Started My '53 for the First Time

[studda]

First off, sorry for the small novel I have written. Anyway, finally got a nice day here in the Midwest and was able to make some progress on my '53 4400. After more than an hour of rummaging through the shop for a screw to lock the points down, I finally buttoned up the engine and was able to hear it purr. The last time the truck was licensed was 1980 and I don't know how long it's been since it's been started. I replaced the 6 volt coil with a 12 volt internal resistor coil, replaced the points, and put a new condenser in it. Finally, I got fire from this beast and cleaned up the spark plugs, which were all mismatched. My dad primed the carb once while I was cranking it and it started immediately but ran only about five seconds. We did this about five times and, when my dad plugged the carb with his hand while cranking, it started sucking gas through the carb on its own. By this point, when it finally started feeding itself gas, I turned off the choke and stepped out of the cab to walk around the front to hear it smoothly idling and I know now that it's a running truck and that I WILL NOT be transplanting the body onto more modern running gear. The truck has 40K on it and doesn't smoke at all. Later today, I'm getting a new radiator hose, filling up the radiator, and will change the oil to take my maiden voyage.