..." Those first experiences really shape us, don't they?

When I was 8 or 9, Dad would help out a family friend who owned and ran a girls' summer camp (where my sisters went). Mr. Gabriel had a beautiful AD stakebed (probably a 4400) that dad would get out of the shed and we'd run home to get our big Jacobsen riding mower and go mow and then we'd run the mower back home. That was probably all the truck ever got run. Of course the truck really wasn't that old at the time (mid '60's) but I remember how cool it was to ride with dad in that truck with the foot starter and those really neat arrow turn indicators out on the fenders (the Signal Stat ones with the hoods).

I started MY old truck habit with a '39 1/2-ton, but the '49 4400 was really where my heart was/is.

That's how I got started. And, to get to the bottom line, how this site really got started. All Dad's fault...

Good thread!

John

41 Chevrolet parked in an alley north of downtown St. Paul. I saw that nice lookin grill. $100 bucks later and it was all mine...that included the tow to the house....tossed the entire truck except the cab and frame....installed open driveline, 327, turbo 400, q-jet...got broke and sold the 41...added a wife, two kids, a mortgage and a better job. Bought the 46 14 years later.....here I am.