The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Restoring a 1937 1/2 ton chevy pickup truck

Hello , I recently purchased a 1937 chevy 1/2 ton pickup truck which is in very good condition benifiting from sitting in a barn for at least 35 years untouched. I have looked around the internet for help on reference materials to keep the truck all original. I need to install a new headliner , there is none, I dont know if I need a 1 or 2 piece headliner? I am also interested in finding the original paint chips or color formulas for the 1937 chevy pickups, I alson need to hunt down a horn for the truck and where it is supposed to be mounted. any help would be great. Thank you.

eBay is a good source for parts IF you know what you're looking for and looking at. Sometimes the seller lists a part using the box it's in to describe it & the part isn't in the correct box. The repop parts jobbers are a great source for application information. Obsolete Chevy Parts, The Filling Station, Chevs of the 40s, Chevy Duty are just a few jobbers. A good source of info for restoring a "correct" truck or car can be found in the VCCA (Vintage Chevrolet Club of America) forums. The VCCA guys are very helpful but a bit more conservative in their on-line demenor than those of us in the 'bolt.

I see 6V horns on eBay all of the time. It would mount just forward of the carb on the intake manifold. Welcome to the 'bolt.

Hey, Mike!
I'm restoring a 1937 1-1/2 and keeping the truck as original as possible as well.

On my truck with the original 216 CI 6 cylinder still in it, the horn mounts on the top of the intake manifold forward of the carb, just as Tiny indicated.

On the headliner, I replaced my original tattered cardboard headliner with one I purchased from Jim Carter Antique truck parts. It is a one piece unit that you form with an ammonia/water solution. It was a real booger to get it to fit and in retrospect, I might resort to a fiberglass reproduction that they offer for aesthetic purposes.

Mike welcome to the bolt, here are a couple of sites that may be helpful to you.

www.fillingstation.com
www.VCCAchat.org
www.VCCA.org

37dually,

I bought one of those fiberglass headliners from J.C. It came without any installation instructions and it was obvious that it would need to be trimmed to fit. I took a guess and started at front center and worked my way around, trimming as I went to make it fit. All went well until the last rear corner which would not fit. I tried to heat the corner with a heat gun and stretch it in, but no luck with that. I now have a useless $155 headliner. I ended up painting my original and putting it back in. The point here is that if you buy one of these, be very careful(more careful than I was) when you install it. I bought mine quite a few years ago now so hopefully they are better, or have some installation instructions with them. I told Jim about it at a swap he was at. He said that the headliners were made for him and that he would pass my info along to his supplier.

Hi Mike,had great luck with Jim Carter's and The Filling Station.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1937-COLORS-BUI...027QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This might help!

The most useful thing I would recommend are a chevrolet master parts catalog and a '37 chevy shop manual. Both of these are available as reprints. The headliner was one piece cardboard painted brown and I have stayed away from the repro part since I have never heard a success story. Maybe Jim Carter will figure this one out for us. Jim has a great page on paint is his catalog. I used his paint for my 38: brewster green with apple green fenders and it looks amazing. I took a picture of my horn, but I do not know how to post it. Send my your email and I will reply with the photo.
If this is your first resto project I would also recommend the book "How to restore your chevrolet pickup" by Tom Brownell. Have Fun! Mark

Eric,
Thank you for the info on those fiberglass headliners. Sounds like I'll stray away from that idea until I hear something more positive about them. The cardboard was hard enough to deal with!

Where are you in Mass Mike??

Thanks for all the help!! I am glad I found the stovebolt page. Can anybody help with the rear bumper for my 1937 1/2 ton chevy pickup , I have no bumper or brackets , the end of the frame measures 46" from outside to outside. I ordered a six piece rear bracket set and have not received them yet. They have the bumper for my truck but questioned me if the bolts are 34" or 36" on center. I did not know so I said send out the brackets and I will bolt them on and find out what the spacing is. They suggested to post this question on the stovebolt to hopefully avoid ordering the wrong rear bumper.

I don't understand why "they" wouldn't know the bolt spacing on a 37 rear bumper. The front bumper and the rear are the same and it is also shared with some of the earlier models of cars. :confused:

There are five holes in the bumper, one in the center, one to each side of center 16 3/4" and one at each end on the back side of the curved end of the bumper. Take a look at the bumpers on my truck at the link below. Please note that there is an extra bracket on the rear bumper between the actual factory brackets to support the trailer hitch.

Good luck!

Joe

The different spacing is because one is for car and one is for trucks. I can't get out to measure right now, but based on Joe's measurements I would guess the truck to be 34". I bought stainless repro bumpers from Rock Valley Antique Auto Parts...the same place the suppliers listed above get them from. They look great and fill well. Check out the gallery for pics and info on my 37 half-ton.

the horn does bolt directly in front of carb on the vertical casting on the intake manifold. If you do not have a fuel filter just b4 the carb, it bolts on directly. If you have the fuel filter, you need an additional bracket to shift the horn out away from the engine and fuel line/filter.

welcome to the 'bolt... have fun putting that 37 together....

Car and truck bumpers were the same, the bigger trucks used a wider bumper, but it was a flat 1/4" thick heavy duty unit.

How is the truck coming along Mike?