Hey All, It has been a long time since I posted and I am hopeful that I can get some good advice on what I should do. I bought my 54 about 6 years ago now. I took it completely down to nothing. I have rebuilt it from the frame up. The frame has been powder coated, engine rebuilt, t5 transmision swap done, all new cluch, I have the colorado rear end put in (although it needs to be cleaned up, painted, and gone through to make sure it is ok). The rust damage on the cab has been repaired and I have bought just about every part that I need to put it back together. I have installed disc brakes on the front and done a lot of other stuff. I don't want to say I am losing interest but I have 4 kids and it seems with all of the things they want to do there really is no time for the truck at all. It just sits in the garage and quietly nags at me every time I walk through. The body parts are all at the body shop and have been there for a very long time now. The issue for me is time and having the time to put it all back together and keep the project moving versus spending time with my kids which I would rather do. I live in So. Cal. and it would seem there would be someone I could take the car to for it to be finished up but I am not sure if a place like that exists. I guess my question is, should I press on knowing it may never get done or should I sell it off? If I were to sell it of I would not even begin to know how. Any suggestions there would be helpful. I don't mind spending a reasonable amount of money to get it finished but I'm not even sure what that amount should be. I really need advice opinions on what I should do....and yes I have already told my wife she was right
My 2 cents is only worth about 1 cent or less depending on the exchange rate, but "reasonable cost" in having someone else do it, at the point you seem to be at would be very high in my world anyway. If the body work is not done yet, 20-30K sounds pretty close. On the other hand, selling the project, if you get 10K for it, consider yourself lucky. It looks to me like you really did the job right choosing the best of the best for this project. So here is what I would do personally... You have kids who you will want to teach mechanics some day. NOT teaching them mechanical pursuits would be criminal, so I am sure that this truck would provide much appreciation for a lost art that if we do not teach our kids, we are all doomed. So, keep it, have the little kids dust it off as part of their chores now and then, show them a thing or two as they get older, then have them help you finish it. Time goes so fast. There is no describing how fast and the kids will be gone so soon. It's already 65 or so years old, what is another 10 or so? If you really want bottom dollar for it, now is the time to sell. Then you will spend the rest of your life regretting the decision. But the bigger regret would not be spending time with your kids. I am one of those Dads who has no problem MAKING them work with me on these things. They start off the first 15 minutes whining about it... then 20 years later, they talk about how cherished their time with Dad was. Think about it hard! Wife is always right until they are wrong. Then we would never tell them!
Deve is right. Make it something you do with your kids. It'll all pay off, big time. Let's say the bodywork is a "solid 10-footer" when done. If you did it with your kids, you will have deep respect- from everyone here to the guy at the gas station, and MOST of all, your kids will have been part of it. 'nuff said.
As it's been stated, make it a family project and it doesn't have to be built in a day, like Rome was. My truck is still in process of being put back together and I've had the truck for 15 years now. You'll be surprised what you can get done on a weekend. Hang in there.
Thank for the encouragement! I am willing to hang in there but I have come to find that with only 1 boy and 3 girls, it is hard to get the girls interested in the truck. They will however go one bike rides, go swimming, play soccer, etc. It would be great if I could have it done in time for my boy to drive it when he is 16 but that is just 3 years away now. Every year up until this point I kept saying to my wife "this was the summer I would finally be able to enter it into the car show", but life keeps getting in the way. It would be nice if there was someone in the Los Angeles area or close by that I could take it too to get it wrapped up or get some of the work done on it. It's like the rear end I have on there now. I need to clean up where I took off the old saddles, fill in a little where I was a little too aggressive with the grinder (but I don't know how to weld to go that), and then have someone open it up to make sure everything inside is ok, put it back together, and paint it. That task alone sounds either like a lot of running around for me or trying to find someone who can do all of that. I have a good rear end shop but who do I get to handle the other things??? That is my dilemma...time....
Axles are rarely "bad". Often times, just the seals leak oil. No big deal about the saddles. Just paint the axle. According to your 1st post, you have a lot of money invested in the truck. Expect to lose a lot of that money you spent, if you sell the truck as it is. I've been doing the majority of the work on my truck and it's not really that difficult, especially if you keep modifications to a minimum. And keep in mind that it's expensive to have a shop do the work for you. If you were to spend one weekend every month, working on the truck, you'll have it done by the time your son is 16.
It took me ten years to get what you see in my profile picture done. I know it seems like a lot of work left, but just do a little at a time, and eventually you will be able to drive that truck of yours. Between building my truck and being their for my daughter, I feel pretty blessed on both fronts. Great photos, BTW.
Everyone posting here has had great advise, IMO. The Los Angeles, area, I'm sure, would have many shops willing to take the job of finishing your truck. The problem would be finding a good, reputable one. Also, the cost out there to pay to finish one, I'm guessing, would be much higher than other parts of the country. Vintage cars, or street rods, cost alot to build/finish, and rarely turn out to be a good "investment". It has to be a labor of love. My question is, do you have garage space to store it comfortably? All of it? What do you plan for it when finished? Just how "nice" do you want it, meaning, a cool, safe, driver with a so-so body? Or, something you can never leave alone without worrying about it? Seriously consider what your budget is to finish. Deve is right, 20-30K, and probably more in SOCAL. Time gets away from us all. I've owned my truck since I was 15. I'm now almost 57. It was reworked and repainted twice before I got married at 24. Then, it was stored, inside, and neglected, until recently. I was blessed to live in a place where I had free storage for all those years. Only you can answer your questions. My only advice, at this point would be, go gather ALL of the parts at the body shop or where ever they are. Get them in YOUR storage. My other, more important, piece of advice is, don't let ANYTHING get in the way of time with your children. They will all be grown, and gone from your home, in the blink of an eye. Steve.
I got my truck when my boys were 12, 11, and 9 and my daughter was 4. They are 22, 21, 19 and 14 now. They LOVED working on the truck with me, love driving in it now and tell me constantly to NEVER sell it or change the way it sounds, smells, etc. They all worked on the truck, including my daughter when she was 4 and loved it. Andy
02 cents worth from one that has had a restoration shop for 40 years and messed with old cars/trucks for 66 years. First, and I mean THE VERY FIRST is never, NEVER, NEVER go to a shop that requires a deposit up front Once the deposit is gone the work stops and often never starts since the deposit went for bills, boat, motorcycle, whatever instead of for parts and supplies. Agree to buy any big purchase and carry it to them or have delivered. If they balk give them a second choice which is to put the projected job estimate amount in an account that was started expressly for the truck project and any check on that account must be signed by BOTH you and the shop owner. You don't sign unless satisfied with the work and cost and the shop owner knows the money is there with no worry. Always remember this; all you have for security is his word while for his security he has YOUR TRUCK which has some darn good work and parts. Exactly half of the vehicles in our shop have been taken away from other shops by disgusted owners. Second, NEVER take a restoration project to a body shop. If they happen to be slow when you approached them they are happy to take it on but the moment insurance work is available (easy money) the old car/truck goes into a back corner and into never ending limbo.
If all the rust repair is done on the cab, then maybe a painted-outdoors-in-front-of-the-garage paintjob may be in order. Zig is living (driving!) proof that you don't even need a bed. If every body part is in a different color primer, bolt her together and drive her. As long as you have a place to park her indoors, she won't rust away in primer. Have you looked into a vocational school, which may have automotive classes where you might get bodywork done cheap or free? Maybe even paint (you'd pay for product of course)? Just throwing out random ideas here. Given the wildly varied levels of "finish" on all manner of vintage iron, whatever you do, from bare steel to the finest paint job, will STILL get you thumbs up on the road. Example: earlier this summer, I was at a traffic light (in my daily driver), and a fairly rough AD pulled up in the lane beside me. Red primer, no bed (and it wasn't Zig). The familiar sound of a 4.3 Chevy V6... as I looked at it, with black painted wheels, and some very familiar frame rails out back, I realized it was on an S10 frame. HE was driving his truck. Far from perfect. Heck, far from DONE. Being driven. I was quite envious. I am a perfectionist- both a blessing and a curse. But I wished I was driving mine too- even if IT wasn't any more complete than the one in traffic beside me.
I vote to hang on to your truck if you can. I've owned my truck since 87 and it sat for several years throughout this time and only has really been on the road the last couple of years. In between their was marriage, a mortgage, 2 daughters, and a lot of time devoted to being a husband and a father. My wife and daughters never were much of a hand when I got a chance to spend some time on the truck, but they did provide great company by hanging out in the garage with me and providing encouragement. A key point with your truck is you have a firm plan on what it will be when finished. I'm a little obsessive compulsive and have a fairly short attention span and have trouble sticking to any kind of plan, so my projects are consistently morphing from one theme to another. A couple of friends have given me some great advice over the years. The first is "It's better to be done half right than half done" In my case it meant stop striving for perfection and just get it done. I'm driving my truck in epoxy primer and loving it. A few years ago no one would have seen it until the body work and paint were perfect meaning it might never make it on the road. The other advice was to draw up a "squawk sheet" and try to mark off one item each day no matter how small or trivial it might seem. Over time these little daily steps will generate real progress and this progress becomes a great motivator. John
Thank you everyone for the great advice. You all have re-energized me to stick with the truck. Unfortunately I have done exactly what Evan has said not to do. I paid the body shop $4500 (I think, I would have to check my records) to get started and from that I have seen the frame blasted and powder coated as well as a few other parts and all of the body parts were all blasted. He has started to do some of the rust repair on the cab but last I saw it I wasn't overly confident with the work his guys were doing. They wanted to cut out parts of the cab as big as the patch panels as opposed to just cutting out the minimum amount of rust in the cab area and cutting the corresponding piece from the patch panel. I have not heard from the guy for well over 9 months and I have just been too busy to even stop by the shop and check on progress. Last we spoke he said he needed the frame on wheels and moving so he could put the body together on it and make sure everything fits right - particularly the doors. To me it seems like a reason to throw the ball back in my court and bring progress on his side to a halt. Unfortunately I know very little about body work to know if what he is telling me is true or just another excuse. Either way I know that the work I have seen and that they were doing has not been impressive up to this point. I should not be the one telling them how they should be doing the metal repair - that is not a good sign.
