"Tribute Truck" 1951 Chevy 3800 build

[thebooger13]

Hey guys/gals I'm a newbie to the site and want to show you my truck that I picked up a couple of months ago. It's a 1951 Chevy 3800 that I found after months of looking at craigslist almost on a nightly basis. After checking out a few rust buckets and alot of very incomplete/molested(can I say that on here? lol) trucks, I found this one, hiding in a garage up near Green Bay, WI. The guy I bought it from bought it from a gentleman down the road from him who used it as a farm truck for many years and then parked it in the barn when it quit running. I bought it as you see in the pics below on the day i brought it home. The truck doesn't run but it came with an extra(non-running) engine and trans in the bed. The truck is so complete/ rust free it blew me away when I first looked at it. The only thing that is missing is the seat cushions that the "wonderful" mice decided to make their home in.

As far as my plans for the truck, I haven't yet decided what I want to do. I've got a couple of ideas though. I've seen very nice restored trucks like this one and thought it would be great to have one myself. Just to cruise around in and take to the occasional show. And then I went to a local tractor/truck pull and watched a heavily modded '52 Chevy 4x4 tear up the track with a built big block under the hood. That was some cool $#!+ to see. So that got me thinking of using a truck that I had bought for a cheap mud truck as a newer 4x4 chassis for this '51 body. It would get better mileage(hopefully) and be more streetable for longer trips with power steering and brakes and such.

I'm sure some of you are wondering about the title "Tribute Truck", well, my grandfather has, I would say, "semi-restored" some old trucks over the years. About a dozen or so, which he still has. Chevys, Fords, Internationals, and a few odd ducks like a rare 37 or 38 Plymouth, a '36 Indiana, and '28 Stoughton. He keep mostly to the 20's and 30's trucks and has one '47 Chevy 3100 in his stable. With all of this work, he has done most of it himself, slowly over time, with out too much help. He does all his own body repairs(however sometimes not very professional or especially good looking) they get the job done. He has painted I believe all but two or three trucks himself, and only sent out two engines to the machine shop to get overhauled. So with this truck I'm going to build this truck the same way my grandpa does his, by himself, with what he has available, building the truck the way he wants, not worrying if its perfect or 100% original, and driving it around not being ashamed of the work he did. I can remember what he said to me after the first few trucks he built were done and ready(ish) for the road. "It may not be pretty, but I built it." So all in all I'm dedicating this truck to my Grandpa, for teaching me to not be ashamed of who I am or what I do. And to my late Grandma, who was always proud of me(except for the time I cracked my head open while playing at their house). She passed when I was 7 or 8 and from what I can remember she always had a smile on her face. She loved playing solitare on the dinning room table(not on the computer) and it seemed like she always had a game going on. Thank you both for all the memories past, and those yet to come.

Now here are a few pictures I took the day I brought the "Tribute Truck" home.