1955 GMC 150 – Danny W.

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Back in January 1976, I bought a house in Liberty, North Fork, Utah. This is by the way, where they make all of the snow for Utah and ship it out!
In April, we moved in and the snow had began to melt. To our surprise, we had many treasures in the yard; transmissions, motors, frames, tires and most surprising, a 1955 first series flatbed three-quarter ton truck! It needed a little help, things like: a new motor, interior and paint. This is the first paint job I ever did! We painted it gold so we always called the truck Old Gold.

We heated our home with wood, so we put the truck to good use getting firewood, at least 6 cords a year!
One time, coming home from the mountains, I got a flat tire and I had no jack! I flagged over a truck and they let me use their jack. I cut a piece of log and put it under the bumper so they could leave. I put the spare on and drove off the log. Wouldn’t you know it, the spare was also flat! I was stuck! I ended up sleeping under the truck that night. The next day I hitchhiked to use the phone at a gas station and I had my wife bring me a tire so I can get home with the load of firewood.

Later on, in 1979, I sold the truck to my nephew and he parked it in his yard and didn’t touch it for 45 years!
In 2025, he asked me to fix Old Gold up for him. In the time that the truck was parked, a tree had grown up through the flatbed and around the frame, so we had to cut the tree down to move the truck. It took me two days to get the tree out of the spring and shackles because it was green as grass since it was a living tree we had to cut down to move the truck. The wood wouldn’t chip away because it was so green! I even tried my acetylene torch and chainsaw (among other things) to get it out of the frame. finally, I got it out! Now what time to get down to business!

The transmission was frozen up so I had to tear that apart to fix it. I cut the old flatbed off, had to rewire everything, did all the bodywork and repainted it, this time in emerald green. I included all new brake lines, master cylinder, brake cylinder, brake shoes, new gas tank and gas lines and replaced all the components in the engine bay, added new carb with an electric fuel pump, and to finish it off, I built an all new flatbed with steak sides!

I had my wife pull me with a toe strap and the truck fired right up on the first try! Almost like new!

I spent six months, 10 to 12 hours a day getting Old Gold back in shape. It just goes to show you old trucks never die!
Back on the road again!

Danny W.