1957 Chevy truck re-rebuild

[Stepside Jim]

Hi everyone. My name is Jim, I've wondered the posts for a while now. There's nothing like pictures of other projects to spark others imagination, or just to get you through some tough spots by seeing what others have gotten through.

The short history... My dad bought and went though this truck back in the early 80's. He had help, but I don't think anyone really had their heart into the project. Before he bought it, it did have a front subframe from an el-camino installed. This was a great start to getting this truck on the right track.

He had it for nearly 30 years and maybe put a couple hundred miles on it. He never had the confidence to drive it too far. For instance, the 327 had some worrying sounds, the charging system didn't work well, the carb had a bad hesitation, ect.

As a gift for all he had taught and instilled in me over the years I finally got a nice workshop put together so we brought it over for a total redo. The plan wasn't to go too far from original, just get it to a turn key reliable truck. He was retired and I really wanted him to be able to drive it to car shows and enjoy the day anytime he wanted take a drive.

Sad to say, he passed away 4 months into the project. That was Sept. 2010. It sat in my shop til a couple months ago and it's time to finish it as a memorial project.

It took a while for me to get my heart into the project, first, it wasn't my truck, and it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Once I got back into the project, I recalled all the things he wanted to change and upgrade, once I got going I would imagine the excitement on his face as I got working on it again and my heart warmed to the project.

Ok, let me grab a kleenex here....

Onto the present time.

I'll run a few pics of where I am now and go back in time on how I got to where I am. I have details pics of most of the progress, if anything perks interest, let me know, I probably have good learning pics.

Most of the work is not nearly as deep as some of the projects I've been viewing, such as Kims truck, wow.

One area I just finished is the rear tailgate and bumper. Dad wanted the chains gone and the taillights mounted somewhere other than on the old brackets.


More pics to follow.