Hate(d) to have to sell the old truck, but after 39 years of owning it I guess it's time to let it go. Damn Property Taxes are killing me and since I can't sleep very comfortably in the truck I'm selling it (SOLD it) so I can (could) keep my house.
I bought this truck in 1976 at the ripe old age of 14, a year and a half before I had a drivers license. It was rough and rotted and a little beat up and the motor was totally seized up but I just Had To Have It.
It still has the Original Numbers Matching 85hp 21 Stud Flathead V8 in it.... (Slightly Oversized).
With my Dad being 1/2 owner of a Garage/Repair Shop in the small town I grew up in, he helped me with the engine rebuild which included boring it out 1/8th inch or 0.125 oversize. It was already .030 over and had totally seized up and rusted so bad that when I pulled the heads a couple of the piston tops fell out. I drove some of the pistons out with a 3 inch bar and a sledge hammer and had to use a hammer & chisel to get 3 of them out. We had to go at least 0.080 over to clean up and that size wasn't currently available at the time so Dad bored it out to the 100hp standard size which gives another .030 .060 .080 .090 or .125 I can over on that again if I ever needed to. Dad said back in the 1960s Drag Racing Days they used to go as much as a 1/2 inch oversized but then the cylinder walls were thin enough that they'd lose compression and die 1/2 way down the track, then cool down and run again, so 7/16ths over was about the limit for dependability.
The engine got a Total Rebuild and then I proceeded to tear down the rest of the truck for a Frame-Off Restoration with patch panels made where needed and everything painted inside and out including every inch of the frame rails, the inside of the grille, inside of the doors, underside of the cab, underneath and behind the dash panel, underneath the fenders and running boards, etc., etc., etc. The only thing I didn't have painted was the inside of the headlight buckets which I left the original shade of green just to show the factory color for future reference. I also noticed (or reminded myself) while filming this that the screw heads holding the window crank mechanism in the doors also have the original paint on them.
While fixing and/or replacing everything on it I went through the mechanical brakes, turning the drums on the brake lathe and then adjusting the brakes all individually to each drum and then adjusting the linkage from the pedal to each wheel as per the motor manual instructions. The first couple years I had it on the road I was running the regular truck plates and had to go through the safety lane with it and found out the brakes all checked Perfectly Even. The safety lane Inspector said he'd never seen brakes check that even and hydraulic brakes don't check anywhere near as close as what I had these set up at. Not bad for being a 15-16 year old kid when I did them while working part time at Dads Garage.
Other new parts included in the rebuild were all new windows (with Tinted Glass), NOS wiring harness, new aftermarket windshield frame which unfortunately didn't fit quite right so I ended up having it sealed shut to avoid leaks instead of being able to crank open for ventilation, NOS color coded cloth braid plug wires which they only used a couple years, new temp gauge (because the high school shop teacher cut the tube on the original one when I couldn't get the fitting unscrewed from the head), New window channels weather stripping and fender welting and other assorted body mount pads. Everything it needed, It Got with the exception of a couple trim pieces I wasn't able to get at the time like the door lock and grille trim strips which I ended up using stick-on fender well trim for and never got around to changing even though I have since picked up the missing pieces for it.
After a long drawn out restoration working on it as time and money allowed I moved on to a better paying factory job which allowed me to get it to the body shop and finish it in 1982 at which time I had the frame painted and then assembled the drive train while the cab, hood, fenders, etc. were being finished. I drove the Bare Chassis across town from my Dads Garage to my Grandfathers Farm and then hauled the body parts there for reassembly.
With it done in 1982, I took it to Byron Drag Strip in 1983, NOT to Race it, but to enter it in a National car show put on by a combination of 3 magazines which if I remember right were Street Rodder, Truckin', and I forget the 3rd one now...... A few years later I had it in the Rockford Metro Center for the World Of Speed and Customs Car Show. Other than that it's just been local shows at Wendy's Drive In, the Stephenson County Antique Engine Club's Annual Steam Threshing Shows (where I run the Steam Powered Sawmill), and Cruise Nights in Freeport Illinois.
It's been a fun old truck and I'm gonna (REALLY DO) miss it, but I think I'd miss my house a little worse......
15 май 2015
