Building a clone of grandpa's service truck

Martinus,

I totally agree with you and would love to have the hand painted signs on top of the clear coat. My only hesitation with doing it that way is:

1. If it's damaged, how easy is it to fix?
2. If the damage occurs years down the road, will the original artist be around to fix it?

That's why, for now, I'm thinking I'll go with the grapics under a few layers of clear coat. But I can always change my mind!

Damon

 

Then ;

Have the sign painter do the graphics by hand then clear coat it....

In reality , a true Shop Truck will always have scratches & dings , no need to re - do the graphics as they add character and look more original this way .

Your dime , do it how you please .

 

Maybe this inspires you ?

Hey Damon

If there is a graphicshop in your town that does the hand lettering or airbrushing work you could ask them your questions about performance and durabillety?
By the way there are a lot of demonstration videos on YOUTUBE showing the different technics ! I am looking foreward to see the final result you come up with.

Maybe this inspires you to go for the old school way


http://www.pbase.com/czechman/door_art

 

Nate and Martinus,

I think it would be very cool to be able to see the brush strokes left by the artist. Do you think clearing over the top of the brushed letters would take away from seeing that affect?

I stumbled upon that link a couple months ago... what a treasure trove of door art!! It certainly does serve as inspiration.

I'm going to do as much of the work on this truck as I can. That said, I'm toying around with the idea of hand painting the letters on myself, or as I mentioned earlier, having a graphics shop make the stencils for me and airbrushing it myself. I took a gold leafing class after I got into the antique fire truck hobby... that's an art, too! I think I could learn both (and have plenty of time to practice before I'm ready for the Sinclair graphics on the truck), so maybe I'll be able to contribute the graphics on my own eventually.

Thanks again for all of the comments!

Damon

 

Link

I`ll agree with you here. Doing the work yourself and getting good results is very inspiring. I would love to see some of the firetruck work you have been doing before aswell. There are very many well kept vintage
firetrucks in the US. Like these from nearby Salem Oregon at 4.th of july parade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpySEwRPc40&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aorkCP3QXFc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

 

Fire Trucks

Back on The Farm in New Hampshire , (about 1967) , we had an old 1929 Pumper / Hose Rig , it was of course , a CHEVROLET and we kept it in the barn & ran it out in spring & end of summer down to the lake and ran the pumps to make sure it was in good working order .

It wasn't restored , not even re painted , just another old Farm Truck in VGC.

I wonder what ever happened to it ? .

 

Check out www.pinheadlounge.com to find a pinstriper/signpainter in your area. Call them about doing the art.

 

I really don't like putting the fire truck on the back burner, but didn't have much of a choice. I learned very quickly that parts for a 1950 Chevy truck are readily available, as opposed to parts for a 1948 American LaFrance fire truck. Great photos, stories, and videos of the fire trucks. I try to attend a couple antique fire truck events every summer. They're always a blast.

I'm still on the hunt for (4) four leaf spring mounts... the parts that rivet to the frame. I will replace the shackles, bolts, bushings, etc. with new parts from our host. The last deal didn't work out. No biggie, just hoping to find what I need. If not, I'm sure I could make the parts... I'd just prefer to use stock when I can.

Thanks again!

Damon

 

I'm still on the hunt for (4) four leaf spring mounts.the parts that rivet to the fra

Send you a message !

 

Thank you very much!!!!!!

Damon

 

fantastic truck. That will be great! I love the old resto's like that

 

rear end

I used a 69 72 k5 blazer rear end and put the stock backing plates on. the gears are 3.73 the drive shaft came out of a 90s impala cop car.
hope this helps.
Robert

 

Great tip, thanks! What were you running for a power plant and transmission?

Damon

 

I don't wanna get too far off the subject of the Sinclair Chevy project, but I wanted to show you the other project I'm working on (albeit slowly). This is a photo of the 1948 American LaFrance aerial ladder truck I own. The photo was taken about six months before I purchased it.



Check out the first post of this thread to see what the truck looked like when i bought it from the scrap yard:

http://www.alfowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142

You can also read the story of the fire truck there as well.

Thanks to eBay, I should have the four rear spring mounts for the '50 Chevy this week. Looking forward to getting back to work on it.

Damon

 

Fire Truck !

THANX ! I read all 8 pages..... .

 

powerplant

a 235 with a 60s saginaw 3 on the tree transmission

 

You're welcome, vwnate. Glad you enjoyed the read.

I scored a steering column for my 1950 Chevy today, pretty excited about that. Got a scheme in mind for a custom combo for the tiller, should be cool if I can pull it off.

Looking for a bit of advice. I'm not sure if I'll go with a mechanical or hydraulic clutch. Those with experience... what do you prefer and why? I'm planning on using the brake and clutch pedal assembly from a '71-'72 Chevy truck. I've already scored the assembly, just need to figure out how I'm going to mount it and hook everything up. Plenty of time for that though, not ready to work on the cab just yet. Just gathering information at this point.

Thanks again, folks!

Damon

 

Call me old fasioned

As a user- I prefer the feel of a mechanical clutch. Most hydraulics feel squishy and brake-like to me. Personal preference, I know, but a clutch should feel like a clutch not like a brake .

The shadetree mechanic in me also prefers mechanical - more moving parts, but once you get it, there is fewer things to go wrong.

The shadetree "engineer" likes the hydraulic, especially if you are doing serious modifications - just put the master cylinder at the pedal end, and the slave cylinder at the transmission and connect them with hydraulic line.

I have worked with two different types of hydraulic slave cylinders - One fits around the transmission input shaft, and the other connects to the bell housing and uses a relay rod (more like the mechanical one would.

If I had to go hydraulic, I would go with the externally mounted slave cylinder. Not only is it easier to replace the slave cylinder in the event of an issue, it also has a more "clutch like" feel.

Just my $.02 - Bob

 

Thanks for the incite, Bob... well worth your two cents!

I scored some manual clutch linkage from a circa '70 Chevy half tonner today. I probably won't be able to use the exact parts I scavenged, but it could possibly be used as a guide for building my own linkage. The bell housings are different, as well as (I'm sure) the dimensions from truck to truck.

Thanks again, folks!

Damon

 

! Boing !

A '70 C/10 you say ? .

How's the seat belts ? what color ? . dirty is O.K. if not threadbare along the edges....

If it's an L6 , I need some engine parts too , hubcaps , other little things .

TIA ,