The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Interesting background stories behind your stovebolt

For a long time now, Ive been meaning to post a little background information about my truck and myself, and was hoping that others might do the same if they have interesting stories about where their trucks came from.

My '63 lived it's whole life in Harvard, Nebraska, 1,000 people strong. My in-laws live there, and I always saw it parked in the street at the house across the street form them. I looked at it there for years, and I guess he would use it to haul trash to the dump in Hastings, 35-or-so miles away.

The people there were getting older, though, and finally decided to move into some kind of home or maintenance free place or something, so they had an estate sale. I had my mom-in-law to go over there and bid for me, and I bought it last year.

Now it lives in Kansas City, and after more than 40-years in Harvard, I doubt it will ever return again.

My '54 GMC 100 came from an almost totally unknown background, I was told it was stored in a barn for 28 years and the guy that retrieved it kept it in a garage for a year, then the guy I bought it from had it for another year. I suppose that is partially true since it is a no rust truck except for a little surface rust on the top. I polished it up and the original, I guess, paint shines pretty well. I guess the DMV believed the history, they gave me a clear title. Not much of a story, but that's it.

As you probably guessed, my name is Scott, I am 26 and I live in Michigan. I bought my 1950 Chevy 3100 5 window in August of 2005. I have wanted one of these trucks since I was about 10 years old, and from the best I can tell I probably owe it mostly to watching "Grave Digger" on tv. Anyway, my pickup is definately a project to say the least, but one that will be fulfilling and worthwile. I have had my eye on this truck since I was about 15, as it belonged to a good friend of my dad's dad. He had owned it since 1961, and had not driven it since 1977. When he parked it in the woods in 1977, his intention was to save it for his son. Since then hundreds of people had stopped by their house and he refused to sell it. In the summer of '05 unfortunately he passed away. His son had had many conversations with my father about his lack of interest in this truck, and still his father's refusal to sell it. He was just plain determined that his son would have this truck. Well after his passing on afternoon, his son called my house and said that his mother would be moving from the house and that "both" of those old trucks behind the house would have to be moved before she could move, so if I were interested, I would have to work something out with his mother. I immediately went to her house and looked at the truck. It was sitting on its belly in the ground and needed just about everything to revive it, but the thing that finally "forced" me into getting this truck was the look on this old ladies face and the tears in her eyes when she asked me if I could fix Wayne's truck? I looked it over, and knew I couldnt leave this one behind. I told her not only would I fix it, when I finished it I would bring it to her house first and take her for a ride in it when it was finished. She then brought up the other half of the deal that if I were to take it, I would have to take them both, the other of which I had not seen yet. Walking a few hundred yards further back into the woods I see a complete and unrestored 1946 half ton sitting on its belly. Unfortunately for storage space reasons and knowing the extent of what it would take just to get the 50 going, after getting both trucks back to my house, I traded the 46 away for parts for my 50. Since then I have acquired quite an extensive stack of patch panels from various suppliers, a half a pole barns worth of various used panels, including a tailgate, a pair of rear fenders, a frame, and a couple of grilles. My truck is currently sitting a bare cab on a frame waiting for nice weather when I will be installing a 79 Camaro front subframe and rearend, welding in all my patch panels to repair the cab (extensive rust in the cowl and floorboard area) Reassembling the box and building a 350/700R4 combo to drop in it. When it is finished I am planning a bright canary yellow paint job with torque thrust II wheels. I just wanted to share that little story and thank everyone for all the help that have been so far in my restoration.

I used to walk by my truck on the way to gradeschool or to friends houses 30 - 34 years ago. The original owner, Bert, is still alive and in his 90s. I sent a couple of recent pics to him a while ago. He kept it garaged mostly, but when it was out, he always parked it in the same spot.
He lived on the same block as us. We were on one corner and he was on the other on the same street. He would walk his poodles by our house every night just to hassle our fenced in schnauzers. It was the highlight of their day. Our dogs would go Apesh*t trying to get at them and everyone got a kick out of it.
Sometime about 15 - 17 years ago my dad took it in trade for Jeep Cherokee. 4 years later, I got that Jeep in perfect condition with less than 9k miles on it. But that's another story. After my dad had the truck for about 12 years, I hassled him about not doing anything with it other than letting it sit in the garage and run in a parade once a year. That was enough to talk him out of it for the cost of transportation. I've been using it and spending money on it ever since!

I found mine in an online classified ad. The truck was in Pine Canyon, Utah and was in the family of the original owner. Came with the original title and the last time it was registered (complete with the plate) was 1966. I am now reconditioning the truck the only parts missing were the radiator and the fuel pump. Took me three days to clean all the nastiness out from under the seat (3 mummified squirrels included at no cost). I am really looking forward to working on it as i just built a new 800 sq ft shop. It has 82,000 original miles and lots of potential.
The price was $500.00 for a 1950 3600 3-window. This is my fourth old truck 1949 Chev 1/2 3-window. 1947 Ford 1/2, 1946 Chev 1/2.

I first saw mine on a trailer on I95 just south of Richmond. A few days later I saw it sitting beside a guys house a few miles from me. I bought it from him after going to look at his 70 C10 he was selling. He told me he wanted to sell the 65 too! He said it came from a farm in Western Virginia. When I tore it apart it still had vines between the cab and bed. The engine had the factory plugs and wires still. The ash tray had a "red" tractor key chain laying in it and under the seat was a VA Farm Burreu "Farm Use" license plate. Guess his story must be true. A suiting truck for a farm boy stuck in the city.

I bought my 69 C10 from a good friend of mine. He had put a roof on a guys house and the truck was sitting in the driveway. They worked out a deal on the roof job and my buddy had the truck. He has a nice 72 Super Cheyenne so the 69 was parked behind the shed and he would run it once and a while just to keep it going. One day we were talking and I mentioned that I was kind of looking for an older Chevy truck to tow my Nova to the dragstrip and be a cruzer. He said "I have just what you need!" We went out back and I fell in love, I had always wanted a 69 Chevy truck. He kept the engine and trans, I had already started building a 350 for a truck and another friend gave me a 88 700R4. Now I have the engine and trans built and I am working on replacing rocker panels. Hopefuly I'll be able to drive it this year.

Sean

My 1951 1/2 ton was shipped to St. Louis, MO in June of 1951. Sold to David C. Kellam of Trimble, MO. Was a farm truck and barn kept for 36 years. Second owner, Ben McBride, bought it and drove it from MO to VA across Rte. 50. It sat outside in the weather until I bought it in 2003 in Arlington, VA. It was towed back from Arlington, VA to WV. The interesting part is that while a friend and I were towing the truck home, we ran out of gas on I 68, 50 miles east of Morgantown, WV. That is "God's Country" - farmland. We had to take the old '51 off the dolly, drive 10 miles to the nearest gas station for a gallon of fuel, drive back to the "tow" truck, and continue our trip to Huntington, WV. The water pump bearing was shot on the 1951 and the pump wobbled badly. It stayed together in the crisis, however. A real adventure!No brag, just fact. BW

Great stories!

My brother has built several hot rods and I go tthe hankering to build one myself. I scanned the papers (pre-Internet) until I found an interesting looking project - a 1937 Chev Pickup.

The PO had built several of them and had tired of the game so he gathered up all the spare pieces and sold them to me for $300.

I have since learned that the frame is a T-14 (GMC) and the cab was once a Seattle School District Maintenance vehicle (number 7!).

Here it is the day I dragged it home: http://hotrodders.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/24116/cat/500/page/1

Back home on the farm, we had a '46 3/4T. So it's my preference for the art-deco model. We went thru several used 216s. Dad had a friend put in another 216, change the rear wheels to duals, and added a small dump bed. I worked it and drove it a lot. Sunday afternoons were spent joyriding on back mountain roads. One time I changed it over to a 235. It was sold at Dad's farm auction.
Many years later, I was asked to move/tow a '45 1&1/2 T, it set around the neighborhood a long time. Two owners later I was able to buy it, and it's my current project.
I was working at a chevy dealer, when a guy drove in with a nice '64 long wheelbase 1T. He traded it on a new '73. I changed the bed over to the new truck. We bought the '64, and had it set up with a grainbox/cattle racks and hoist. It's still in use for general work around the Camp.

My 57 was sold new to Southwestern Bell Telephone company where it served as a installer's truck in Oklahoma. In 1966 the second owner bought the truck from the phone company to use as primary transportation then subsequently used the truck on the farm with it's last role hauling manure. It was parked out in the pasture under a tree in 1972 where it sat until I bought in October 2006.

I'm the third owner and intend to restore it back to it's original glory days as an installers truck complete with period correct tools. There are very few of these restored and I'm fortunate that the company that made the bed is still making custom beds for the telephone company. They found out I have the truck and have taken an interest asking me to bring the bed down so that they can look at it. I'm also getting all kinds of calls and emails from retired telephone guys asking me about the truck and offering to send me period correct installers tools that I can use to "stock" the truck.

Guys I've got 28 years in with the phone company so this truck is a labor of love. I'm hoping to post and share pictures of my retoration with the other bolters.

My 53 3100 was sitting behind a wood fence in Keller Texas in 1995.My wife and I own a manufacturing company of wrought iron and was putting up a 6' high iron fence to replace the old wood fence when my wife saw the truck covered with vines. When I was done with the job I offered $500.00 for the truck and it was done, I had the truck. My son and I were going to rework the truck but he joined the Navy and 12 years later it's done. This Feb I put it on the road .. When he came home from Iraq,he and I took it out for a ride.What was funny is when he got behind the wheel to drive it he did not know how to start it(foot stomper), then didn't know how to shift it( 3 on the tree),priceless.

Well my 47 ½ ton sat in my wife grandparents farm for I don’t know how many years “grandpa” was the type of man how would pick up a non running car or truck get it running and park it out in the field. Well there were about 100 cars and trucks when he past back in ‘02 well I tried and tried to take about 3 things I wonted off of there '49 Beetle, ‘55 bell air and my ’47 Chevy ½ ton. Well “grandma” would not let anything leave. Then in ’04 she decided to have an auction that weekend I hade a family reunion about 3 hours away I was going to try to make it but I just could not make it there. Well my brother in-law bought the 47 planning on restoring it well it sat in his back yard for about two months when he sold it because he found out how much work it needed well I hade my ’60 beetle did not have the space to hold it my dads neighbor bought it and he did nothing with it for about a year one day I was over helping my dad with his 53 Chevy ½ ton and I say her sitting there looking at me in the neighbor's grudge so I worked over there and asked tom how much and he said take it and we pushed her over to dads and know she is sitting in calling my name every day and starting to look good.

My 58' sat on a concrete display at a dealership down the road from us. My mother always liked the Apaches so for her 50th birthday my father bought it for her. My mother never learned how to drive it, since the last time she drove a manual was 30 years ago, also no PS. So since I was in high school and in need of transportation it basically became mine, I started driving it to school my Senior year. Since then I have had to rebuild the engine because of broken rings and blown head gasket. Now that it has a "new" engine I drive it back and forth from college and I am loving it.

The first time I laid eyes on DAISY she was parked under some large oak trees next to an outbuilding on a property where I was doing a landscaping project. I looked her over and discovered a very nice '58 3600 under a bed full of trash and lots of oak sap and dust/dirt accumulation. A peek under the hood showed she had a V8. It was several days before I saw the homeowner and we got to talking trucks and Harleys and when the time seemed right I casually asked him if he was interested in selling the "old truck". To my surprise he said "YES". He started her up and after a few minutes of rough idleing she smoothed out and purred like a kitten. He told me he purchased DAISY from a young guy 18 years ago who had done quite a bit of restoration on her. He had redone the wood in the bed, installed all new wire harnesses, radio, a very nice set of high back bucket seats and lots of chrome knobs, etc. for the interior and painted her... white. The owner told me he had paid $2200 for the truck in 1989. Five years ago he paid a local mechanic to get the 350 installed to replace the 235 that was in the truck when he bought it (it was originally a 283), redo all brakes and wheel cylinders, do some front end work and put new chrome rims and tires on the truck at the same time. He gave me the receipts....$5748.93. The truck had been sitting under the trees for most of the past 3 1/2 years since getting the boot from the garage to make room for the owner's new truck. The owner said he was glad to see someone as enthused about giving her a home as he had been years ago. Needless to say when he said he would let me have the truck for $2500, I didnt waste time trying to "talk him down". I drove it home later that evening and she now has her new home under my carport. Welcome home DAISY.

Carl

I got the bug from the need for a way to get my lil hot rod around. So instead of blowing the money for a trailer I'll rarely use I opted to find an old truck with a tilt bed I can use anytime & maybe do some custom bodywork & the like.
So whilst searching Craigslist, I found an ad for a 1956 GMC dump truck & my downward spiral into my current obsession/mess begins.

Well now, from what I was able to gather from paperwork & the P.O., my old beastie has spent most of it's life as a farm truck. The title was issued in 1976 and had a farm exemption sticker on the cab thats so faded you cant make out the number. It was seeing regular use on the land of a recently retired judge untill he decided to sell her to the man I got it from before moving off his farm. The only bad part there was the new owners have about 20 more vehicles than they have time to play with, so she sat out in the rain collecting trash, rust, & mice for over a year.
But, when I got to see her for the 1st time it was a kind of sick type of love at 1st sight. She's got all the original parts, she starts right up with a little squirt of starting fluid (accelerator pump was frozen), and bumbles her way down the road just fine. Dont stop worth a darn, but when you go down thru all 8 gears you're not goin very fast anymore, IF you have time to downshift anyway.

Are all these great stories included with your Gallery writeups?? HUH??? If yes, GOOD ON YA!!

If No, WHY NOT?!?!?!?!?!?!

Get 'em in to Peggy ASAP!!!

I think my '49 3800 has an interesting story and you can read about it ... (duh) here! (In the Gallery!!!)


John
I love you guys. Really. I do.

I was 15 when I bought my truck (I'm now 28) for $600. The owner was the nephew of the original owner of the truck when it was bought new. He intented to restore it but never did.

My hopes were to get it running before I turned 16, but that never happened. The engine had previosly been overheated and was cracked in a few places. The body work needed was extensive and the South East Texas weather had taken its toll even though it was garaged.

My father and I got it home and I got it tore down to assess teh situation over the next few years. Then I went off to college and it sat and sat until just the last two years.

Now the truck is being rodded properly and I'm kinda glad that its taken me this long. Over the years I've gathered more skills and knowledge along with patience. It has helped in fitting those patch panels and making progress in the body work. I really only get a chance to work on it for about eight hours every month. When I get my own garage that will increase. Looking forward to it.

When I pulled the seats apart to have them upholstered, I found gas & camping receipts from the late 60s & early 70s. I looked the name up on white pages.com & called & spoke to the wife of the original owner. She said it was a good "van", they camped all over Washington State w/it. Her husband died in 1980 & her son got the burb, then he died & she never knew where it went. They bought it new in Woodland, Washington-2500 miles from where I live. I found a Mobil gas card so old it had the punchcard raised dots. Brian

Don't really know the history of my '50 3100 5 window before I bought it, but since I bought in 1977, I know the history for the last 30 years. I originally came to know these trucks going up in rural Washington in the early '70's.

At that time "hippies" were all the rage and it seemed where I lived an old chevy truck was standard issue for these folks. They were cheap to buy and repair and would haul plenty of wood for heat. Having four older sisters at the time, (whose husband's hair was as long as theirs) there was a '53 3100 brush painted flat bed, a '53 burb, a '50 3100 with a Studebaker bed and a '55.2 3100 parked out front at most family functions.

As an impressionable teenager, it was only natural that I wanted one as well. And I had an older buddy that had a '50 3100 5 window in black primer and without an engine or grill. He was a hard bargainer, and ended up with $150.00 cash and my girlfriend's sewing machine, (a little something for his Misses.) My highschool sweetheart still claims an ownership interest in the truck because of that sewing machine.

That was 30 years ago this year. I have had 3 engines, 2 transmissions, and 2 rearends in that truck since then. This spring a three year frame off resto will be done.

Oh, and some of those brother-in-laws are still around, and the only "burbs" in their current lives are where they live. They are flat out jealous that the only truck still around from that era is the one that pudgy little brother-in-law bought and kept.

See my gallery page.

My dad died 10 years ago and left his 1986 GMC. I kept it at my mom's house up until a couple of years ago - someone decided they wanted it more and stole it. Broke my heart. Earlier this past fall, I was in Toronto and my wife called. Her sister had found my dad's truck. Seems she had a guy come in for an interview - he was sitting talking to my brother-in-law and they got on the subject of old trucks(my brother-in-law has a 64 Chevy). The guy says "Do you want to buy a '63?" My brother-in-law says no, but that I might. The guys says, "He might want this one, I bought it from his Dad in 1975". Came home, bought the truck. So basically, I get to drive what I rode around in as a kid.

Our 1939 Chevy was my grand fathers and he parked it on the old home place when he bought a 1950 F@@d. I learned to drive in it and try to break it as a kid. I had it hauled here to get it running again with the hopes to make a driver out it . Will be fun to get it out on the road one day. My bride is always in amazement of the toys I drag home.
Gosh honey it has only been parked 30 years! Shouldn't take to much time he says as she walks shaking her head laughing.

Had been looking for a good truck project for a long time and found my 55 1st series truck in Durango, CO. It has been a daily driver since new. Manufactured in Las Angeles, sold new in Prescott, AZ. Repained in the late 70's and given to the grandson on the original owner. Grandson moved to Durango. Wife and I flew to Farmington, NM and rode up to Durango to return the owner home. Drove this original truck back to Texas (two and a half days @ 55 mph, talk about testing a marrage). It's unusual in that it's a 5 window hydra-matic. Have since replace a very tired 235 with a warmed over 261. Next projects are front disc brakes, 700r4 to improve highway driveability and air (gotta have air in Texas). Truck will continue to be a daily driver (Has the original wood in the bed). It's not a show truck but it's a real truck.

Interesting you should post this topic. When I moved to Arizona in 1992, I had some money to spend on a vehicle.

I had my eyes on an S-10 because my dad had an 86 while I was in high school. It had no power steering, which the dealer made him sign an agreement that he wouldn't refuse it from the factory and a 5 speed. My dad learned to drive in 1946 first series 1-1/2 ton Chevy box trucks and believed firmly a truck should be a truck.

When I moved into my apartment complex I saw an old truck in the parking lot. I instantly fell in love with it. I told myself at the time that if it were for sale, I would buy it. Imagine my surprise when two weeks later there was a for sale sign in the window. I talked with the owner and learned that it was a 39 Chevy 3/4 ton. He had done most of the work on it to date after recovering it from a salvage yard in the Phoenix area in 1989. Before he would sell it to me, he gave me driving lessons to make sure I could drive it.

Driving the non-syncronized 4 speed was an immediate challenge, but I bought it anyway. I clearly knew nothing about what I was getting into, but I've kept it ever since and have learned that the only way to add to my knowledge base on this truck is to learn it the hard way. With some help from my now deceased father in law, we found a new (1948) engine for it in lovely Gila Bend, Arizona and put it and maintained it ourselves.

It was a great driver for many years until other priorities (kids, job, the usual) prevented me from driving as often as I would like. Now I drive it only occasionally, but wish I could drive it more!

I am blessed to have a wife who understands what it means to me even if I can't always justify the money I put into it!

The entire story behind my truck and the restoration progress is on my web page shown below. Feel free to check it out if interested. Truck story web page

Bought my 55 on EBay in 2002.It was in the Denver area and looked like a really nice truck.The guy I bought it from lied like h-ll about what was on the truck.Ihad the winning bid,and had the truck shipped to home.It was a good solid truck,but I paid way too much for Filed a complaint with Ebay but they will not stand behind you.The seller pleaded ignorance and got away with it.I made the best of a bad deal and upgraded everythingf,M2 frontend,350 V/8 Auto,etc,.It is now a really nice truck,er streetrod,and worth every penny I have in it.

Dale,
I too bought a truck off ebay. I too thought the truck was in better condition, according to the description, but isn't that always the way. The seller boosts up the description, and the pics look great. Then when you actually start to check the truck out at home it isn't quite as good. It was a convenient purchase, not having the time to go hunting myself, and my truck is a good start for a restoration. I am loving the fun of getting it to the state it should be in. And I probably spent more than I should have, but you can't take it with you. : ) Just don't tell my wife!!

My '42 CCW-353 GMC was delivered new into the N.Z. Army on 4th December 1942 as part of a consignment on the ship Joaquin Miller. Fortunately the N.Z. Govt still holds record of these transactions, & I was able to get details through a private military museum.

It spent about 10 years in the Army and was then sold for civilian use. An earthmoving contractor bought it & had it in storage for quite a few years, slowly converting it to 6x6 & R.H. drive. My father worked for this contractor during the late 50's but never saw the truck used. Eventually it was set up with a low-loader to transport a D6 Caterpillar - Generous load on NZ hills!

Sometime around 1970 it was fitted with a Ford 6 cyl diesel & worked until the contractor retired in the late 70's, then went back into storage once again with only 79,000 miles on the clock.

Around '95 my father decided to hunt it down & buy it, eventually wondering what he had done! One day he said to me -"Take it if you can use it, otherwise it goes"

I HELPED OUT!!!

I've since taken it back to original from bare chassis rails (except for the shortened wheelbase while being a tractor unit). I've re-fitted the 6x4 front axle (original & much better lock), a 270 engine with a re-conditioned head, new clutch, waterpump, fuel-pump etc.
The engine itself had no bore or bearing wear at all, so went in at low total cost.The chassis is now driveable, mainly just panelwork to go.

When the restoration is finished, I'm fitting a hydraulic gib crane to the truck to handle steel & machinery in our engineering business - plus some regular road trips!

Meanwhile it's giving a huge amount of pleasure & interest to me, my 11 year old son, & lots of customers. Even my ex-Navy wife likes it!

Happy Trucking!