My 1968 C30 Wrecker rebuild

[irl104]

It's been a while since I have posted. In September and October I went through the winch and replaced bearings and seals. I got the worm gear drive tolerances to specs. A big thanks to Jim Watkins from Winches Inc. in Odessa, Texas. I was kept busy doing the finishing touches.

Then in November I had to go through the Chelsea PTO. It was heavily worn and I replaced misc. parts, bearings and seals. A Huge thank you To Ron Warren of Ron's Drivelines in Gainsville, Georgia. A super nice and honest guy to deal with.

[flashed]

Looks great .

[irl104]

I was able to get a bargain on a set of tires and found my flaps and inner tubes on ebay. I had Kevin Wiser from Mooresville, IN. (painter and bodyman) hand paint the lettering as it was originally done.

[irl104]

With the lettering complete, it was all coming together. A huge sense of accomplishment. Today I got the tires mounted and balanced and put on the truck. Finally off jack stands and sitting on rubber. I'm so happy. I still need to mount my mirrors and load on winch cable. Might have to wait for spring for that. Not sure.

[Aberdare]

A truly exceptional build... the truck looks like it just appeared through a time portal.

Abe

[Moose Monkey]

Wow..... Show room fresh. Looking great.

[irl104]

Thanks for the comments.

[72 tigger]

Very nice wrecker- has to feel good to almost be done

[Hubscrub]

I love it, love wreckers I was involved with my uncles towing business for awhile when I was younger. Unfortunately they have passed and the business fell apart. My dream is to do something similar in his memory I'm sure your family is proud.

[IRQVET]

The amount of work this takes . . . I can only imagine. Very cool build but I have to say I think your my new hero. The amount of detail work must have been a real S.O.B but man-o-man what a transformation.

Sit back and have a beer, you've definitely earned it

[Dustmaker65]

Just read the thread from the beginning....all I can say is WOW!!! Very nice work and attention to detail!

[LT7A]

So cool. Cool truck with a great history

[flashed]

Now we need a full photo of the finished truck . If you are ever in Chattanooga Tennessee you should visit the Tow Truck Museum ,you wont be disappointed .You might even send them pics of yours with the story behind it and they may want to display it there .

[projectking]

Beautiful truck, nice touch with the hand painted logos!

[irl104]

Thank you all for the comments and words of encouragement. Again, I can't say enough about this forum and the people that are here. A very knowledgeable and kind group is an understatement.
It has been a complete challenge throughout the build, both physical and mentally. It sure would have been a lot easier building a pickup truck for sure. I even wanted to buy a pickup bed for it and restore it as well, in case I wanted to take the wrecker bed off of it. Now I'm realizing that the wrecker bed will stay on it. It's so much of my families history. The build brought back so many fond memories at the shop for me. I can't wait for spring to get it out on the road for a 50 year anniversary of the truck itself.
I do want to go to the museum. I'm not sure if that is the Holmes wrecker museum or just a wrecker museum. I need to do some more research on my end. Many years ago men from Holmes came and looked at our wreckers and had discussions with my grandpa and grandma, Tommy and Ruth Allen, my dad and his twin brother, Dick and Bob Allen, over the low profile design of the wrecker beds, ease of use, and safety. Then Holmes made changes to theirs.

[nuke1]

Looks great!!!! love the style Reminds me of childhood. lol

[leisure67]

Wow! That is nice. You did a great job on it!

[RCbowtie69]

Sweet!!!!!Great build,keep on truckin'

[irl104]

My buddy Gary came over to haul it for me. We took my truck to my mechanic week ago today. He's going to get it running and fine tune it, bleed the brakes, and finish up the exhaust. Can't wait to get it back.

[irl104]

I got my truck back from my mechanic, Ed Tackett from Tackett's Garage on Wednesday. He adjusted the valves, did some tuning, and got it running. Bleed and adjusted the brakes, and clutch. Took it today to Meade's Performance Muffler and they finished up the exhaust.

[irl104]

It was a warm day today and got to do some more work on it. A few more pictures.

[flashed]

I love it ,very cool truck .

[outfield]

Awesome truck all the way around. Attention to detail is amazing, nice work!

[Richard2112]

That sir, is some exceptional work. The C30 is an absolute gem.

I would like to ask a couple questions. I am building a 70 C30 and really like the wrecker style but need a flatbed.

I would like to know if those rear fenders are available through a supplier as individual components or if they are only available with the bed.

Also, I very much like the mirror set-up and the arms. Though I have looked at many online, it's difficult to tell if they are the same as the ones you are using. Are those same assemblies available aftermarket?

I like the 68 grille also and am considering replacing my 70 with a 68. Looks like it should fit but not sure.

Nice build.

[irl104]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Richard.

The wrecker bed was homemade by my grandfather. The rear fenders are not available that I know of. I know the bed plate is 1/2" steel and the back rear panel is 3/16" steel. I don't have the measurements for the wheel wells at this moment. If you have the resources and the equipment you could build one yourself or have it built for that old school look.

The mirrors I haven't installed yet. They are factory GM mirrors that were available from 1967 to 1972 and later years. They are DG5 Senior West Coast Mirrors. It took me a long while to find them and they were on ebay.

The grill inserts and headlight bezels are steel and not the polished aluminum type. I believe if you change your grill to the 1968 you will have to change your core support also. The headlight mounts are different. 1967 and 1968 are the same. 1969 to 1972 are the same. If you look on my post on page 2 with the post date of 11-20-2016 with time of 4:55 The first picture #1 is with the correct 68 grill and core 67-68 support. The next picture down #2 it is missing the headlight bezels. They wouldn't fit. The core support that I put in it was for a 69-72. If you look at the headlights they are not centered in the hole. It puts the headlight very high in that area. The bezels would not fit. That's why I had to buy a reproduction core support. The wrong one 69-72 was an original. I was upset to say the least, but I didn't know after it was all assembled. Going down to picture #5 shows a closer look at the wrong 69-72 core support installed. I hope some of this helps you.