Kansas guy saying hello and with a new project

Hello to all. New to the forum as I have finally found a great 53 for my first classic project. Its all original except the wheels, rear bumper and right rear fender. Went to look at it and the ole girl fires right up and drove it like its 1953 all over again ha. It has zero rust to repair but a few dings and small dents. Was kept in a barn in salina ks on a farm from 1953 to 2000 then in the second owners garage since then. Not sure what to do with it at this point. Restore and rebuild engine and put back to as close to original as possible, or just do a little work, and clear coat it and use it as my fishing truck. I'll try to figure out how to attach a few pics here so you can give me a few ideas as I have near zero experience with the trucks. Jeff in SEKS close to Pittsburg, KS.

 

Welcome Aboard Jeff, Enjoy the ride while here. Great looking truck thanks for the photos.
Kind of reminds me of mine.

 

Yes it sure does. It appears mine was primed with red primer maybe 30 or 35 years ago.. Looks like mine was built in KC and was a sky blue sorta color as the firewall is still that blue and its under the red primer.

 

My advice would be to NOT pull the engine and rebuild it. A common swap back in the day was to replace the 216 with a 235. If that was done you are lucky. Those 235's will run forever. They may smoke a little (my '57 does), but it runs out just fine and is very enjoyable. I like your truck. You should drive it for a while before you decide what you want to do with it. The first things you may want to think about as you drive it will be to change the gearing in the rear end so it can go over 50 MPH without the engine screaming. Next, you may want to upgrade the front brakes to disc. You will find those two upgrades to add much enjoyment to the truck and they do not involve tearing the whole truck apart with the possibility of it becoming a seemingly insurmountable task to put it back together again. If that happens, your truck could languish in pieces for years and never come back together.

Enjoy it as your fishing truck for now as you figure it out.

Andy

 

Jeff

The Ottawa car show is this coming weekend. It's in Ottawa kansas just south of KC down 35 hwy. It's a large show and will have anything from shiny stock to rat rod to full custom in our old trucks. Great place to get ideas and talk to people. Saturday is the main day. Bring your walking shoes. Maybe I'll see you there.

Papy

 

Awesome awesome truck! Best advice is above to just get it driving safely and reliably and just drive it. With such a solid running truck don't tear it apart just drive it and enjoy while you figure out what to do.

But hey it is your truck after all, if you want to tear it down by all means do it.
Zig is just down south of you a bit, there are several of us up in KC area as well. Remember there is Jim Carters up here, Classic parts our host, and LMC. Plus the Royals and Oklahoma Joes BBQ

 

Andy, Papy and Wolf,

Thank you for the replies, and I think I will do just that, just drive it for awhile and possibly replace that rear end is a great idea. The brakes are pretty darn scary at this point. I was thinking I would first try to bleed the brakes to see if that helps but likely will need a brake job all around and disc on the front would be sweet. Wolf, the darn Royals are struggling, so I hope they figure it out before the playoffs. I play golf with the guy that started OK Joes BBQ so needless to say I love it. Good dude too. Always rated some of the very best in the nation.

Papy, what part of Ottawa is the show in this Sat? I might just head that way unless something comes up down here unexpectedly.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Hummm. This is a little different then this morning.
The car show is at the park. Lots of trees and shade. Get off at 68 hwy turn west and keep driving until you get to the park. It is very well naked and town is small. It's worth going to.

Papy

 

Well corrective text got me . Substitute marked for naked and we'll get back to the g rating
Sorry about that

Papy

 

I understand. I hate my iphone for the auto correct stuff. I hope to make it. Sounds like a great show and place for me to get a lot of ideas.

 

Well forget that then~ If it was naked, I'd be there however.
Welcome to the forum, Jeff! Your truck looks great! Fishing is mighty fine down here in SEK due to all these old pits around here! I have me a boat also, but only had it on the water TWICE this year!!! (Spent too much of the summer trying to get my old truck rolling again, but it was worth it.)
If you come to Pittsburg on the weekend, give me a holler! I'm busy this time of year with teaching, but I have a little relaxing time on the weekends.

 

Zig, yes you are right. I live right across a pasture from about 5 miles of strip pits and I've fished in these since I was about 5 years old. They are just fantastic to say the least. I've caught 4 bass over 5 lbs each in the last 2 months.

 

Nice fish! I have no doubt the state record lives in these waters. When things calm down (retirement?) I plan on putting forth a better effort to find the bigger fish. It sounds like you have a nice setup for your fishing needs!
Keep the pictures coming, and good luck with that truck of yours!

 

The problem with the truck is this: I'm a woodworker, not a metal or mechanic type. I love re-modeling homes etc. but this is new for me. My father was so good at car stuff, he found junk and restored them to a pristine state like an old 65 mustang that became my first car etc. But he died young therefore I didnt' learn much from him how to do that stuff. What bothers me the most about mechanic, car work is the limited space to work. For instance, I need to replace the speedometer cable and needle on my truck, and it appears as the gauge has to be taken out from the back, therefore laying down on the floorboard and trying to work up in a tiny space. The gauges do come out from the backside correct? This will be a very long learning curve for me, but I'm not an idiot so i'll be able to figure most of it out. ha

 

Yes, the gauges come out the back. Four 3/8's(?) nuts on studs on each of the gauge assemblies.

Tim

 

Ok thank you for the info Tim. While we are at it there is one part I have not seen for sale and that is the odometer. Mine is super faded and basically can't read the miles on it. I don't think I've seen a replacement odometer on any of the parts stores including our host's.

 

Jeff, I believe if you get the new face plate decals that they come with numbers that apply to the odometer. It's been a long time since I redid mine, but I get to redo it again as the wrapping on one of the odometer wheels came loose and has stopped my speedometer from working.

 

oh wow, no kidding,,, I've seen the face place decals but didn't pay that much attention to see if the odometer numbers were part of it. I'll check it out.

 

I have a used set of GMC instrument face decals that I didn't use the odometer decals. Yours for free if you want them. I have 6 columns of black numbers on white background.