Project: Fatso's Ghost

[FATSO64]

Been scanning the forum for a month or two now trying to come up with a plan for my 64 Step side. I figured I'd introduce myself and give a little backstory with an outlook to what I'm hoping to accomplish in the future on this project.

This 64 was purchased by my father back in 1973 from its original owner as my father once told me. My uncle painted the truck in the mid-seventies with a basic enamel that was what I would call a metallic root-beer color after molding fender flairs to all four fenders with at least 1/2" worth of bondo. The truck was stollen from my father shortly after painting, but was recovered a few days later, minus some wheels and a few parts.

I came into the picture in 1981 and have seen the truck go through 30 years of abuse, and poor repairs/modifications my father made in those years. The truck is on its third or fourth engine (that I can remember). I believe its a 327 (approx.) out of an Olds Cutlass circa the late 70's. Three speed automatic trans with floor shifter and I believe the stock rear end with a posi upgrade that was done in the late 90's.

Jump to the beginning of this past March, my father past away at 75 years, leaving me his collection of tools, trailers, junk, and above all, the truck which I grew up in.

The truck had a dead battery when I attempted to drive it to my house for storage (didn't want it stollen), so I got it all charged up and started. Then...The brakes wouldn't work. This puzzles me because my father drove it about 2 weeks before I tried to move it. Non-the-less, I towed it to my place and its been sitting in my garage for the last two months or so.

Been tinkering with the truck here and there trying to figuring out what to do with the thing. I know I want to keep it. But the question is do I just get it up and "running" (all 8 miles a gallon running) or do I want to do the truck some justice and give it "NEW LIFE"?

After negotiating with the misses, the truck is going to get a new life! It'll just take a while.

Here's the plans as of today:

Full body off rebuild. Full Porterbuilt Suspension all around, with Accuair air management system. Wilwood 14" front disks, with 12" in rear. Gas tank relocation under bed, but still needing to retain the use of a towing hitch.
Power train will be 6.2L LS3 E-ROD crate engine with TCI 6X Six Speed Electronic Transmission with paddle shifting. Wheels are unknown as of now, but i know the tires will need to be at least a 40 series. No rubber bands!
Paint color is still to be determined, but the old man always wanted a bright orange color like Allan's 65. Not sure about that color, too loud for my tastes, but thats way down the line.

I know this is a long sob story, but its one I think I need to tell. As much as my father and I didn't get along, I still loved the old man and his 64. Hence, the projects name; Fatso's Ghost. My fathers nickname in the family was always Fatso, and I feel he's going to be watching me tear his truck apart piece by piece cursing at me the whole way (lol).

The pictures posted are the way the truck was left for me...a real mess.

[monolith]

Nice truck, sorry for your loss, and you've GOT to keep those flares in the finished project!.

[1966Stepside]

Cool truck. I dig those bumpers and the roof rack. Gives it some personality. And the patina is pretty nice too. It's cool to have a truck stay in the family like that.

[FATSO64]

Pulled the dash cluster out and found ALL the wiring (which was fairly new, only 5 years old or so) to be completely damaged. Apparently after all the adding of aftermarket gauges and other components, my father did a hack job on the harness. Couldn't find one wire that didn't have some sort of fray or melting of insulation on it. I am absolutely surprised the truck didn't burn down! I forgot to get some pictures of the harness itself.
Removed all the wiring, switches, seat, junk and dirt from the old truck to find what appears to be a rust free floor. I would hope it's all good under the paint and primer being a So. Cal vehicle all these years. I still need to remove the gas tank for that added leg room I need, but that'll wait until later.
Sat in the truck for a little bit, day dreaming, and came up with an idea for the dash design. I really like the 55-59 Dakota Digital VHX gauge and think it would look cool to smooth out the dash, bring the top dash contour to a v-shape in the center of the dash and mount the older v-shaped gauge cluster in the center of the dash. I think I'll try sketching a design and scan it so people can see what I mean and get some opinions.
One other thought I had was more of question. Has anyone seen the cab lengthened enough, taking up the space of the side step? Not adding a "extended cab window" or door, but rather lengthening the actual doors? Just my imagination running wild I guess.

[FATSO64]

Oh yeah, heres a picture of the Bondo flairs!

[Dinos63]

cool start and welcome kat!