Here's a few old pictures of the truck... taken on film, remember those days?
When I bought my truck, there was no internet, and only 3 or 4 mail order catalogs for reproduction stuff. Everything came from crawling through junk yards. Now, you can buy the entire truck in parts over the web...
This pic was taken in '82, half way through rubbing out the old paint to try and get it to shine. Took me a week doing it by hand... Still had the Farmer mirrors.
In the mid 80's, I re-did the interior which was a mess. It had about 5 layers of rattle can black paint with runs everywhere, and the radio hole had been cut out with a hacksaw to fit an 8 track deck the size of a large shoe box. I patched in a new section of dash, repainted everything silver, replaced all the rubber and headliner, refaced the gauges, and reupholstered the seat.
Taken in late 80's on Moscow Mountain, Idaho when I was at the U of I. The truck still has the same old plywood in the bed...
I used to drive the truck from home to school, which took about 14 hours one way at 48 mph on the stock drivetrain... And I loved it.
I put a '91 350 from a suburban in the truck in '91 when I graduated from College. My brother worked at a GM dealer at the time, and the engine was warranteed for breaking flex plates. After GM decided not to take it back, I got it free. It had 20k miles on it, I've put about 40k on it since. It has an Edlebrock Performer series intake, cam, and carb. Mated to a TH350 with a Lokar shifter and a '74 Pontiac Ventura 10 bolt rear end with 3:71 gears.
I did a disc brake kit on the old solid axle setup for stopping power, with a dual master cylinder mounted under the floor in the stock location and a remote power booster mounted under the floor too.
In '93 I got tired of messing with various steering setups for the stock front axle (stock steering box offset for motor clearance, saginaw power steering box, etc), and installed a Mustang II front crossmemeber from Heidt's with stock mustang parts from a junkyard. I ran out of money at the time, so I did a manual rack, which I've never been too happy with. The next upgrade will be putting power steering back on.
I miss the old truck stance, but it drives like a race car now. It used to feel like it would tip over in a corner with the old leaf spring suspension, now it blaze through the corners with ease.
I put new wheels and tires on it in '99, 16" American Racing Torque Thrust II's. Since then, I haven't done a thing to it, other than drive it on a regular basis. This is how it looks now, still wearing the same old paint that was 15 or so years old when I bought the truck (or what is left of it...)
It is due for another total makeover... It is pretty straight other than the passenger front fender which is the wrong shape and has 40lbs of bondo on it, and the dent in the rear fender (that my dad put there the day we bought it...LOL). There isn't any paint left on the roof, and it's pretty thin everywhere else.
For the last 13 years or so, I've been side tracked on other projects. I restored a '50 Plymouth (
http://www.50plymouth.com) to use as a family cruiser, and lately have been consumed with Willys station wagons. I started
http://www.oldwillysforum.com in 2009 just before I bought a '60 wagon, and now am building another '51 wagon for my oldest son. The truck is patiently waiting its turn for a face lift. Maybe my youngest son will want to take it on in a few years... In the mean time, it will remain my faithful parts chaser.
Here's another clip taken the other day, 0-90 just for grins-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ewVpqCYC0
Pete
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