Interest check - 1956 GMC 4x4 1-ton

[botboy]

Went up to pick up my girlfriend up past bemidji minnesota on friday and stopped to see a truck I saw sitting in a field, and talked to the owner.

Truck is a '56 GMC, green with not much left of the interior. Truck has standard rust in floors and corners, and in the headlight vicinity - nothing I wouldn't expect (I did have a '58 Chevy Apache so I'm all too familiar with where they rust). Front grille is gone, grille surround a little dented. Was originally a AAA salvage truck and still has the stickers, original wrecker (I presume a tulsa) has long since disappeared and has a homebuilt contraption on it to lift cars with. Also has a plow and full electricly operated hydraulics on the front to run it (which is why the grille is gone). Has military spec tires on all 4 corners, eaton rear (looks like an HO52), divorced T-case, SM420, and some strange lockouts on the front (I've never seen anything like them before). Has the original poncho engine, he thought it was something like a 262 CI V8, starts right up and runs good. I assume this is a factory 4x4, like a napco. The current owner bought it from AAA after they had used it for about 15 years.

He wants $1000 for it, might be able to negotiate for less. Truck certainly needs a little work but nothing I can't handle. What is reasonable to expect for something like this if I were to buy it, fix it up a little and resell it? Or went over the bodywork completely and repaired the fenders and floors then tried to sell it? Should I go for it? I would love the truck now but I gotta pay for college and a profitable buy/sell would be awfully nice.

[BobS]

Botboy,

If you don't buy it, I'd be interested in taking a look at it. I've been looking for a NAPCO but I don't want to get stuck with a bunch of worthless junk. As for this being a good project to fix up and sell for a profit, I'd be cautious. Other than the running gear the truck is probably worth about $200. You could end up putting a lot of money and work into the body and still have only the running gear be worth anything to a prospective buyer. If the running gear is worn out, it's worth it's weight as scrap. This being a 56 would mean that it wasn't factory installed, it may have been installed by NAPCO or an upfitter which is good, or it may have been installed by someone who just threw it together and left out the small details and or used pieces other than what NAPCO had available.....that's bad. If it turns out that you've got useless running gear and have put a bunch of money into the body, you could end up with a $12-1500 truck. Just be careful, $1000 isn't a bad price for this truck if you want to keep it and work on it over the next 10 years as your financial situation improves, just keep in mind that every time you move you've got to account for another vehicle that can't make it anywhere on it's own. I've got a 67 Camaro that's followed me around the country since 1986, it's cost me more in transportation and storage costs than it will probably ever be worth! I would not buy the truck as a project to make money on, vehicles like this with hard to find parts can be real money pits.

Bob

[botboy]

are there any places I can see pictures of factory napco running gear to compare this against what I've seen on the truck?

[1969 GMC]

search google, there is a big Napco interest website, and the name eludes me.

but it will be pretty easy to look at the front axle to see if its a Napco. It will have a round diff with a dropout third member, which I am almost 100% sure is based on the Eaton H052/72 axle in the rear. No other GM front axle looks like this, so if it is simply a '56 body on a late model chassis it will be easy to spot. Also, one of the biggest ID's will be the "NAPCO" cast into the long driver side tube of the axle, right in the front where you can see it.

[Apache]

Sorry to get off the subject of the running gear, but I found this cool NAPCO.
http://www.napco4x4.org/clay.htm
Thats one BIG truck!!

[1969 GMC]

thanks, that is the website i was talking about.

most people think napco stopped making trucks in the 50's, but they were made well into the 70's. here is a link to a '73: http://www.napco4x4.org/owens.htm

[BobS]

In case you miss the link at the bottom of the NAPCO page:

http://www.fortunecity.com/business/ballmer/161/

It has some exploded view drawings.

Bob