[Hblee]

So I finally got to go look at some NAPCO stuff that a guy in the Texas Hill Country had for sale on Craigslist in Austin. I loaded up a friend's trailer and had a nice road trip yesterday. This guy and his dad have really got the Task Force trucks. His dad said at one time they had over 200, but had sold quite a few and were trying to get down to 60 or 70. They are on a 400 acre place so they have plenty of room. There was a sea of old trucks. I counted at least 5 Cameos and they were a dozen or so Suburbans, and a panel truck or two. There probably 20 big window cabs. Most of the trucks that were lined up are pretty rough, lots of rust and most would be considered basket cases IMO.

They had 4-5 NAPCO trucks and a NAPCO Suburban plus a 57 and 58 rolling chassis. I wanted the 57 but the 58 was so much nicer, plus it had 16" wheels on it. I ended up getting it and got everything but the short driveshaft to the transfer case and the linkage from the shifter to the transfer case. He only had one set and didn't want to part with it. Honestly it didn't look like much, I think I can make something pretty close with an old shifter rod, some flat stock, clevis pins and a few other parts.

So I think I did all right, I had to pay a little more because of the 16" wheels but at least I won't have to be searching for a set of them.

This was my dad's truck and he liked original stuff, so in honor of him I'm going to restore it as close as possible to how a NAPCO would have been new. I wish he was still around the help work on it.

I dropped the frame off last night at a friend's repair shop. He's going to take it all apart and then I'll decide how deep I need to get into the front and rear diffs, whether they need a total rebuild or just some bearings and seals and a new paint job and new brakes. The transfer case was just rebuilt (allegedly) so I"m hoping it won't need anything but some paint squirted on.

I'll post some pics when I get it presentable.