New to the forum and thought I'd say hello- I bought my '53 Chevy 3100 in 1981 when I was 14, with lawn mowing money. I have managed to hang on to it all these years, and still love every mile behind the wheel. The truck had been sitting in a farmer's field for a number of years before I bought it. My dad and I got it running, re-did the brakes, and replaced some missing glass. I drove the truck stock for ten years, through high school and college. In '91 I did a 350/TH350 drivetrain swap. Drove it with the stock suspension as a dailey driver while living in Seattle, Wa for a few more years, and then in '93 did a MII front end. I haven't done a thing to it since, other than change the oil. Here's a video I shot last week for fun- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGzkGhiflP4 Enjoy! Pete
Welcome aboard enjoy the ride while here, great looking truck and thanks for sharing the video. Charles
Outstanding! Thanks for the ride! I love videos like this~ It's as close to the real thing that I'll get for a few more years, at the rate I'm going. Welcome aboard!
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
Tried to post earlier this morning, with a bunch of pics... When I hit the submit button, I got a message about needing moderator approval... Couldn't really tell if the post went to a moderator or off into space. Do posts with linked pictures hosted offline have to have approval before they post? Pete
Pete~ I've had the same thing happen before. I think that if you take too long to post, it kicks you off. Kinda bites. Please keep trying. The video rocked!
Damn, spent a long time on the missing post... I'll try again when I have more time. Here's another short clip for grins- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ewVpqCYC0 If you watch it full screen, you can see the speed on the gps... Pete
I use photobucket.com for my pic.s. Just copy the img. line and paste here, you get full size pictures.
Hosting the pics is no problem, I have them on my oldwillysforum server. But for some reason, when I tried to post a bunch of them, the post went into space... I'll do it again.
Ok, I'll try this again... Some old pics taken on FILM... This pic was taken in the summer of '82, not long after I bought the truck in September of '81. I hand rubbed the paint to get a shine... took me a week. It had been sitting neglected in a field about 40 miles from home for a number of years before I bought it. I'll never forget the guy we bought it from, he was the deputy Sherrif, and his name was Orville Balzer. He threw a battery in it, it coughed to life, and we drove it home with no brakes on one side and no glass in the drivers door. My dad let me drive it about half of the way home, and I had never been so proud in my life... In the mid 80's, I restored the interior of the truck, which was a big mess. It had about 10 layers of rattle can spray paint with runs everywhere. The middle of the dash had been cut out with a hacksaw to fit an 8-track deck that was the size of a large shoe box. I cut the dash out of another cab I found in the desert, and fit it into mine. Had it painted, replaced all the rubber, headliner, and glass. Redid the gauge faces and put in a deluxe heater. I drove the truck in it's stock form for ten years through High School and College. I used to drive the truck back and forth from home to college, which took about 14 hours up through the middle of Idaho at top speed (47mph)... I loved those drives, actually seeing the countryside as it slowly went by. This pic was taken on Moscow Mountain when I was attending the U of I. The truck still has the same old plywood in the bed... When I graduated from College in '91, I did a drivetrain swap, with a '91 350 that had 20k on it and TH350, Lokar shifter, and '74 Pontiac Ventura 10 bolt rear end. The 350 has an Edlebrock Performer Series intake, cam, and carb. I've put about 40k on it since then. I drove it this way for a few more years with a number of different steering setups on the solid axle, but got tired of the lousy handling and never quite right steering "kits". In '93 I did a Heidt's Mustang II front end. I ran out of money at the time, so I did a manual rack for the steering, something I still don't like... A power rack will be the first thing on the list when it comes time to start upgrades again. In '99 I put on new wheels and tires, 16" American Racing Torque Thrust II's. Since then, I haven't done a thing to the truck other than change the oil... and drive the wheels off of it. The truck is still wearing the same old paint that was about 15 years old when I bought it. There's no paint left on the roof, and it's pretty thin everywhere else. I've been joking since I bought the truck that I'd paint it after my kids graduate from College, and that's slowly becoming less of a joke- It's pretty straight other than the dent in the rear fender that my dad put there the day we brought it home, and the passenger front fender that has 100lbs of bondo under the old paint. I've gotten side tracked with other projects for the last 13 years... I restored a '50 Plymouth (www.50plymouth.com) and sold that for a '60 Willys Wagon. I started www.oldwillysforum.com in '09, and have been deep into Willys since. My son is now building a '51 Willys Wagon for his first car, hoping to have it road worthy when he gets his driver's license. My younger son has his eyes on the truck... In the mean time, it is my faithful parts chaser and weekend hauler. My ol pick-em-up has been a constant companion for 31 years, and I still love every mile behind the wheel. Pete
Welcome pete ! THANK YOU for the video ~ I recently had to sell my '49 , my injuries preclude clutches so now I have an old Chevy with slushbox . I still run an L6 engone of course . The video looks like where I love to drive my old truck , The world famous Angeles Crest Highway , Ca. Rt. 2 , very pretty .
These clips were shot in Idaho... Nothing wrong with a six... It's one of the things I miss about my truck. The engine transplant gave it a completely different personality. When I rebuilt my Plymouth, I didn't want to lose that so I did the old flahead six with a bunch of 50's hop up stuff. Had a ball with that little engine, and it always had a crowd of lookers under the hood... I never even open the hood on my truck- Pete
SWEET , Pete ! As much as I like the older WPC Products , FleatHeads just don't make good Road Cars for my typ of driving . I always loved those Business Coupes with the " Bustle Back " trunk , and in time I hope to peruse your build link . Two years ago I passed on a near pristine '49 Plymouth Coupe with baby blue paint , working radio & heater , I don't think it had the most excellent ' Gyro - Matic ' 4 speed tranny but it was really sweet , I'da given it a try but I don't have $12K lying 'round to play with sad to say . Me , I'm a Journeyman Mechanic who was raised up a (damn) Yankee Farm Boy so not only will I be a Bowtie Guy 'till I die but , every one will have an L6 engine .
I never dreamed that I'd own an old Plymouth... it happened to show up on a local dealer lot one day, and sat there forlorn for months. I drove by it daily, and it kept calling... I resisted because the 4-door '50 Plymouth is the homliest car ever designed... I finally offered less than half of the asking price, and it was mine. The more I drove it around, the more it grew on me. At first, I thought I'd run the old flathead till it died, then toss the boat anchor and then drop in a GM350. But over time I grew to like it, it had lots of character. After I rebuilt it, and added an overdrive, I drove it all over the country. The longest trip was 3300 miles from Idaho to Oklahoma, cruising all day long at 75mph. When I sold it, the buyer flew in from Texas and drove it home. You'd be surprised how drivable it was for every day driving. Here's a clip of the flathead in action the day after I got the exhaust installed. Zero miles on the rebuild, you can see the rings hadn't seated yet... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMukzqkY0Z8 If I had to do my truck all over again I'd keep the six and build a kick ass 292... My neighbor races a '49 Chevy 3100 on the salt, and holds three or four records with it in different classes for inline engines. Pretty cool to watch and hear him blast down the salt. The last time I watched him run he set a record at 142.9mph, but I think he's over 150 now. Pete
