I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself and my truck. I know you want the pictures, so just click here:
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j80/dlhoovler/1954%20GMC/ I'm a young'un--just 28. I'm originally from Western PA but now am in my third year teaching English with my wife in central China.
The truck (which lives with my mom now) is a 1954 GMC half-ton pickup, 8-foot bed, Deluxe cab, with a 248 and Hydramatic. My late father bought it in 1972 for something like $400; he knew of the truck for a while before that, since about the second owner. He'd heard that it had been a demonstrator truck in the Pittsburgh area, which may be true--it's all gussied up with chrome, two-tone paint, side-mount spare, etc. No radio, but among the parts hoard my dad put together over the years is a NOS unit. I think my dad never had the heart to drill for the antenna.
The truck is in good but far from perfect shape--very solid almost everywhere, but some minor rust in the cab corners and floor, and the bed is rather dented from use. The original wood bed floor is splintered and has been covered with sheet steel, but it's functional. The dark blue was repainted in the early '70s, but the light blue is original (I think the spare tire is too!). The odometer has a shade under 70k authentic miles on it, so it's sat a lot. I changed the oil this summer when I was home and discovered the last it was changed was about 300 miles and
12 years ago!
This summer I set out to get the truck running off its own gas tank again (rust clogged the sender), so I pulled the tank, hosed it out, let it dry thoroughly in the sun for a few days and put things back together. It ran great in the yard, so I took it for a short drive. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), the brakes failed on that drive. And, perhaps from my downshifting to try to get some engine braking and keep the truck under control, the valvetrain started making ominous clattering noises.
So the truck sits unroadworthy for another year while I'm here, but I hope next summer (when we'll likely be living with my mother for a year) I'll be able to tackle the brakes and probably a valve job. It wants to be driven!
Thanks for the bandwidth--I'll probably be lurking here for the next year, picking up wisdom and trucking vicariously.
-Dave
I hope you have a productive, enjoyable and safe year in China. Good luck with the Jimmie when you get back. obtw, you might want to submit it to the oldgmctrucks.com site as well. Nice guys (some of them, anyway) and they know their GMC's. :p