Okay, I have to admit something here and get it off my chest. My truck is awesome. I bought tons of new parts and paid one of the best to do the body work and paint. I have enjoyed working on it now that it is about 98% complete and I will enjoy the 2% that is left. Now for the confession. I am disappointed because after all the money and time to get it perfect, I will not be able to enjoy it more than a few weekends in the summer and a few shows. Most of the time it will sit in the garage. If I had it to do over. First, I would find one that is in pretty good shape body wise to start with. I would go through the mechanics and make sure that I followed all of the great advice (mostly from Nate) on how to tune and make sure everything is safe. I would fix up the interior and do a little sound proofing so that I could here my music. I would put on some really nice wheels and tall tires. Make sure the bed is solid. Drive whenever I wanted and enjoy the heck out of it. Any thoughts? GAter
Get to crackin'! All I can say is, "rattle rattle"... I just painted the driver's side inner fender. black at the front (where it is behind the grill) and white with clear coat inside the engine compartment. Of course, it looks great! Did I worry about where someone attacked it by the radiator with a hammer? Did I put a skim coat of bondo over the press wrinkles? Heck no- I DID get 'er all the way down to bright, shiny metal before etch priming and then several coats of paint that laid out soooo smooth. I hear you though, G. You're truck looks awesome though. I'm sure I'll never be able to get away from having to build "something", so I know I'll be hauling stuff with mine. Bang up the bed a little? I can already see it happening. Who cares? As long as there are rattle cans, I can touch it up for the show on Sunday! (I'm seriously thinking of using that waffle stamped metal like they make truck boxes out of to do my bed with. I think it's aluminum?)
Zig, If I had had a GMC I wouldn't have fixed it up near as nice. Why bother? Had you goin' for a second didn't I? I think it is great that you are doin' your thing with your truck. That is what it is all about. I am just opening up a dialog to get some who haven't gotten started yet to give some serious thought to the desired end use before starting. These trucks are soooo cool that it is easy to get carried away. At least it was for me. Of course, I can take pride in saving an AD and, since it is a 3800 PU, I saved one that most folks don't. There are as many different ways to do one of these jewels as there are of us to do them. Gater
In a couple of years I finished Thunder in 2003. Undercoated the fenderwells, bed linered the running boards and bed sides, varnished bed wood, and had the paint and body work done at the best body shop in town. The truck is durable enough to take camping, hunting, or haul watermelons. The paint looks great, i have way too much money in it, but I resurrected this old truck myself, from a farm field in the Texas Panhandle. Thunder is a real blast to drive, Nate calls him a "hobby truck". I have used it rather sparingly because on the Gulf Coast you have to keep old iron out of rain, or you can't keep it. The paint is nearing 5 years old, has a few flaws you only have to look at when some goof ball at a show points it out to his buddy. these guys are driving toyotas, never learned to do anything but filler up and drive. I have some regrets about my investment, but only the way i made decisions the first time. if I ever do this again, i will have the great advisors on this site to guide me. But everybody likes Thunder and he makes people smile, especially old people. Kids hang out of their cars to photo him at red lights and little kids point at him. Drive and show your AD. People need to know what real trucks look like. The only thing that really matters is that I really like my AD, and I really like something about most every old truck and car i see. I have mine. You guys take good care of yours. Jim
I am new at this truck rebuilding but I am totally in love with my 1950 3100 Panel. It has a long way to go and in the meanwhile, I am learning to rebuild the brakes, gonna rewire to 12 volt and get those pesky bearings fixed. I spent a lot of time dreaming about what it would look like painted and totally redone. Now, paint is last in the list. Just wanna get it going good, safe stopping and looking decent, not perfect. Go to the beach and go surfing on Lake Michigan. Sand on the floor? Dust on the hood? I really want this panel to be user friendly. You can ask me the same question years from now after I have put as much time and money into mine as you have. Probably be a different slant by then. But gonna cruise and enjoy it as I fix it up. But yours sure looks good. Nice job. Go get another 1/2 done truck and throw junk and dogs in the back! Brian
You know Gater I put a lot of thought into this too. As everyone knows mine is gonna be a trailor queen, but you know that's the way I want to build it. I was actually in a conversation earlier today about another guy at work spending a bunch of money into something that he probably won't ever use. I just told the guy that I plan on sinking probably minimum $20-$25k in my truck and it will spend most of it's time in the garage. I know that sounds kinda stupid but it's all worth it to me when I get to take it to the shows and hopefully be on the cover of custom classic trucks magazine. Now my next project will be a muscle car (70 camaro) and it will be built more for driving, so I guess then I'll have two toys to play with. Gater just enjoy your truck for how you designed it.
I must admit that I do have my eye on a sweet old original flat bed 3/4 ton. I recon I could stand to downsize a little. I could keep my 3800 for a Sunday truck and the flat bed for the real work. Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I will keep you posted. Gater
They're Made To Be Used... Of course these days I no longer load it by throwing old cylinder heads in the bed from 10' away .... When I had my 1931 brand 'F' Model 'A' pickup , the bed was cherry (it was a DeLuxe , older restoration) so I got one of those store mats with fabric glued onto it and laid it in the bad from side to side so it protected the sides well, when I drove it to the meets with a load of scrap metal in it , the guys would groan out load I think it's possible to have a really nice truck and still work it , you've gotta take the time to be gentle with it but still and all....... If I but had the $ , I'd have the restorer on this very list , break it all the way down and de-rust it , rebuild everything , weld up the broken welds in my bed , replace the bed wood with southern hard pine , prolly soak that with Tong Oil so it'd last , I'd cheerfully dump The BIG $ of a total restoration into it but not take out the dents in the bed etc. . just get it all back to no rust and really good paint on it then put it right back to work again.... You said ideas so that's mine . Trailer queens are O.K. too I guess , me I think life's far too short for me to waste a minute of it driving a new truck (or car) .
Gater! Thanks, Nate~ I needed that. That reminded me of when I had my 64 parked in our drive. I was redoing our attic throwing old s%$# out that I wouldn't need. There went a busted 8' 2X4. BANG! Right off the top of the cab! (nice dent) That dent reminded me of that hot friggin' day for years to come. Dents are sort of like a photo album, ...if they're yours... Gater! Get the 3/4! If you want it to drive "daily" down the road, I'll be your wing man. I already know you can swap the front end~ (do so) I'll let you know about the back end when I've gone that far. $$$$s??? I'm low buckin' it for two reasons. 1st~ I teach.... 2nd~ my daughter... I want to make sure she can go to college. Okay! THREE reasons! I love doing this stuff myself! (with a little help from my friends...) My rattle cans may not match the fab finish of a paint booth~ that's OK! I don't HAVE a garage! Just a nice shady tree or two. Then again? I've spent more time in my truck (with the moon shining bright) looking out over the hood and down across that fender... Mine might as WELL be a trailer queen! Get the 3/4 G. You wanna know what a badass flatbed can look like? Check Flippers. What a truck to have! You could put a pallet of concrete blocks on that, clean out your house, put a picnic table on it and go camping, OR roll into a camp ground with some musician buddies and start kickin' out some jambs! (Not to mention what a great platform that would be to watch the local 4th of July fireworks display from...) My truck might be a flatbed yet!
Phew, at first I thought this would be a flaming thread about trailer queens, thank goodness that hasn't happened. Different strokes for different folks I say... For me on this go'round it's all about putting the truck through alot of good daily use. Yes, I'm spending my coin on IFS, EFI, and a few other items, but those are items I want to tackle and feel they will benefit my plan. The original thought was to keep the inline 6 and just restore the truck with that, but the street rod has kind of bitten me so I'm going down that path now. I may end up putting lots of money in the truck, or it might turn out fairly cheap in the end. Too early to tell. But bottom line is it's being built with the idea of replacing my late model VW. Yeah, there will be some sort of newer car in my future, but that will be the garage queen. The truck will be put to use, be it driving to work in the rain, or hauling garbage to the dump. I'm shooting for 25+ MPG and the ability to drive it when it's below freezing out. I don't think that's too much to ask. And with only a few one-off parts (the rest is factory GM stuff) I think it's doable. I've already built one car (69 Caprice) that's really of no practical use except enjoyment. Yeah, it could be driven every day, but I enjoy the fact that it's a real work in progress. It'll never be finished, but I keep it in the condition where I can hop in and go at (almost) a moments notice. It's just too much work to drive every day and keep from rusting, or keep it detailed, or keep the engine in tune. But boy is it great stress relief to take it to the drag strip! The truck to me is a simpler vehicle, which I think adds to it rather than takes away. You can buy any part new, and they are mostly good parts. Try that with an oddball car from the 60s. 1 fender on my Caprice brings big $$ and no reproductions in sight. I always thought those fiberglass bodied 34 Ford coupes would be neat to drive all the time. If the prices weren't so high that would be too much fun. A car that won't rust, timeless lines, and just about any part you could get at your FLAPS (since none of it would be 34 Ford stuff). And if you could put it together for less than a new car it would be awesome! I'll stop rambling now...
What ? Does this mean doing carpentry in the park ? oh wait , I know ! it means you're covering old ' DOORS ' tunes , right ? -Nate
I would like to agree with gater. i bought of epay to get a driver, now i am in full tear down and refurbish. the help from freinds have had tear earything apart, saying it should be done, done right!now shopping for engine (not in budget) doing extencive body work,my buddy works at gm dealer doby shop, and is very fussy.verything is going to be new or rebuilt, have way, way to much money into and be afraid to drive it anywhere.i wanted something i could drive to work, leave in parking lot all day and not worrry about it, not own a show truck,just nice.i feel i should be building it a new home (shed) to sit in, after everything else that in going into it!
Nate, I get it, "jambs" instead of "jams"!!!! GMCMan, Are you too far along to bail? One of the reasons that I went all out with mine was that, through the years of thinking that I was building a garbage hauler I had used farm implement primer and was planning to use Massey Ferguson red farm implement paint. Even though the fenders and things that had been primed were always kept inside, a little sanding to metal showed that rust had started under the primer. So, I figured it would be a total waste to paint over that. That coupled with the guy that I chose to paint, he has one way of painting, perfection, had me making a silk purse out of a sows ear. I guess I could have bailed before he started and had a rust bucket but I wanted more. Don't get me wrong, I love my truck. In one of my early posts I asked if $13K was too much for total body work and paint. I now know that, given what some have paid, it ain't out of the ballpark. But one of the responses to that was from our sage Nate. He said something like, "Buy one that has already been done for a lot less than that and drive it." In other words, typical Nate cut to the chase. Anyway, I am glad that this thread has generated some discussion about what we can do with our trucks so that we can enjoy them ASAP. Now if I can get that widder woman to part with that 3/4 ton flatbed.... Gater
Glad Someone Caught It ! As far as engine , they're prolly the very cheapest part of any old vehicle , just go get someone else's takeout , they're usually under $500.00 no matter what you want . A buddy of mine bought a LT-1 with all the F.I. and looms for $800.00 to put in his 196? truck , junk to me and the guy who sold it to him ya see ... So what if you get upside down in an old truck ? as long as you're having fun with it , that's fine , you cannot take it ($) with you when you die . I just hate seeing all the dissapointed folks who never do get to enjoy thier old trucks...
What is that statistic that you use, Nate? Is it 80% of projects don't get done once someone tears them done? There is evidence of that on ePay every day. If you have a project that is in pieces you should at least hang it all back together so you can move it under its own power. What if you've taken it apart but haven't ground it to metal yet? Can you put it back together and clear coat it? Alls I am saying is that the likelihood of resurrecting your truck goes way up if you can drive it. The urge to work on it every weekend is strong cause you can find a million weekend projects on one of these. There is always some progress on a rolling project. If all you do is move the fenders from one side of the garage to the other every six months so you can sweep under them you will eventually give up and sell it on ePay. Can I get an Amen? Gater
To me guys it's not the final destination that I'm so excited about with mine, it's the journey along the way. I'm getting to build MY truck MYSELF instead of buying one that someone else built. I know what is going into my truck instead of what someone tells me is in it, plus all the countless hours of learning from my dad on how to fabricate. Plus I'm getting to teach him a thing or two about air suspension. Thats worth it to me just to teach the old man something.. So that's really my love of the old truck, not just driving it, but getting to breathe life back into it.
Excellent point, Kevin, Look at what Chiro is doing with his kids and their truck. My son and I shared some on mine and have gone to shows together this summer. I would do anything to share time with my kids. For instance, I can't think of a bigger waste of time and acreage than golf. However, if my son or daughter took up golf I would be the first one to hit the links with them. And these old trucks are so much better than golf it ain't even funny! Gater
So Gater, are you the proud owner of a 3/4 flatbed? This is the best advise I'll _ever_ give you. GO GET IT!!!
Zig, I have been courting this deal since I found out that the truck was in a barn nearby. I use to buy parts off this old gentleman's parts trucks and would spend more time than needed with him to talk because he was living alone and loved to talk about anything. I hadn't been there in a while and when I wnet back found that he had passed away. His daughter told me that she planned to sell the trucks this Spring but hasn't yet that I know of. I sent her pics of my finished truck with my son and myself standing proudly beside it and I followed up with snail mail volunteering to help get the trucks ready for sale and reminding her that I am still interesed in the 3/4 ton. Short of a midnight requisition I don't know what else to do but wait for the call. I am watching for others as well but they are very scarce around here. Wish me luck. Gater
