Here's what happens when you glue a '54 3800 to an '88 Jag XJ6 car.
Final Product We stripped the front and rear axles from the Jag and hauled the carcass to the recyclers. The car was non-running and pretty much trashed.
front and rear axles What's left of Jag XJ6 The I found a '54 frame from a 1/2-ton hydramatic truck from South Dakota. Stripped the stock axles and grafted on the Jag axles.
Jag front end Jag rear end Dropped in the 235 from the 3800 and adapted a T5 5-speed from an S-10
235 T5 Pulled the cab and front dog house from the 3800 and installed on 1/2-ton frame:
Old 3800 cab Found an old '54 short bed and some fenders.
Ugly bedGet high school kid to clean inside. Wanted to keep outside original, but we stripped inside and installed peel-n-stick fake dynomat and redid seat.
Safety third Rattle can resto Putting it all together.
Rebuilt 235: '54 block with '56 848 head Getting there New pine bed but kept old metal str... look right with shiny stainless strips. Before washing with CLR After washing with CLR Truck is running great and drives nice. I need to install power steering pump because the Jag rack doesn't like being used manually. It steers, but I'm basically pushing fluid from one side to the other when I turn. It's got disc brakes all around and I'm thinking about upgrading to a power booster. I also want to lower the rear about 2" by raising the top of the shock towers. I was surprised there is enough room to do that with the floor in place in it's original position, but I measured and I've got 2" to play with. I might splurge for airride shocks in the rear so I can drop it really low if I want to.
I'd like to find a '54 bed in the same green as the cab. The orange bed is solid, but looks kind of weird. No plans to paint truck. I like the old look and it cleaned up nicely using CLR and green scotch brite pad.
