1950 Chevy 3100 – Jim A.

In 2008 my wife, Janice, and I were finishing up a remodel on a rental we owned. I was in the middle of installing baseboards and had run out of caulk. Janice volunteered to run to the hardware store and pick some up for me. She left and returned 5 minutes later, telling me I had to come with her. She wouldn’t say why, just that I had to come too. As we drove to the store, she pointed out the old Chevy truck sitting in a field with a “for sale” sign in the front window. We drove this route almost every day and the truck had never been there before. We stopped and spoke with the owner. He had just pushed the truck out of his barn 30 minutes before. I walked around the truck for 5 minutes, made an offer and he accepted.

The truck was in pretty rough shape, but complete. It had been stored in a barn for 12 years with water left in the motor. Needless to say the head and block were cracked and unusable. It was obvious that it had been used as a work truck and had been heavily overloaded. All of the shock mounts were bent and or cracked. The rear shackles had been sprung and the wood in the bed had been replaced with a sheet of plywood. Both cab corners needed repair and the floor pans and kick panels were rusted through. There were lots of areas that needed rust repair and bodywork along with all the mechanical repairs that the truck needed.

My intention was never to make it a show truck but a clean, safe driver that still had the original look and ride. After I purchased the truck in 2008, it sat and would get a little bit of work done on it when I had time. Mostly taking it apart and surveying the damage that had previously been done. I was able to find a 1953 235 motor to replace the bad one. It was low mileage out of a one-and-a-half-ton flatbed farm truck. No rebuild needed, just some gaskets and a little paint. I retired in 2019 and that was when I got serious about fixing the truck. I replaced the front brakes with disks and put a dual master cylinder in along with 3 point seat belts. I replaced or repaired floor pans, cab mounts, cab corners, kick panels, all of the steering components, new brake lines and all new wiring along with a 12-volt conversion. I did all the bodywork and rust repairs to the sheet metal. When I removed the old paint and Bondo from the cab, it appeared that the cab had been crushed in one corner. This required me to rent a porta-power and do some adjusting to the driver’s door frame to get the driver’s door to align correctly. All of the glass, except for the corner windows, has been replaced. The only aftermarket body panel that I replaced was the front bed panel. It was damaged and rusted beyond repair. New Oak bed wood and stainless trim. The only things I personally did not do were the final prime/paint and the upholstery.