[mt94ss]

Here's my latest. It's, as the title states, a model 100 -the base model. I'm not sure how it spent it's life. There are no logos on it, but it does look like a school district truck.

I have a friend with a '58 that is orange and it looks stock, so who knows. Maybe in those years you could actually get colors on the trucks, not just white, red and black (and turquoise).

My plan is pretty simple. I bought a clip from a '76 Trans-Am that I will graft right onto the existing frame. This will get me extremely low with great suspension travel and huge disc brakes and an enormous sway bar along with easy mounting for the engine and transmission.

I already did an axle flip in the rear using the stock one from my gasser. Not sure if I am keeping that one or going with one a bit wider. It's 60" and the trucks is 62". I am also going with a one-piece driveshaft.

It's going to be stock inside, too. It has the original wheel with horn button and the dash is good. I had to replace the lower hinge on the driver's door. I will paint the footwells and replace some rusted metal around the hinge pocket. Stock bench seat recovered and a floor shifter for the 700R4. I have a Fenton three-speed manual shifter that I might see if I can make work for this. I don't want a newer shifter and I hate the locar style shifters.

I have the GMC for the hood and my bud with the '58 has a chrome front bumper with dagmars that I can have. I am still thinking on it because I also have a '56 Pontiac that I was going to steal the bumpers off of front and rear... or I do also have a '56 Packard front bumper that I have been holding onto since 1978! Which one? I may have to mock them up to see which one I like best. I know that the huge steel rear bumper is coming off.

I will need to replace all the rubber and seals on the cab. It sat out (probably with the back end either sticking out or under a tree as it is the rustiest part) for who knows how many years and they are all cracked. Needs the flat glass replaced, but that should be easy.

Anyway, that's where we start...

 

[carls 56]

cool, thanks for sharring. ...............man, that is one long bed.

 

[ProMetalShop]

Mike very cool truck,so is that the 9 foot bed like they had on the later camper specials ?

 

[100%chevy]

A really nice truck Mike!
State of Alabama used that color for their state vehicles for years.
I prefer the GMC trucks of the 50's because of all the extra chrome and the fact that GMC used the larger Pontiac v/8 engines.At least until 1960,when GMC developed their own "big block" v/6's.
I really like the large rear window!
Mike.

 

[morepwr]

I really like that body style. A good friend of mine has a 59 he is working on and it is going to be a great cruiser. You just dont see that many of them.

 

[oleblu72]

Wish I could still find nice rust free bodys like your 59 around here in the rustbelt.

Mark

 

[mt94ss]

Hey thanks everyone.

Steve, it's an 8' bed (actually 8'3") not a 9'. I think the lens that I was using made it look long.

100%, that's cool. I didn't know that they used Pontiac v-8s. I have an extra one lying around but was going to put that in my '55/'56 Pontiac Star Chief Gasser that I am contemplating...

I hope to have it in the shop this month for the preliminary front clip surgery.

Mike

 

[Teamchevy]

Great looking project Mike! Looking forward to seeing it transform!

Dave
bowtieb

 

[BAM55]

Very, very nice looking project truck.

 

[mt94ss]

I picked up a pair of slots for the front this past weekend at the Portland swap meet for only $30! I'm polishing them to match the rears. They should work fine with the new subframe. Almost bought a 144ci blower for it for $800 but it needed to be rebuilt and I wussed out.

 

[Blue Goose]

Gonna make a nice cruiser Mike.Nice ride

 

[406Rich]

Mike nice start with it, keep us posted with pics..

 

[mt94ss]

Started getting the engine and trans ready since the truck is still outside (in the rain). It's a mid-90s TBI 350 that I am just going to run a carb on - non roller cam 1-piece seal 2-bolt block. I ordered the manifold from Summit and am going to run a 600cfm carb. I'm just going to paint and detail it stock looking.

The trans is a 700r4 that will give me the overdrive for cruising. I'm not sure what rear gears I have but I know it works great with most.

 

[406Rich]

Mike I get 17 on the road with mine same setup except for the 700r4, mine is a th350, so you should get in the 20 MPG something range...

 

[mt94ss]

It's amazing to think a truck with 3.73s and a 1:1 tranny can get 17. My '55 car got over 20 with a 305/350 and 3.55 gears, even better when I switched to a 200-4r and it was pretty zippy.

There are a couple major upgrades to do the truck after the clip. I like the stock looking steering column so I have to see what I can save there and then there are the brakes. I like BAM55's setup so I'll probably do that.

My brother is getting new load bags for his Dodge dually so I think I'm going to snake the old ones for my truck so I can add a bit of height to the rear if needed.

Mike

 

[406Rich]

I`m pretty sure you can retain the stock column, you might have to adjust with a Jeep intermediate bar and some borgensen universals, the shifter if you use a lokar, you buy rear trans mount or mid mount for seat clearance,....pic of jeep intermediate shaft..

 

[mt94ss]

Rich, is that like a Wranler or Cherokee? Sound like a good choice. I used the street rod ones on my Cousin's car I just finished and I was into it about $200! That part is probably less than $10 at the Pick-N-Pull. Good tip.

Mike

 

[406Rich]

Cherokee, late model, but I believe the early small cherokee had them too...

 

[mt94ss]

Thanks.

Have any of you ever heard that the sense of smell is stronger at bringing back memories than sight or sound? I found this with the degreaser that I used on my SBC for my '59 GMC project.

My brother turned me onto this cleaner that is a totally safe engine degreaser. I got it at O'Reilly's and it comes in a spray bottle or a gallon. I used it straight with it in a mixing cup and used a parts washer brush to apply it to the engine. As I am doing this the smell of the degreaser triggered a memory from when I was a lot boy at the Chrysler dealership. I remembered something that smelled like this was used to clean whitewall tires, which I used alot as almost every car then had whitewalls.

So I tried it on a tire that I have had sitting around that came off my '74 GTO. It had the WWs turned in so they weren't cleaned when the car was washed. This stuff cleaned that tire to like new.

I know most tires on cars here are not WW or RWL, but it would even clean the blackwall to look like new.

Anyway, I though that it might be usefull to some here, a great engine degreaser and a great tire cleaner in one and it's cheap.

Thanks,

Mike

BTW, I painted the SBC Pontiac blue because '59 GMCs that had V-8s were Pontiac and I wanted it to look different from an Orange engine.

 

[Az Geezer]

What's the name of the engine degreaser, Mike? I need a good one.
Bill