Thanks for the positive comments everyone!
I found this truck on Craigslist in Wenatchee, Wa. of all places, which is near where I live. The fella had to sell it for health reasons after working on it for about 4 years.

He is responsable for the very good condition the exterior is in having replaced the bed, bed wood and rear fenders as well as re-doing the interior. There is some damage to the rear frame from the bed job( someone got a litle happy with a cutting tourch) that I will need to mend when I box the frame.
The owner before him did the V-8 convertion, a 327 from a '64 chevelle and he swapped out the rearend with one from a '55 chev I think, I'm still researching the casting numbers on it to be sure.
All in all I think I have a very good base to start with and am rather excited to get this ball rolling!
Cheers