Keeping them stock

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

While I agree with you in general the truth is that what has changed is our expectations. If you're young enough to have driven power assisted disc brakes your entire driving life, then yes manual drum brake may well be dangerous.

If you allow for their greater pedal effort, longer stopping distances and adjust your speed, following distances, etc for them then you're a LOT safer than a person driving one of these that doesn't do that.

Having said all that? I'd only have single pot manual drum brakes on a restored show car. If I planned on street driving it, I'd go with dual reservoir front disc brakes no matter if the rest of the vehicle was dead stock.

It's very simple, you leave more room!

You know the funny thing, I have been in the autobody collision industry for 35 years. Back when the ABS brakes hit (25 years ago?) I remember talking with some other shop owners in town at the paint store, we thought our business was over, we thought that with ABS brakes on every car on the road our business was over! How funny that is now!
The very large shop I work at is still filled with cars, 2.75 million dollars a year in sales, all with those ABS brakes. And you know why? Because people now drive to the very minimum stopping distance needed WITH the ABS brakes, just as they drove to the very minimum stopping distance with the drum brakes. NOTHING has changed! LOL I on the other hand drive my Rambler with 9" drum brakes leaving much more room, I arrive at virtually the same time as the guy leaving one car length with ABS.

Outside of if you are driving in the hills or towing trailers and drum brakes will heat up and become ineffective. Other than that, just normal driving, done it for years and years and years every single day. There is nothing to think about, you simply leave more room.

Funny this human being stuff.

Brian

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by Jack Guzman

Brian,
My buddy's mother drove a rambler back around the late 50s. I was in grammar school. I seem to remember a push button shifter? Does that sound right? Memory is a funny thing.---Jack

Your memory is correct in this case. My Dad had a 1962 Rambler Classic with push buttons. It was a neat car, had bucket seats and an aluminum engine.

[MARTINSR]

Wow, I didn't know Rambler had a push button shifter. I have never studied up on the Rambler much, and that surprised me, thanks for posting.

Mine is a three on the tree.

Brian

[gale]

Some Chrysler product also had push buttons for a while... may have been a DeSoto.

[Indian113]

I had a 64 with a 327 and push button shifter, I really loved driving that car.

[dubie]

i wanted to keep the stock feel to the truck but i think they look a lot better when they're lowered. So when I lowered mine, I used a dropped axle for the nostalgic feel. At the same time, nothing sounds better than a tuned small block rumbling through a dual exhaust system, so out when the 235 and in whent the 350. Along with making it go faster, I had to make it stop faster. That meant a power disc brake upgrade from the manual drum brakes. Other than lowering it, swapping the engine and transmission along with the braking system, mine is all stock

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by gale

Some Chrysler product also had push buttons for a while... may have been a DeSoto.

Yes there were a number of Chryslers and even Edsel, it was on the horn button!

Brian

[67GMCkid]

all 56- (early 65) Mopar automatics were push buttons, 56-62 had no park you used the emergency brake.. 63-65 Mopars had a lever that when pulled put them in park.. And yes 58 Edsels also used them but Edsels had park.

I have one drawer in my tool box devoted to spare p.b. shifter assy's

[mikec4193]

Originally Posted by Speedbumpauto

I think bone stock is a great way to go but not necessarilly a great way to stop.

My thoughts exactly....my plan...leave as much stock as possible...but make it able to stop way better than originally done...the rest is pretty cool stuff as it is...

MikeC

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by 67GMCkid

all 56- (early 65) Mopar automatics were push buttons, 56-62 had no park you used the emergency brake.. 63-65 Mopars had a lever that when pulled put them in park.. And yes 58 Edsels also used them but Edsels had park.

I have one drawer in my tool box devoted to spare p.b. shifter assy's

You are one year off. The Chrysler products had park starting in 62. Moving the lever to park automatically put the tranny in neutral.
Not to hijack the thread, but since the discussion has started, Mopar push buttons were mechanical and shifted through a cable, and were virtually trouble free. I've had 56,57,58,61,62,and 64's with buttons and loved them. The Edsel buttons were electric and very trouble prone.

[_Ogre]

i can appreciate stock, modified and full customs.
i can also say that after driving 55 to 59 chevy and gmc trucks (and 1 bus) for half a million miles
that i'd hate to drive the next half million miles at 55 mph with no ac, cc, pb, pw, ps, mp3, efi

[MARTINSR]

You know what's funny, I sold a perfectly good daily driver, a 65 Skylark two door hard top. I thought I HAD to have AC and power windows and what not, I just thought I HAD to have it. So I sold the car and bought a little late model hot rod, a Ford Taurus SHO. It was cool, but stupid crap like a crank sensor costing me $1700 wasn't my thing, the AC and what not all of a sudden didn't seem so important. I now drive this Rambler without anything, nothing, it's got an AM radio and a heater, that's it!

I love it, finding that I only REALLY need that AC a couple of days a year and I am just fine with my "AC" being a vent window. LOL

I honestly haven't missed a single thing, I drive a 55 year old car everyday and I love it. We are all different, this has worked well for me.


Brian

[gale]

I'm older than air conditioning so it's not a big thing when I don't have it.

Old Chevy trucks have a pop up vent on the cowl. A styrofoam cooler full of ice sitting in the floorboard makes great cool air.

I've had at least one Pug dog for the past 50 years and they don't handle heat very well. I wet a towel, wring it out, and spread it on the seat. The dog lies on it and cools down in minutes.

[G&R's57GMC]

A/C is mandatory in my neck of the woods during the summer for the searing heat and winter to defog the windows and dry your clothes !

No need in spring and fall.

Brakes ? We don't need no stink in' brakes ! Ah YAH we DO ! Other IDIOTS on the road force us to have them .

[Ozzy2013]

Originally Posted by Jack Guzman

I noticed here that almost everyone who starts a build gets an old truck and proceeds to replace everything inside and under it with modern hot rod equipment. I wanted an old truck because I like wrenching on my own equipment but hate what emission controls and computer technology has done to modern vehicles. I like being able to repair problems with a few simple hand tools and common sense. I drove an s-10 for years.I had to pay someone to diagnose and repair it.My 81 stepside short bed beater had a 250 with all the emission hoses bypassed and a manual choke.The truck rotted away and I didn't think it was worth restoring.I hated the body style.
I think these redone machines are nice to drive,nice to look at but that is a whole different area of interest. I like old trucks. Anybody got any stories,photos of builds that restored nice old trucks to their original condition?
I'd like to see someone try to drive one of those low riders on one of the gravel roads around here.---Jack

I agree to a point I wont be lowering mine but it will get power steering,Brakes and a big block!

[mr48chev]

I'd have to add, is there something special about it that raises the need for it to be restored to stock? That "special" could be that you just love stock trucks rather than modified trucks, it was Granddad's old truck and you want it just the way he drove it off the lot the day he bought it new and he and grandma and your mom or dad had their photo taken beside it by Aunt Jane at the family picnic. Special could also mean that it for one reason or another is a special and rare truck or was originally equipped with some rare options. I wouldn't want to modify a Napco conversion but would choose to restore it. I'd leave an original Cameo pretty much stock or all stock just because they are a rare model to begin with. Others would be fair game if they weren't pristine originals. I'm not about to buy someone's pristine stone stock truck or car and start modifying it no matter how much money I have to burn or if I come to believe that doing that will produce a much nicer modified truck with a lot less work.

[MARTINSR]

Back when I had a '64 Corvette coupe that I was restoring I remember seeing a full blown motored, tubbed 63 coupe that the guy built from a perfect restored car because he wanted a nice car to begin with. That dude should have been tied up and feathered!

Brian

[Jgowin]

Personally I like my old cars stock but lowered, that's not saying that I don't like upgrades like better brakes and improved power plants. I personally think if you add a big motor you should add improved brakes as well but if your staying with an inline 6 then your original brakes in good working order are fine. Don't get me me wrong I think anything that makes you stop better is a good investment. Personally I think old tech that actually works is pretty cool.

[buggy5872]

I have had many trucks and none of them were stock. Most were my daily drivers. Now that I have a few trucks set up for crusing or like Big Bertha I built to pull our camper, I am buildng a stock 59 NAPCO tuck. Its for my wife and she does not mind going 50mph. She can always take another from our fleet if she wants. There are a couple safety features like a dual master that I am putting on the NAPCO but I am trying to go mostly stock. I just love old trucks in any shape or form.

[Russell Ashley]

Jack, if you are planning on leaving it completely stock you had best stop checking in on this forum, LOL. You will see too many things that you will want to do and the project will snowball. The $$$$ will snowball too.

Speaking from experience...

[55metalmonkey]

I like them both stock and modified,
stock is nice from a nostalgic point of view but a modified hot rod is pretty cool and attracts attention. Everyone has that "my ideal truck" in their mind and it rarely matches up with what was put together on the assembly line back in the day.

As far as I'm concered it depends on what you start with.

If you are starting with a nice survivor it makes sence to keep it as a stock as possible if thats what your idea of "my ideal truck" is

If you are starting with something that is fairly rotted and has a lot of issues then going wild on the modifications isn't a problem in my mind.

Regardless of stock or modified, you are keeping a cool old truck rolling down the road.

[curmudgeon]

The Stovebolt site has a specific sub-forum for those hardy individuals that drive their most stock truck on a daily basis:

http://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/...oard=37&page=1

Personally, the world has changed too much in 60+ yrs. After driving my mostly stock '54 for a short time with only a front disc upgrade, I got tired of the non-synchro trans and high gearing, especially in an urban area with stop/go traffic. The sloshing gas tank behind the seat was not too reassuring as well.

I agree that the market for a completely stock truck is limited (at least in Calif) where 70 mph is the normal speed to drive. Part of the appeal of old trucks is that unlike cars, nobody desires a "numbers matching" example, thus most of us have no problems modifying to our personal tastes.

[gale]

If you keep any vehicle completely stock just for the sake of value it will need to be correct in every way and the value really goes up with documented history.

When you make one or two modifications it becomes a slippery slope and the value may skyrocket or plummet depending on craftsmanship and taste.

I have always modified my trucks and motorcycles to suit just ME. But apparently my taste and craftsmanship suit others because I've had numerous people offer to buy my toys when they aren't even for sale.

[Jack Guzman]

For city driving I can see having modern running gear. I live in the back woods of Maine and while my truck will be my daily driver,it will almost never drive on paved roads. For making trips to town we can use my wife's 2002 Merc Sable. I do carpentry on old farm houses in this area and my 51 will carry all my tools and transport them to job sites. Also I drive around the back roads with my dog looking for flea markets and stuff.
My first truck was a 68 international 1 ton flat bed.Then I had a 70 chevy 1/2 ton fleet side.After that it was a 64 3/4 ton chevy step side .That one I ran a 283 with a 4sp. I loved that truck but the salt ate it away from underneath.When that died I got an 81 chevy stepside for cheap money. I hated the body style and modern junk in it but I drove it while looking for a good truck. And then I found it. 1951 3100,235 4 sp. No bed on it so I built a wooden body to house my tools and carry furniture and stuff. I'm so happy to have all the original running gear in good working order I wouldn't dream of replacing any of it.
Basically what I plan is just fixing anything broken,repair all rust(there isn't much),all new rubber,brake parts,water and fuel lines and generally get it in as good shape as I can.
I don't think I will ever need another truck. I should be able to keep this one in good running condition. At least until they completely replace gasoline with something electronic and outlaw the sale and use of gasoline. Even then I can just hitch a horse to the front of it and pull it around. A one horse chevy.
BTW. I do plan on building a garage for the 51. I will start once the snow is gone.Also salt prevention and regular removal is necessary around here.---Jack

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

The Stovebolt site has a specific sub-forum for those hardy individuals that drive their most stock truck on a daily basis:

http://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/...oard=37&page=1

Personally, the world has changed too much in 60+ yrs. After driving my mostly stock '54 for a short time with only a front disc upgrade, I got tired of the non-synchro trans and high gearing, especially in an urban area with stop/go traffic. The sloshing gas tank behind the seat was not too reassuring as well.

I agree that the market for a completely stock truck is limited (at least in Calif) where 70 mph is the normal speed to drive. Part of the appeal of old trucks is that unlike cars, nobody desires a "numbers matching" example, thus most of us have no problems modifying to our personal tastes.

Forums and sites can target different groups, Stovebolt.com is definitely has a more restorer base. I use to hang out there a lot and it's a GREAT forum. I highly recommend it if more stock is what you are after.

Brian