The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 59 Apache Question

Hi!

My husband and I have a 59 Apache and we have some questions. We know someone who has some parts for a 56 & 57 Chevy truck. We REALLY need doors for our truck, would doors or any other parts from a 56 or 57 Chevy truck fit our 59? What kind of parts are interchangeable? What are there particular years that work best with other years (I.e. 68-72 Nova parts are interchangeable)

Thank you for your help!

Doors are the same from 55-59 as are many other parts

Generally speaking, As you know, the 58-59 are dual headlight and 55.2-57 do not, so the hood and fenders won't work. If you are wondering about a certain part, look on a vendors web site and see what years they say it fits. (Sheet metal as well as other Parts). That will be 98.2% accurate. As said, most parts are the same. There were some style/mechanical/electrical updates and things were mounted in different places. You can take the old part with you, sometimes, to a sale or swap meet to compare. To get a specific answer about a part here, you have to ask a specific question like you did on the doors. Your truck is a specific body style of trucks which are approximately the "same", called Task Force, 1955.2-1959. The .2 means "second series", there is a 1955.1 truck (first series) which is part of the previous era/style/design. Welcome to the Stovebolt!

Thank you very much for the answers, they are very helpful! We are new to this era of Automobile (most of our cars were early 60s - 79 cars) so this is new territory for us! Don't be surprised if you see a ton more questions from us!

We received this 59 Apache from my husband's neighbor from the neighborhood where he grew up. My husband has always helped this gentleman. The truck sat in the man's backyard since 1975. When he gave it to us, the tires had sunk into the grass and a tree was growing in front of it that made it a very tight squeeze for us to get out of the yard.

This is going to be a LONG project because money is tight for us and the truck needs a lot of TLC and we will only be able to gets parts in dribs and drabs. The truck is garage kept now and is up on jack stands so we can find new tires and rims.

Thank you again!

Many Truck lovers here to answer questions. So great you are saving this truck. What model do you have? Half ton? Fleetside or step side? What engine/trans? As far as parts on a budget, Check the for sale section and place an ad in wanted here on the Stovebolt site.

It is a step side, half ton, in line six with a three speed trans with the shifter on the column. Not sure about the model. The emblem has a 31 on it, if that helps.

Thanks for the advice! We are only just getting started and its going to be a long project, as we can only get parts when we have the money.

Hey Gregsgirl,

Welcome! As you are so am I, on a tight budget!(broke most the time) Not to worry, projects, just take a little longer! To make things easier, DO NOT set a completion date. If it does not to be at any certain point at any certain time there is no disappointment. And a bunch of stuff can be accomplished with out spending a dime and working with what you have on hand! Believe me I know....Mine will be done someday! Good Luck and ENJOY!!!!!

Welcome to the bolt! I'm partial to the '59 model! The 31 means its a model 3100 Short Wheel Base. Mine is a 32 (3200 long wheel base).
Finding original solid doors will be difficult and aftermarket doors are pricey!
If your door bottoms are rusted out (those doors are notorious for that) but the outer skin is good, you could buy some patch panels like I did for mine and cut out the bad metal of your door and weld these in. They are about $60 apiece and you can use your doors!
I bought a flux core welder from Harbor Freight to do mine and it turned out pretty well... plus I'd never welded a day in my life prior to that.
Congrats on the project!
Jerry

For all practical purposes, the cabs are all the same from 55 to 59. Just remember what others said about the 55's. Because the first part of 1955 they made the old style trucks. They must have been way behind getting the new Task Force trucks up and running. You should buy the factory assembly manual, it says its for 55 to 59, but most all the sheets or pages in it are dated 1955. So that means theres nothing about the 58 59 front sheet metal in it.

what is it about Apaches? I have 2, well, actually cut one to peices it was so bad, why do the doors rust so bad? I've had a bunch of old trucks in my life and I've never seen doors that loose their entire outer edge so bad? And, the rest of the truck (the one I kept) is solid (of course except for the routine cab corners). Do they even produce door skins for these years?

yes lefty, the vendors have a lower door skin patch and a bottom section .... problem is inadequate drains that plug up easily allowing wet crud to build up in the bottom pinch welds

Bill

You can get complete doors for them. The problem is they didn't paint them inside at the factory. Nor did they make them from stainless steel like they should have. If the whole truck was outa stainless we wouldn't have a rusting problem just a problem keeping the paint on the metal.