Memorial Day tow - my new treasure! lots o pics!

[jewels.]

my granddad, as long as i can remember, has had this old chevy truck sittin in the back of his yard... he always liked to hide it from view... behind trees or the garages or somethin.... but my grandmother died last year, and he is on a "cleanin frenzy mad-rage".... he finally told my family either come get the truck or he is cuttin it up for scrap iron! (and thats NOT because the price of scrap iron has increased - he could care less! )

so, after much discussion, the family decided i should get the truck since i have already restored one classic (my 68 chevy stepside)... so - free truck! now - keep in mind, i didnt know the condition of this vehicle, or any history or anything about it... i just remember this rusty old truck sittin in his backyard when i was a kid...

well, i had granddad measure the outside perimeter of the old beast.... then josh and i packed up with a trailer, and lots of straight-six parts (cause he said it was a six-cylinder)... and took off for his place over Memorial Day weekend...

wow!!!
WHAT A GEM!!!
lots of really cool things about this truck....
its a 1958 Longbed Stepside.... the rear stepside fenders fell off years ago (he said they were flapping as you drove down the road, and were only attached by the braces underneath).... he replaced them with some homemade versions... he also replaced some sheet metal where the grill rusted off... but he has a lot of the original parts he took off... the original bumpers, original headlight buckets, and he even has the original fuel pump which he switched out recently (lets see - recently means 15 years ago).... when he replaced parts on the truck, he did it right - no bondo, no major cutting - just a little spotwelding here and there....

there are lots of crazy options on the truck that are worth money, i believe... (you guys will have to let me know) one is the wrap-around back window... another is the FACTORY RADIO!!!?!? (not even my 68 came with a radio)... i was floored! and he was gonna cut her up!!! i couldnt believe my eyes...

it has been well taken care of... cause it took less than 15 minutes to pull it right up on the trailer with a chain and my granddad's other truck (its the red one in the background of the pics below)... the wheels must have been well greased... and only one tire was flat (we found the nail hold in it).... they look like the original tires!

oh -and the engine --- its not even been touched.... there are less than 70K miles on the thing... its got the oil bath breather on it, some kind of oil filter where you can "put in a roll of toilet paper" if you wanted (according to my granddad).... and some kind of vent-breathing tube on the side of the engine that acts as what we would call a modern PCV valve these days.... sooooo exciting!

i know he is the second owner of the truck - and he bought it from a business in town that used to use it as a work truck - the business swept out cold-air-coal furnaces, i guess.... and he apparently parked the truck because when he hit a curb, he bent a tie-rod, and it was gonna cost more to fix the tie rod that it was worth.... (altho there is some arguement as to whether he bent an axel here as well, so i'll have to investigate further).... they still drove it around the yard and used it as a work truck after that....

the pics below are kinda crappy (it was just my $20 camera from walmart)... but i'm gonna borrow the camera from work and take some more tonight since it is now off the trailer in my driveway.... i guess i'm gonna become a regular reader of the 55-59 chevy truck board (did i get the years right there?) cause i know practically NOTHING about these trucks...

if you have any questiongs, or suggestions, or things i should look for, let me know!

thanks!
enjoy!
ciao!
jewels.