Hello All – Last fall I finally got my act together and picked up a ‘54 ¾ ton. The down side is that it is in Oregon and I live in Maryland. My nephew will get most of the fun of the frame-up build while I look over his shoulder from 2500 miles away. He gets the experience, I spend the money, we do a bit of uncle/nephew bonding, and I get a heck-of-a-truck when I retire and move out west in 6 years. Well, either that or a project truck to work on myself. Anyway (my nephew already says that I talk too much), I’ve a couple questions for the experts. I haven’t seen any rear bumper quite like the one on my ’54. A friend suggested that I should show it off by backing into a few things. Anyone know if it was an option or if it was after market? Next question, the front fenders have the holes in the top for turn signals, but the lights are long gone. I saw a pair on Ebay one time but our host doesn’t seem to carry them. Any ideas of where they can be found? Thanks! As you can probably tell, I’m a complete novice in this, but I love these old trucks. This one will be perfect for the mile drive from our 20 acres down to the local hardware store. I’m learning a lot from these threads, and I read them with a notebook to write down the good ideas. Cheers, Steve
Hey Steve, Welcome! Where are you in Maryland? The rear bumper doesn't look to be original. I know that 1/2 ton rear bumper resembled the front bumpers save for an indention or lower spot on the top of the bumper in the center to keep form blocking the liscence plate. I would assume that the 3/4 ton would be the same. As for the lights, most vendors sell double contact kits to retrofit the parking lights for use as turn signals. I used to have the one that go on top in my spare parts and will look to see what I still have. Josh
Hi Josh, Columbia of all places, and you? I kind of like the style of the fender mounted turn signals. They really say "I'm not from the last few decades." I think that you are right about the standard bumper as most of the photos I've seen of 3/4 tons show the rear being similar to the front. Steve
Steve, From the Cecil County, Elkton area myself. Y'know you got a good point there with the turn signals, i never looked at it like that. If I can find my old ones you're welcome to them. Not sure how good of shape there in though. Is that on original side mount on your truck? Josh
Josh, That would be great! We've been up in the Elkton area a few times. Camping at Elk Neck with Cub Scouts a few years back. Seemed like quite a nice area. The truck has a partially completed conversion to 12V and a 235 from a later year car. It had a number of previous owners and it is unclear who might have done what. Steve
http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/cgi/start.exe/start.htm http://truckandcarshop.com/map.htm Hi Steve here are 2 links where you can find just about anything you might need for one of those old trucks. It depends on which way you want to go and what you like when building any truck. The old rear bumper would probably be fine with a little TLC or you could Fab. up a new one or order up a new one and brackets. The front blinkers will work in the original grill and look a whole lot better but it is your truck so you have to make it the way you like it. have fun......Big Tim
For fender mount turn signals, check the truckstops. The factory marker lights can be turned into turn signals by installing an 1154 style socket...pretty easy to do.
Vendor in Oregon Welcome Josh to the most complete chevy Talk site on the planet. If your nephew lives in Oregon and you need a closeby vendor in Lebanon Portland the following link brings you to haven. Jerry Kassis the owner is an amazing helpfull and service minded guy. Goog luck with you project.http://www.fillingstation.com/ The rear bumper looks like either an homemade towtruck item or it could be an old Ford bumper to(almost cant mention the word , sorry guys). Original turnsignal lights setups are available everywhere , Jerry have them to together with the operating manual wich are the electric connections are well documented to. Great to have you here Martinius.
nice looking truck! My 3/4 ton had a custom rear bumper that the old farmer used as an air tank.. Needless to say I am going to leave it as it makes my truck unique and looks cool too. Plus its a cool story with the history of the truck If the photo software would work I would show ya, but its not so you will have to wait... suspense I know
Congradulations !! Welcome to the fold Those turn signals are called " lollipop " typ and yes , some are still made with metal housings , even chrome ones . The bumper is the standard aftermarket item fitted by dealers and weld shops back in the day . if you de-rust it & paint to match the grille , it'll look nice and is period correct Saves the truck if you get rear ended too .
Thanks all for the great welcome, information, and suggestions! I'll certainly be keeping the bumper, nicks, dings and all. I've got enough of those myself and the truck is a year older. That's what gives us character, right?
Lollypop lollypop oh laly laly lollypop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-DuC0tE7V4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7rITd2qNd0 Nice music when driving your Tow-truck. Hi Nate Do you have any vendor adres where to buy the Lollypop turnsignals lights ?
Lollipop Lights Uh , Trucklight , Grote and Oh , jeeze - there's a million different brands and I just left my beloved Truck Shop for the last time (so they tell me) leaving my catalogs behind I was able to find pairs of old turn singal lights on Flea-Bay that have arrows in the lenses, some are round , some are oval shaped , all are pretty cool in my book . I dunno is I'll ever use them tho' , next time I find them I'll prolly post up here for comments and sales offers . I have a couple different sets of them .
Welcome aboard Steve! It took me awhile, but I finally found a good picture of some original directional signals. Note the arrow in the lenses. Looks like a nice project. Looking forward to hearing the adventures! Ken
Steve, I'm glad you intend to use that bumper. Its pretty unique and well done, I did'nt think that it had much to fix from the pictures. Stay with it for my 2 cents worth! Flashlight
Almost the same I have pretty much the same at the back of my 55 1st, this is the best photo I can easily find of it. You can't see too well from the photo, but the vertical bar between the bumper and the bottom of the tailgate (black line behind the number plate) is not centred. It's short on the left and sticks out on the right. I can't figure out if it's designed that way for some bizarre reason or they just got it wrong when welding it up. I've seen a number of photos of these over the years and, as Nate says, I hear they were dealer fits. So each one is slightly different, but does the job. Being in England there are set of regular questions I always get from people who see the truck for the first time ... where did you get it, what's the mpg, etc., and always something about the back bumper. I just say it's part of the crumple zone (anyone rearends me they get to crumple).
And here I though that my bumper was intimidating. That's one serious piece of metal that you have there!
Great looking truck! And a great looking bumper as well. When Chevy came up with the ADs they reached perfection, and stopped trying afterward. I'll have to remember that "crumple zone" comment.
