The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Hello Heavy haulers, I am new to the site but I have been stalking all of you! Just today allowed to post.
My neighbors are old ranchers and have a bunch of “yard art” meaning broken down rusted farm equipment and such. I have been at their house many times but one day, this old truck catches my eye.
(Photo 1)
It’s a 1963 C50 sitting out there to rust its remaining years away! On a side note, I love good beer. And I have always had this dream of growing hops on our 19 acre ranch, and one day I saw this old photo (Sorry it’s a Dodge)
(Photo 2)
of an ole truck harvesting hops on the Hop Growers of America site and I says to myself, wouldn’t that be cool to have an old workhorse truck working the Hop harvest? (Now remember, I don’t have ANY hops growing) So I tell them, don’t ever think of getting rid of that truck without asking me first. They say: it’s yours! Take it, we would just love to see it running again. Johnny (the neighbor) says it was running when it was parked x number of years ago. So my next project is, rescuing this beast from its current state of non-function and get it across the street to my shop! More photos to follow

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Some may be thrown off on the year 1963 by the headlight bezels but the VIN doesn’t lie, and the fender emblems too.
My plans for this build is to keep it relatively stock, to use as a work truck around the ranch. While I like the looks of the bagged, slammed conversions i just want a usable, reliable work truck. Probably will remove the cattle racks on the flatbed, make it with removable stake sides and add a removable gooseneck trailer ball (we have a lot of those kinds of trailers around here)
First order of business is, will it run? It has oil on the dipstick but no coolant in radiator and the brake fluid reservoir is bone dry. Some of the tires actually still have air!
Then get the brakes working, go from there

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

The history of this truck: it was first put into use as a service truck for Peterson-Caterpillar in San Leandro, CA. This explains the “SPEC” paint code, it was originally painted Caterpillar Tractor safety yellow under the green, you can see the yellow poking out in a few places. It has a V8 and a PTO that ran a compressor on a rear flatbed, along with a welder setup (the PTO is still there but the compressor and welder are long gone) The Caterpillar Tractor factory in San Leandro was a major producer of tractors and other machines in the mid 1900’s, and a great many folks from the area were employed there until the plant shut down in 1985. The Peterson-Caterpillar equipment dealer is still in business in San Leandro! Johnny tells me the truck was bought by his father in law to be used for his cattle and hay farming operation. The engine was blown and rebuilt before they bought the truck so not sure if it is original engine or not. Johnny’s FIL had the cattle cage added to transport cattle. I will get the rear casting number one of these days, but the front stamp was a lot easier to see. It looks to me like 9S0304XTO which I think is a 327. I will try to get a better photo this weekend

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

The biggest problem will be with the brakes. Not sure if parts are even available anymore. May have to send all the parts out to someone who specializes in rebuilding brake componets. The one piece 22.5 wheels are rare and very desireable, people buying these C 50's with 2 piece wheels are spending a fortunate to get one piece wheels put on them.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Thanks factorystock, I have been reading up on Unofornaio and his C40 pizza oven truck build and the years-long brake cylinder nightmares. I am hoping I will have better luck with their condition or finding C50 parts. And I was happy to see the tires on this beast were tubeless style 9-22.5 meaning safer rims. On another note this truck has a monster rear end! Split style and rear duals
Thanks for looking!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

That's a sweet truck Mike.
You are correct that the grille doesn't seem right, but for the big trucks it is. GM didn't redesign the grille for the 63 big trucks, they just carried over the 62 grille. A darn shame they did it that way because I think the regular 63 grille is one of the best ones, but I wasn't around back then to design an 63 only big truck grille :lol:

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Thats a nice truck you have there! Also a great idea for growing hops too, we used to grow our own hops for home brewing.
The engine code has me puzzled- do you have better pictures of the entire engine? XTO suffix code doesn't seem to exist in any of the books (including The Lime Book) or on websites. The S is Saginaw engine factory and 0304 is March 4th. But the XTO is throwing me and it almost looks like XTC but even that one doesn't exist. There is a TC suffix but that is a 348 big block (which would be appropriate for 1963) and it doesn't resemble a 327. XTD is a service replacement engine 283 for 1965, 66 and 67 but would be tough to read that as a 'D'

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Hey there MJN, thanks for the reply! And sorry to waste your time, I finally got a closer look today after spraying with engine cleaner and wire brush - man I was WAY off, missing half the numbers! and you are right the last character is a C. I am having trouble reading the first character but pretty sure it’s a C (could be a S, O, G, Q!) I might take a green pad or fine sandpaper to it this week. My best guess is CE6N2289S60304XTC and you may have missed it but the story goes it had a rebuilt engine put in, not sure if they rebuilt original one or dropped in a totally different one. The casting number might help, removed years of grime to get it 3959532, it that a 283? Thanks again and cool that you grew hops!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Doing some research, I found info on a Corvette Forum saying the 3959532 casting was a warranty replacement block 283, which would make sense with the story from PO my neighbor. Of course, the Internets never lie right? Check the photo of the site. I still am curious what the stamp on front of block translates to!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

I feel like Columbo on an investigation! I enjoy it. More info indicates the CE prefix stamp is for a “Chevrolet Engine” used on blocks that were warranty replacement engines. This all seems to be coming together. I agree with you on the “S” for Saginaw. Now to decipher the XTC

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Hope you are not getting sick of me yet. Now looking closer at the stamp, it looks like 2 separate stamps overlapping. Does that make sense? So we might be looking at 2 stamps, first CE6N22896 then S0304XTC. Wonder what that means!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

And photos of the entire engine. Yes those are walnuts on the manifold! And what about that tiny little air cleaner? Reminds me of Beetlejuice

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Looks like its just a simple service replacement engine- the stamping won't mean anything other than the factory and date it was made. Great start for a project- I would find the stock air cleaner for it too eventually.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Great detective work,When I bought my 1968 Impala SS 427/425 hp,I bought it from the original owner,he told me he had the engine replaced in 1969, started knocking,so what they did was replace the lower end and put all the top end on the new "crate engine" he asked about getting the original block back,and they said it had to be destroyed,yea right,probally whet home with one of the mechanics,but anyway,that engine had CE and then had the work order number on it

IT IS ALIVE…ALIVE!! The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Finally got this big guy running again! Moved by its own power from our across the street neighbor’s to my ranch. It took me a while to figure out. Ended up being points were adjusted too far open, who did that anyway? I wanted to take every precaution to make sure not to do any damage to the engine on its first start in 20 years since it was parked and left to sit and wonder what its future was.
I replaced the distributor cap, rotor, points, condenser, spark plugs, plug wires, ignition coil, threw on new fan belts and air filter (temporary, want to get a stock air cleaner eventually), changed the oil and filter, rigged up a remote fuel tank directly to the fuel pump to keep old nasty fuel out of the carb, and on day 2 of tinkering it fired up!
Need to do a lot more work but at least it’s at my place now so I can tinker with it. Man he’s a BEAST. Love to work on an old engine, so much room to work. I have to say it is waaay up there compared to my C10. The brakes are non-existent, the brake pedal does not even move. Anyway this is for my own documentation of the build so thanks for following along. The Green Machine will eventually be my hops harvester but for now it is running yard art.
I will give it some much needed TLC cleanup, wash, engine degreasing, etc.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Great truck and great work saving it.

Brake pedal being stuck is most likely the piston in the master cylinder being frozen from sitting.

I saved a 1960 C60 so its nice to see folks save the big trucks.

I have manuals and parts data for some of the big truck stuff so holler if you need a GM number for anything. I might be able to help.

Its posted elsewhere in the forum but here is mine.

Jumpsoffrock runs a later model but was a big help to me when i was figuring out the wheels and tires as mine had splits that had to be replaced.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Wow beautiful truck! It gives me inspiration. I will definitely be asking for info and help. Brake pedal lever was apparently just frozen between the pivot point bracket under the dash, I just pushed down 175lbs of pressure (me) and it broke free. So, now the pedal goes right to the floor with no resistance or brake activation haha.
Here are some pics

The Green Machine made it to the ranch under his own power!
2. The engine compartment showing temporary gas tank robbed from a generator, new cap-plug wires-belts
3. Maybe could have saved some $$ and kept the old spark plug wires (#sarcasm)
4. The cab will be cleaned out next
5. Another angle of this beast

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

nice

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Yup, those wires have seen better days :lol:

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

I had an interesting time tracking down all of the brake part numbers, and Raybestos for some unknown reason changed their catalog cross reference system making it harder to find obsolete part numbers.
What that means is it's harder to search the deep internet for NOS parts that would still be usable. ( I have found carb rebuild kits and ignition parts for older trucks--made by brands that haven't existed in 40+ years--by using ANCIENT part numbers I found on kakapart....very useful)

kakapart.com is a very weird finicky website that I suspect is foreign, but no matter that, it is a GODSEND. I cannot believe some of the crossreference ability of that website. It pulls up new numbers Ive never even seen and they are often relevant.

Good luck with your brakes and wheels. The info is out there, and the parts are too.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Awesome project. Looking forward to updates!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Just a photo…more progress soon!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Just a photo…more progress soon!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Great picture!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Congratulations and love seeing and old Big Gun being saved!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Put a crowbar in the wallet and got Green Machine his own brand new battery. Then proceeded to forget to disconnect it and left connected overnight, came out to a DEAD truck. Charged up and back in business, but now remember to disconnect until I track down the draw.
Also cleared out the bed, it was full of dirt, growing weeds, and half-barrels full of leaves and stanky old rain water. Next I’ll remove the old rotten plywood

C50 vs C10 photos
 

Since I was moving the trucks anyway (installing new driveway) I thought it would be fun to park the C50 and the C10 next to each other for some comparison photos. The C10 is stock height/suspension. And, the drivers front on the C50 was low! I topped off after the photos

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Great sunset photo, and cool seeing the two trucks together in the other photos. Obviously, they're related, haha. Don't hesitate to take a bunch of pictures of your cleanup efforts. I think a lot of us live vicariously and wish we had something that cool to put back into service.

The Green Machine 1st shower in 20+ yrs
 

I haven’t had a lot of time to work on this big guy but I was sad looking at how dirty he was and with the weeds growing taller than the bumper so decided to pull him around and give him a wash & quick brush out & vacuum inside, and weed-whack the weeds in his parking spot. Green Machine was parked 20 years ago and who knows if he was ever even washed back then?
Here are some before & after shots

The Green Machine - rusty roof
 

With the bath I unfortunately found some roof rust I found on the forward corner, drivers side -assuming from the inside out due to the drip channel seam sealer all but gone. There are some barnacles on the hood that would not come off, I think I’ll try a green scotch pad on it, it’s going to get new paint some day anyway.
I am pretty sure this will not be the last of the rust I uncover!

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

A bath definitely makes a difference! The interior looks a lot better too.

Removing the cattle bed
 

I decided to do something easy, to start removing the cattle racks from the bed, the wood is all rotted out anyway. It looks like just a few bolts holding it on to the flat bed (photos 3&4) unless there’s a bunch of hidden welds somewhere. My plan is to eventually put a dump bed, or at least stake bed but the cattle racks have to go. It was cool to expose the big back window!

Big window!
 

Now I can wash the back of the cab

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Very common on the bigger trucks to have the rear cab wall all dented up. Looks like the cattle rack helped keep that from happening

Removing cattle rack
 

Yesterday I got the back ramp removed (HEAVY!) and cut out all the rotten wood with the Sawzall of Destruction. Funny how small my 30HP tractor is next to Big Green! Ok to all my real farming friends with real tractors, yes size does matter haha.
I also removed what I think are the 4 bolts holding this rack onto the flatbed-seems like “under-kill” when transporting a bunch of 1000+lb animals around in the back! I will see if it budges later this afternoon and I need to decide on a place to put it since it is heavy and I don’t think once it is off it will be moving very easily! They built this thing like a brick outhouse. I am thinking if nobody wants it, rather than scrap I can screw some sheet metal on top and park the quad under it, or wire it in for a chicken coop run, ?? Any other ideas?

Removing cattle rack part 2
 

So, I was able to scientifically (HA) figure out why there were only 4 bolts holding this cattle rack on, I tried pulling it straight back with the tractor to slide the racks off the flat bed. Well, this did not work all it did was pull the whole truck! Turns out the designer of this monstrosity welded in some V-shaped pegs to set in the stake bed pockets that I did not know existed. I could lift the frame but it would not slide, that’s when I noticed the V pegs. It makes sense, that 4 bolts were not all that was holding this cage on the flatbed! So with some pry bar and cribbing action I got the pegs above the diamond plate and now it is separated and slides easily. Now I need to find a suitable location for this cage, since this truck is probably all I have that can move this thing! I do have a plan to get it off the flatbed once I decide its final resting place.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Since you can stand up easily in it, I like the idea of a shed for your atv

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Good progress! For sure keep that framework unless somebody is willing to pay you well to take it off your hands. It is well built and has a cool look to it. I think it would make a great garden shed or even a greenhouse. Looks like it could even be the basis for a camper that you could put back on the truck when you wanted to. Skin it with aluminum with windows in some of the openings and you could totally camp in there, or have a mobile workshop.

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Quick update, found a guy to pay me for the cattle racks so I removed them and now have a flatbed. Plan is to either make some wood stake sides or, a dump bed. Before that happens - I will get the brakes working! Definitely looks smaller without the cattle racks but still a beast compared to my C10

Re: The Green Machine - 1963 C50 field rescue
 

Awesome truck, super jealous of the tubeless rims.