The very first truck I built some 35 years ago was owned by the same person all those years and became like family. It's a 51 GMC body mounted onto a 74 Sedan Deville Cadillac chassis. Absolutely the smoothest riding and most effortless driving AD my butts ever graced the seat of. Must have been right because it wore out the original 472 engine at 200 thousand miles and was into a brand new 500 engine for about five thousand miles. Will fire the engine off tomorrow but I'm pretty sure the chassis and running gear are okay. For anyone thinking about a frame swap on an AD it's been tried and proven. It DOES NOT get wonderful fuel economy (13mpg) but will smoke the tires at 50mph in high gear and has the torque to pull the world off it's axis. After and before pics.
Metamorphosis You did a fantastic job here , there are no words fore it . The owner must have been very very pleased with the results. I `d think i would have given up on my truck after it got on fire and totally burned up! Insuirance money wont cover this kinda loss so i`ll gues it cost him some bucks but what the heck if you love Your vehicle Thanks fore sharing Martinius.
Re Powering Back in the 1960's & 10790's , when our beloved AD's were just $35 old trucks, Caddy power was very common indeed . And why not ? vastly more power and reliability that the (yawn) SBC engine and gasoline was only .27 CENTS the gallon back then .
Martinius, Sadly the blue photos are the before pictures and the truck burned a week ago. The owner also had a Model T with a rare 406 three carb Ford engine, a Harley Fat Boy and a 1946 Harley that were burned up also. A large building with tools and machines of every description all gone. He started the vehicles once a week to run up to temperature and charge the batteries. He was outside weed eating while they were running and saw the smoke coming from the open back doors. Tried with fire extinguishers he had but the dense smoke drove him out. Since he's now retired he had dropped the insurance on the building and vehicles so it's a total loss. He had everything on a joint policy which was too expensive for a retired person but was in the process of getting antique insurance on the just three older vehicles. Too late and so sad.
'46 Harley That T Bucket doesn't look too bad . I want to see the Harley ~ was it a PanHead or what ? . Vehicle fires suck .
Wow Evan, what a bad deal all around. I guess maybe we can all learn from this and not leave a vehicle run unattended .... Really? Got any facts to support this other than opinion? The sbc is used so much (yawn) because it is the most economical $ to HP power plant available. Why is this a bad thing? If you like something "off the wall" get a loan, buy a vintage Allison V-12 and then shoehorn it into your truck....... Otherwise stop bashing the SBC. Rant over.....
! Guilty ! As the Wold Beating Small Block Chevrolet V-8 engine is a great mill . It's just that it's like a Camaro (yawn) : everyone has one , sort of like your bellybutton .
The caddy only weighs about 50lbs more than the 350, has LOADS of torque and great horsepower. There are quite a few parts available for the caddy, though not as much as the 350.
Very sad indeed. Ok i mis-understood the situation. Do you plan on restoring the truck and the other vehicles or does the owner have other plans ..... ? Martinius.
