I have been reading this forum for about a year and finally decided to chime in. I bought a 54 pickup last March. I have loved this style of truck since I was a kid but found them hard to come by at what I considered a fair price. Until now.This ol girl had three previous owners and has always been under cover. I would call it an unmolested 95% original. It has the 6 volt electrical system and runs and drives great. This forum is great and I will continue to use it. I may have some questions that may sound dumb but I will appreciate the help. My previous "restoration" experience was on a Model A. Pickup. A lot of fun and a lot of frustration but overall good learning experience.
Glad to have you chime in. My truck is 95% restored and it doesn't look that good. What a great find. Nothing like those trucks from the arid climates. Flashlight
holy crap that is nice! I found mine in decent shape too. Since I am new to this scene I have been looking more and more at what some/most people start with and I could not fathom the work involved! I saw one that was sitting outside for so long there was a tree growing through the hood and the "after" pic was a cover piece! Amazing to me.
Howdy Neighbor! Nice truck JW54! Beautiful additon to our neck of the woods. You wouldn't happen to live in Cole's Crossing, would you? Ken
Welcome JW. If you don't have anything special going on Saturday night consider attending the last old car show of the year in the Krogers parking lot at the corner of Spring-Cypress and Champion Forest. Should be 400-500 pre 1980 cars and trucks.
wow nice looking truck!!! thanks for the pics, and welcome. There are never any dumb questions, except the ones you don't ask
Welcome, JW! Man, what a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l ride!!! I love the color! That's about the same color as my '64 was painted. Welcome aboard!
WOW! What a nice truck. Thanks for the pictures. I bet you did not pay to much!? Replacement parts & blood come at a high price, unless you dont mind busted knuckels.
Welcome ! You have a very nice truck there . '54s are a one-year-only typ of deal , some parts are really hard to find and expen$ive , several other '54 owners / experts here so don't hesitate to ask any question . I'd go _to-morrow_ and buy a NAPA/WIX # 3001 visible fuel filter before that old G2 one gets clogged and strands you . carry a spare in the glovebox at all times as we don't get good gas like when your truck was new .
The Basics Warm it up and change the oil & filter , adjust the valves , set the dwell to 33° then the timing to ball on pointer , drain and refill the gearbox and rear end , top up the oil (NEVER grease !) in the steering box , grease all the Zerk fittings in the entire truck with the wheels off the ground , wait for the cool morning and adjust the brakes & air up all 5 tires then go drive the snot out of it ! . you'll be very happy . There's lots of Tune Up info in the older posts , the tune up is the same for all older InLine 6 Bangers . (' any suggestions ' huh ? I should said sell it to ME cheap ! )
Sea Foam Green What a great example of original paint on your 54! Very few folks left their old sea foam green trucks that color when they repainted them over the years. The 54 I had in high school and my current 54 were both orginally that color. Great looking truck. Bring to Port Arthur, I may try to talk you out of it. Jim
Jim, After further inspection,ie. the fire wall ,this truck has been repainted once. The original color is Ocean Green I think. The truck needs to be painted again. From a distance it looks good but lots of imperfections up close. I'm still trying to decide on stripping down and having it painted or just sanding it smooth and having it re-sprayed. I stripped down the inside of the cab and painted it myself with Acrylic Urethane. It came out real good but I'm not sure if I want to attempt the outside. My other option is don't mess with it and just drive it. Jerry
Decent Paint Compound it then wax it to seal it and drive & enjoy it , this way you'll save time and $ and be enjoying it rather than waiting two years for the re-paint to be finished then fretting about every time it gets dusty.... It's a TRUCK , remember that .
When it is repainted you wont want to use it as a truck because every time you let the tailgate down it will chip the paint a little. The same for slamming the hood shut. A repaint cost blood sweat & tears. After it is painted you get more blood sweat & tears.
