project '71 C50 The Big Green Truck

[Littlejohn]

I wish to share my latest project: The Big Green Truck.
I have been the proud owner of a '71 Chevy School Bus for the past 10 years. Mechanically the old bus was solid, If I could afford the gas, I would not be afraid to drive it across the country.
In 2006, insurance laws in the state of Oklahoma changed. I had RV insurance up until Nov. '10 when I let my policy lapse thinking I would pick it up in June before my next road trip out with it. To my suprise, I had been grandfathered in for the past 4 years on my policy. The only way to insure it now was to purchase Comercial insurance on it. Difference from $105 a year to a little over $1200. So, realizing I could not do this every year, I started looking for a way to remove the words "School Buss" from the title. The following build thread is the result.



I soon ran across this mockup from this site:



...and my goal was laid out infront of me.

I started this project in Nov. of '11, although my project is not quite finished, it is Tagged, Titled, and Insured. I am still in primer, and have a few touch up things to do before final paint.

[Rusbuilt]

Oh man! I'm gonna keep an eye on this build!!

[Littlejohn]

I needed to gather most of the parts before I started so I did not have to stop in the middle and go a searching.

The first major part was a C50 cab,



Next was the cab from my very first truck,



Then a couple of doors, and half a cab.



Then it was 'flipping' time!

[Littlejohn]

Once I had the frame and running gears free from the bus, it was time to start putting it together.

[Littlejohn]

I decided that I wanted the back doors to be suicide. So, I started working on the second cab to make that happen.





With the doors roughed in, I started by connecting the two cabs on the frame.

[Rusbuilt]

Man this thing looks so cool!

[Littlejohn]

[Littlejohn]

There is a reason to write down all measurements. I did not have the bed when I started, and had measured one from center of wheel wells to the front.
The original measurement was 4'8", and over time it became 48" in my head.



So I had to do some shortening...



Which made a big difference.

[Littlejohn]

[sgaylord]

This is so cool. I'm always up to follow along on fab work!

Steve

[steelhorse]

cool project.

[Littlejohn]

I had really forgotten how much I hated working with Bondo.







My next thing to do was bob the frame. I used the original bus back bumper.





After looking at this for a few weeks I finally shortened it all the way to the back of the bed.

[hotrodchevy1999]

looking good

[roushinator]

WOW. Awesome....

[oldone]

I'm in...subscribed!!!

[Littlejohn]

One thing I realized was the difference in fender width between a truck front clip and a bus. So I had to make mine wider.







Then came the dually fenders. I had found a very rough set, even had to fill in the spare tire carrier.

[Littlejohn]

Not wanting to pull the bed back off, i seized the opportunity to apply some Dark Olive paint.





Bed installed...

[bigguy69]

I like it
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[Palf70Step]

I like it. Your work on it is fabulous. This is going to be n interesting build to watch.

[Pssst]

Diggin it...

[Steve Hafner]

. . . .

Cool project . . . looking forward to seeing it's progress !!!

. . . .

[MrBeast]

Interesting build.

I bet it corners like a oil tanker.

[Splash4195]

Wow very cool!

[Novalicious]

Damn thats big!!!!!!

[502ms]

Wow! Pretty awesome! Subbed.
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