47-55.1 Some old photos my dad took of my 48 over the years.

[mr48chev]

I was digging though my photos a few minutes ago and came across and that I don't think I ever posted on here. a couple were taken in Texas in the early 70's and some in the late 70's and the 80's.

First one with it behind me fussing with my T was probably taken during Christmas 1973 when dad flew down for Christmas.

That's how the truck looked when I drove it to the 1973 Street Rod Nationals in Tulsa.
Second is when I was working on it at home in 1980 after I had chopped it at the school shop then flat towed it home to work on it at home during the summer.
Third is after I painted the frame probably winter between 81 and 82. I pulled it down to bare frame sandblasted the frame and painted it and reassembled it and painted the body red.

Fourth is my hood in my dad's carport just after we had picked it up in Bremerton wa at the louver guys shop.

Fifth is the truck on the back side of the Puyallup fair grounds in the mid 80's. My customizing on the bed didn't work out too good so I pulled it off and made a flatbed. We had pulled our trailer over there for a Goodguys show. I think I was parked there while I walked up to registration when dad found the truck. It had also had a sunroof change that wasn't the best idea.

[mr48chev]

My dad when he was home on leave from the Army. Sometime in 1945. I think I came home from the hospital in this ca but am not sure as somewhere after my folks got married he traded it for a 41 Buick fastback.

[MiraclePieCo]

Those are some historic photos! When I saw the rain puddles I immediately assumed it was somewhere near Seattle ;-)

Cool T, where is it today?

[Kevin Mac]

Thanks for sharing, I have a few of my brothers 51 back in the mid 80's I will dig up.
Mac

[MARTINSR]

Very cool!

Brian

[mr48chev]

I pulled the engine out of the T and put it in the 48. Here is a photo taken in 1975 just after I had traded my 57 Panel to get the 48 back. (The guy who had bought the 48 from the guy I sold it to painted it two o three times in about six months) in the same front yard with my wife in the car again my dad's photo. She would sneak the car out and drive it around town when I was at work. She got busted when she ran out of gas and a local cop took her to the gas station to get gas and my sister in law who was about 12 at the time told the story. She still wants me to build another T.

I sold the car after I pulled the engine when we bought a house of our own.

The same Weiand wrinkle finish valve covers (hot lick in 1974) are on the engine in the photo of it in the previous post that shows the painted frame.

[mr48chev]

That 69 Barracuda fast back was her daily driver until she rolled it on the way back to work from lunch and totaled it. I sold the body to a small wrecking yard in Crawford Texas in the middle of the week a couple of weeks later and some guys drove down from fort Worth on the next Saturday to buy the body skin off the car to put on a dirt track car. That was after someone had pretty well followed the wrecker into his yard to buy the 273 engine out of it. He told me later that he sold stuff off that car faster than any car he had ever had in the yard.

[bobinbc]

Cool pictures!

[mr48chev]

A couple more that I found. One of the truck just after I traded back for it when it had the flames on it. and one in the mid 80's when we had gone up to see my nephew.

[Kevin Mac]

What front end is on it?

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Kevin Mac

What front end is on it?

In the red photos it had the 67 Camaro stub that you see on it in one of the photos. It had that front end under it in 1981 when we drove it to Texas with the camper on it

This in front of my Inlaws house on Polk street in McGregor Texas in 1981. That was about an hour after we pulled up after driving 2500 miles to get there.
It had the subframe in all the red photos.

Some of the photos show it with an I beam under it including the one with side pipes and some of the later ones. The frame had a bad twist in it where the guy who welded up the rear suspension had run a lot of long beads welding the spring buckets in and in the end welded in a twist in the frame. It had a 66 Impala 12 bolt posi complete with the whole coil spring rear suspension under the back then.

[MARTINSR]

I don't remember seeing it with the flat bed! HOLY CRAP you and I are brothers from different mothers! WOW!

Brian

[mr48chev]

Some day we will park those two trucks side by side Martin. Your flatbed was a lot fancier than mine though.

The reason for the flatbed was that the bed that belonged on it had broke apart at the back corner because I got the wild and not very smart idea that I should modify the rear stake pockets and weld them to the end rail to "slick it off" That is going to cost me the price of a pair of new rear stake pockets after I have the bedsides sandblasted. Too many years of laying out back on top of the shed to hold the tin down has taken it's toll.

[MARTINSR]

You were doing something creative and customizing it, sometimes that doesn't always work out. What you were doing did have a good look though.

Mine had the flat bed on it when I bought it from my brothers friend in '73. His brother was a cabinet maker and that bed reflected that! It was pretty damn nice. When I removed it I gave it back to him as his brother wanted it.

The bed I put on was made of two or three different beds, I got all the best parts I could and assembled it to make my bed. I spent HOURS upon HOURS on that bed. This was in a day when if someone would have said one day there will be a reproduction metal cab for these trucks they would have been punched in the mouth for being so friggin stupid. There was NOTHING available for them, they were a bastard step child of Chevrolet and got ZERO love, even from Chevy guys, ZERO love. The reason I bring that up is to brag, my bed was so nice I had a few people at shows question me as to who I had make me the "new one." People thought it was brand new.

I decided I wasn't going to strip that sucker of all it's lacquer primer and redo it as much of the bondo would have to be redone and I am just not that enthusiastic about body work now as an old man. I sold that bed and bought a new Mar-K one.

Brian

[mr48chev]

I bought a truck to get the bed with those bed sides on it. Paid 75 for the whole truck and my buddy got the cab off it for his truck and he got the bed off the long bed that I paid 50 for to get the cab.

I missed out on what amounted to an NOS take off bed in the mid 70's by being an hour late getting there. Saw it listed in the paper took off to the address and they were cutting the wall out of the shed to pull it out when I got there. Absolutely perfect with the fenders. It had been taken off when the truck had been one or two days old to put a service body on the truck and then the truck had been traded off a few years later with the service body on it.

I've probably looked at 200 beds over the years looking for that super nice one. the one those sides came off came the closest. A few years ago I drove close to miles with a pocket full of cash to look at one that the seller claimed was in in great shape only to point out to him that the one on my truck (I was driving the 48) that I wanted to replace was in far better shape than his was and then get cussed out because he said he knew what he had. I had the bed that is on the truck now on it and had lumber in the back to lay across the rails to strap the other bed on top if I bought it. I did find a great little mom and pop cafe up close to where he was though.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I bought a truck to get the bed with those bed sides on it. Paid 75 for the whole truck and my buddy got the cab off it for his truck and he got the bed off the long bed that I paid 50 for to get the cab.

I missed out on what amounted to an NOS take off bed in the mid 70's by being an hour late getting there. Saw it listed in the paper took off to the address and they were cutting the wall out of the shed to pull it out when I got there. Absolutely perfect with the fenders. It had been taken off when the truck had been one or two days old to put a service body on the truck and then the truck had been traded off a few years later with the service body on it.

I've probably looked at 200 beds over the years looking for that super nice one. the one those sides came off came the closest. A few years ago I drove close to miles with a pocket full of cash to look at one that the seller claimed was in in great shape only to point out to him that the one on my truck (I was driving the 48) that I wanted to replace was in far better shape than his was and then get cussed out because he said he knew what he had. I had the bed that is on the truck now on it and had lumber in the back to lay across the rails to strap the other bed on top if I bought it. I did find a great little mom and pop cafe up close to where he was though.

That is a good way to look at life. I remember selling a 65 Buick Sport Wagon to a guy in Detroit. When talking to me on the phone about it and about him coming to California to see it. I told him, don't come to buy this car, come to visit San Francisco and walk out on the Golden Gate bridge and stuff. THEN after you have done that come look at the car and buy it if you want. He did, drove it back to Detroit and called me to tell me he went to the Buick dealership to show someone and the place emptied out to go see it!

It was the most rust free 65 Buick I ever had and between my brother and I we had owned a bunch of them!

Brian

[mr48chev]

Great story Brian. I've got a great looking OT car sitting out in the driveway that I think I am going to sell for pocket change to the wrecking yard next week because I just don't want some guy coming back whining about it's little issues that crop up. I've had too many people not read the add all the way though and think that they can get a bargain car that they can drive down the road even though it clearly says that it has to have the engine repaired or replaced and being a Northstar that is looking at 3 K to do right. I'd rather put a couple hundred in the VW and the rest in the shop or the 40 than spend it on a car that is worth less then what the engine cost when I am done. And I hate to have people mad because they think I misrepresented things.