Our Trucks Doing What They Did - Vintage Photo Thread

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Look at all of that shiny metal, with no rustproofing at all.

It probably has an oil residue from the stamping process or a cosmoline type preservative applied.

It would be greasy if you touched it.

K

[Tempest67]

that is a really cool pic,

are those the door hinges on the floor of the truck?

[_Ogre]

1p2m posted this. i just noticed, all the drivers are women. no rest for the family when the crops come in. grandma is probably fixin lunch

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

It probably has an oil residue from the stamping process or a cosmoline type preservative applied.

It would be greasy if you touched it.

K

that would be in the assembly shop, no grease or cosmo on any metal there.
next stop is the paint shop
unfortunately there's also no rust preventative, thus our trucks can be in pretty bad shape

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

It probably has an oil residue from the stamping process or a cosmoline type preservative applied.

It would be greasy if you touched it.

K

Obviously there was not enough rust proofing. Spoken by a former TF owner.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

that would be in the assembly shop, no grease or cosmo on any metal there.
next stop is the paint shop
unfortunately there's also no rust preventative, thus our trucks can be in pretty bad shape

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Obviously there was not enough rust proofing. Spoken by a former TF owner.

I apologize for playing this card, but I must respectfully disagree.

I spent 40 years putting Chevy and GMC pickups together. I have launched product in Flint (where I started my career in 1979), Janesville, Pontiac, St Louis and Oshawa. Plus Ft Wayne, Arlington, Silao, Mishawaka (H2), Hamtramck (Volt) and Wentzville (G van). Plus four GM pre-production shops (Pre Production Operations at the Tech Center, Chevy Central Office, the truck Validation Center in Pontiac, and one secret skunkworks).

The two of you are confusing the temporary corrosion protection which was used to prevent rust while the parts are being put together with the more comprehensive protection (ie, primer) which was intended to protect the vehicle in the field.

After the body is assembled the temporary greases and oils are washed off and the vehicle is prepared for paint. Back then the primer would have been sprayed, which would leave a lot of uncovered sheetmetal particularly in inaccessible areas inside layers or around corners, resulting in the performance you both experienced. My '74 Chevelle (built in Oshawa), which I have owned since new, has bare metal inside the trunk and under the package tray to this day.

The introduction of ELPO dip tanks in the late 1970s, with the addition of galvanized metal, greatly helped in this regard. In fact, in the H2 plant in Mishawaka, the bodys were "tumbled" end over end to ensure all the air gets out and all the areas are covered.







At one point in my professional life I had design/release responsibility for C/K pickup cab and box sheetmetal and G Van underbody structure. Somewhere I have pictures of G Van front of dash assemblies I had made in support of a prototype build in the Wentzville assembly plant (I spent all summer there that year), staged and waiting to be introduced into the assembly process (that's another story for another day). They had my handwriting on the firewall. Sadly, I couldn't find them quickly enough to post here and I fear I may have lost them when I had to turn my laptop in when I retired.

At any rate - those parts were greasy. It gets pretty smoky in there by the end of the day.

K

[Russell Ashley]

Keith, comments you see in this forum are usually about 47-59 Chevy and GM trucks, but most any comments about GM trucks are welcome. I appreciate the improvements that GM has made in rust prevention but there wasn't any in the older trucks. They were built to rust out but usually were beat up and worn out before rusting apart, as trucks were bought to use back then. Thanks for the pictures and information, but the rust proofing must have started after the seventies, as the bed of most every mid-seventies GM truck around the Atlanta area rusted through above the rear wheels within a few years. My 96 Silverado has never had any rust at all, so things have improved.

[_Ogre]

hey neighbor! are you n,s,e or w side? i'm out in Novi
do you get to bakers or schoolcraft vfw?

i never put a truck together other than my 58, but i spent a few years managing wash and e-coat dip tank conveyor installations. i seriously doubt trucks thru the 60s got much more than a cursory wipe down before paint. our buddy martin sr would be able to clarify, but he's busy elsewheres i believe.
i remember walking into an empty pontiac truck and bus plant #6 for the gmt 800 project and walking out 2 years later where you needed a map to go thru the maze.

my 09 sierra cab is rust free, but the bed is falling apart and has serious cancer around the wheels. my next trip to texas may find a new bed on it. driving in salt country sucks

[MiraclePieCo]

Ironic that the school would misspell "buses."

.

[MARTINSR]

I love it! Have such great memories of riding one of those old school buses through the farms to school.

Brian

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

hey neighbor! are you n,s,e or w side? i'm out in Novi
do you get to bakers or schoolcraft vfw?

I'm up in Clarkston; within walking distance of the venue formerly known as Pine Knob.

K

[MiraclePieCo]

Tough day for TFs.

[MARTINSR]

Damn, that first one is creepy! The people in that one did NOT do well, wow! Notice the windshield is gone! That happened a lot with those gasket windshields, I saw it personally happen just fifty or so feet away from me while I was putting gas in my truck once! It was an old ice cream truck, they rear ended at 75ish Chrysler at the light and the driver of the icecream truck went out through the windshield landing on the trunk of the Chrysler, he did NOT do well.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

And that truck looks like it was damn near brand new!


Brian

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Damn, that first one is creepy! The people in that one did NOT do well, wow! Notice the windshield is gone! That happened a lot with those gasket windshields, I saw it personally happen just fifty or so feet away from me while I was putting gas in my truck once! It was an old ice cream truck, they rear ended at 75ish Chrysler at the light and the driver of the icecream truck went out through the windshield landing on the trunk of the Chrysler, he did NOT do well.

Brian

In our trucks an accident this severe would leave terrible injuries. Not sure if you'd have been better off staying IN the cab or being ejected out!

Hard metal steering wheel, protruding metal knobs, gas tank in there with you and the rubber hose to the filler would get hard as plastic after awhile and break with a severe impact potentially spraying gas all over. Yikes.

As much as I LOVE our trucks we shouldn't kid ourselves about their safety, or lack thereof. Even with my tank moved out and shoulder belts in my big window cab it is only marginally safer than before. Maybe my face/teeth wouldn't meet the steering wheel/dash but nothing is designed to "collapse" nor is the engine going under the cab in a bad impact. No door beams, nada. The engine or another vehicle is coming straight into ME!

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

In our trucks an accident this severe would leave terrible injuries. Not sure if you'd have been better off staying IN the cab or being ejected out!

Hard metal steering wheel, protruding metal knobs, gas tank in there with you and the rubber hose to the filler would get hard as plastic after awhile and break with a severe impact potentially spraying gas all over. Yikes.

As much as I LOVE our trucks we shouldn't kid ourselves about their safety, or lack thereof. Even with my tank moved out and shoulder belts in my big window cab it is only marginally safer than before. Maybe my face/teeth wouldn't meet the steering wheel/dash but nothing is designed to "collapse" nor is the engine going under the cab in a bad impact. No door beams, nada. The engine or another vehicle is coming straight into ME!

Without a doubt, I drive my old cars as if I am riding a motorcycle, they aren't much different safety wise. It cracks me up when customers at work will be mad because of how their late model car is "made of plastic" and doesn't hold up to a crash like an old "solid" car would. I will explain often about how their car "absorbed the energy" so THEY didn't have to. Hopefully they "get it."
When I go to help them clear out a car that has been deemed a total loss I will always pat the car with my hand and say "Thank you for doing your job and absorbing the energy for Mrs. Smith and her children." I will see a look on their face often, they "get it!"

The other day I was doing this with a lady and her three kids who were in the car when it was wrecked. They were 3, 5 and 8 and the oldest was a girl who was very interested in how the car was built and all that. She asked me a few questions on things like how is the bumper held on and stuff like that. I loved it, and showed her the bag of clips and bolts and things and explained it to her. I also showed her the crumple zone that had collapsed in the frame that absorbed energy for her and her mommy and brother and sister. She was SO interested! Her mommy asked if all her questions she had asked the night before were answered and she said yes. It was so damn cute. Mommy then took a selfie of them all in front of the car! Damn they made my day!

I have a bunch of Hotwheels cars at my desk in the office that I give to kids who are there with their mommy or daddy getting estimates or dropping their car off for repair. I like to make this crappy thing into something better for them.

The kids out at the total were all holding the Hotwheels cars up in the selfie that I had given them. LOLOLOLOL

Brian

[nvrdone]

ok, i just read this to my wife. we agree that Brian is a great guy in taking time to explain crumple zones etc to kids and parents. Yes, Newer cars are much safer than our old tin, but maybe not as much fun to drive. Keep at it Brian, educating those folks one by one.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

ok, i just read this to my wife. we agree that Brian is a great guy in taking time to explain crumple zones etc to kids and parents. Yes, Newer cars are much safer than our old tin, but maybe not as much fun to drive. Keep at it Brian, educating those folks one by one.

Thanks, I enjoy working with the customers on a one to one basis. I have a 2018 Subaru in the shop right now that the lady who owns it was told by her mother in law who is out of town that she could drive her 65 Mustang Convertible while her Subaru is being repaired. We had a great time talking about that! I joked with her "I hope you aren't mad at me when I call to tell you your Subaru is done" and she laughed saying she might just be! She is really enjoying driving the convertible.

Brian

[Russell Ashley]

When I would be driving my 57 truck the most common remark I got was "Man, they don't make them like that any more." My most common reply was, we all should be glad that they don't.

[_Ogre]

no one survived that 1st wreck pic. martin sr hit it, no crumple zones, no seat belts, metal dashes and virtually no built in safety. i wished i had a couple pics of the 58 i rolled back in 75. the A-pillars folded up like they were made of silly putty, lucky for me it was a small window, the B-pillars didn't collapse or the whole roof would have gone flat with 2 of us in it.

[MiraclePieCo]

I just checked: hard to believe that a Toyota Prius actually weighs more than a 1955 Chevy pickup, so would push the Chevy truck backward in a crash.

1955 Chevy 1/2-ton truck: 3355 lbs
2021 Toyota Prius: 3378 - 3406 lbs (depending on option package, per Car and Driver magazine)

[MiraclePieCo]

Moss Heavy Haul:

[Palf70Step]

Seriously cool picture.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Moss Heavy Haul:

that is a cool pic, any idea where it was taken?
i was driving up nort a couple weeks ago, thinking that you rarely see a line of traffic behind a truck, like you see in that pic or used to see in the 60s. i remember road trips in the family wagon where we'd get behind a half mile of cars, going up hill at 20 mph. those old trucks were seriously underpowered compared to today's trucks.

[mick53]

On my last job we had 5 tanks 18' diameter 155' long. we closed down US 30 for 3 hours getting them on site. Some people just didn't understand.