Project "Black Betty" (bam-A-lam)

[likaroc13]

Hey guys, starting a new build thread for "Black Betty" since the pics from my old thread got messed up on Photobucket. I guess it kinda works out better anyway since plans have changed a little. To give a little background info, I found her on Craigslist while living in Pensacola, FL in 2009. At first the price was too steep, & I held off looking. Probably a couple months or so passed when I saw it available once again but with a more reasonable price. So I emailed about it to get more pics/info. After conversing for about a week through email, I was ready to take a look. However, when I called he told me that he thought he had a buyer. I was bummed. He told me I could still come look anyway, but I didn't want to go and get my hopes up. Well, about a week passed and he called me back. The guy still hadn't showed up or given any money. I later found out this guy (can't remember the name) lives in TX and travels the country buying selling 60-66 truck/Burb stuff. I went to look the truck over in person and made an offer the following day. Thankfully he accepted, & we proceeded with the sale. I was very happy, as I had sold my custom '93 Chevy C-1500 in 2007, hoping to find a cheap daily driver. That would also allow me the funds to look for a truck to replace the '64 my dad sold. This is the first antique truck I personally bought on my own. So, sometimes good things do come back around when you least expect it

[likaroc13]

the truck originally had a 283, which the previous owner replaced due to oil consumption. He replaced it with a '66 year model 327 small block because he wanted to keep the engine date relevant to the truck. The engine was purchased via Ebay from a rebuilder somewhere in Oregon. It has the Edelbrock Performer polished intake manifold, Edelbrock 600 carb, Power Pack heads, Mallory Unilite distributor, Taylor plug wires, & Pertronix FlameThrower coil. Other than that, the engine is pretty stock. The transmission is an automatic 2-spd Powerglide. The rear has 3.73 gears, which causes this ole gal to hum pretty good going down the highway.

[theastronaut]

Very nice, this has always been one of my favorite trucks! I managed to stumble upon your photobucket album quite awhile back when searching for 64-66 pics. The all black color combo is killer too! What are your plans?

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Very nice, this has always been one of my favorite trucks! I managed to stumble upon your photobucket album quite awhile back when searching for 64-66 pics. The all black color combo is killer too! What are your plans?

Thanks, i'm trying to work backwards adding pictures/info from the beginning to now. I'm finding this to be more difficult than I anticipated, lol. Now the photo gallery here is not being kind and uploading my pics. I wanted to link them from here, just to make sure the links don't get broken from Photobucket. I will be updating as I go, filling in the gaps with the build progress. Trying to keep everything in order, so I will post the plans shortly. It's kinda fun pretending like i'm living in 2009 again.

[likaroc13]

Here's some pics of the exterior after I got her home. As you can see, it has the big back window and Custom Cab trim. The truck was originally the light blue with white top, according to the tag on the kick panel area. It was repainted red at some point and is now obviously black. It has the typical lower front fender rust, some minor bubbling at the bottom passenger door corners, minor inner rocker rust, and minor but typical rust on the front hood panel. The paint is not perfect by any means, however it's nice enough for a driver. It has the door crease on the driver's door which happens when door checks wear out causing the door to swing open too far. As for the bed, some goober did a poor job of filling in the backup light holes . It's only visible when the lighting hits it just right.

[likaroc13]

As you can see in this pic, the front bumper was tweaked on the driver's side:





And the bed wood is old, but it's not original.

[likaroc13]

As for the interior, it was repainted a goldish color. My plans will be to eventually get it back to the original color. And as you see, the door panels were painted black. The aftermarket radio doesn't work, but I'd like to find an original someday & have it converted/modified. Someone cut the dash for the oil pressure and water temp gauges. I would like to fill those in whenever I decide to repaint the interior. It has the Deluxe heater, which had one lever broken on the control panel. Gas tank is still behind the seat, but i gotta get a new sending unit so that the gauge will work. I also need to add a set of seat belts. Here's a couple pics after bringing it home:

[likaroc13]

At the time I was living in Pensacola I didn't have much space, nor tools, to work on the truck. My dad has just about anything i could ever need to build a truck, however he still lives in my hometown in Northeast Mississippi. Therefore, I would have to wait before doing any major restoration or pay someone else to do the work. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for that to happen. I ended up having to get the flywheel replaced. The truck had random moments when it would grind while trying to crank. After that, I just decided to drive it locally since I wasn't really sure how reliable it would be on longer trips. I know some simple mechanics, but i'm not experienced enough to deal with the more in-depth issues that could possibly occur on an old truck i'm just getting used to. So staying in the area, we would sometimes take trips over to Pensacola Beach. Here are some pics I took at sunset:

[Racer2172]

Nice pics,.cool truck
Posted via Mobile Device

[likaroc13]

Both me and my wife were not happy with our job situations at the time. My wife ended up being transferred from her company's office in Pensacola to their main office in Jackson, MS. So we started planning for the move in January 2010. My dad came down to help on the actual move-day. We packed the U-haul full, along with our other vehicles, and we loaded the '66 onto a car hauler/trailer headed for Mississippi. I was fortunate enough once again to have a garage at the house we rented, so that I could park "Black Betty" inside. While in the Jackson, MS area I had a chance to meet another fellow forum member, George (GMan69). He came by with his engine hoist to help me unload the original 283 engine from the back of the truck. We struck up a friendship that I will always have & never forget. He's a great person, and I'm glad to have been able to meet him.

While living in the area, I attended many of the local cruise-ins and a few shows. Here's a picture I took at a local cruise-in in Flowood, MS:



Since it was in dire need, I also took the opportunity to get the interior cleaned up good. During the process, I also used some Eagle One Wadding Polish to clean up the chrome door sill plates. I still need to get some floor mats though:

[likaroc13]

My girlfriend and I got engaged in May 2010. I knew I wanted to use the truck for pictures in our wedding, planned for October that year. We planned to get married near her hometown in Ellisville, MS (near Hattiesburg). That means the truck would need to make a 4-hour journey. So in early Summer 2010, I began looking to make the truck a little more cruise-friendly. I started looking at Craigslist for a donor rear end. I came across an ad for a '72 Chevy truck in the Tupelo, MS area. After some conversation and checking by the owner, he confirmed that the truck had a 3.08 rear. This would be great for me. I would have a rear that would easily swap into my '66, not only giving me a better cruising gear but also 5-lug! I also had intention to get the front suspension components so that I could switch to 5-lug disc up front as well. I talked with a couple board members about the truck before purchasing, wanting to make sure it was worth it. I had also mentioned the truck to George, who has a '69 Chevy short/fleet. He showed interest as well, so we both made plans for a road trip. This is what we saw when we arrived:

[likaroc13]

After looking over the '72, George and I struck a deal. He and I agreed on a plan that he would buy the truck. I would get my dad to help me transport the truck to his (my dad's) place about an hour north. Then all we had to do was remove the rear end and front suspension components and replace them with the same parts from my '66. Then George could have the rolling chassis/body. He already knew someone possibly interested in the bed, and he was interested in the cab himself.

After hauling the '72 up to my dad's place, I had to find a way to get the '66 up there. Since I wasn't too keen on driving it that far, I drove it about 1.5 hours away to my future in-law's house. Then my dad drove down with his trailer to pick it up & transport it back to his place.

After getting it back to his place, my dad began the process of swapping the rear ends. I was able to make a trip up to help pressure wash things. However, dad ended up borrowing a friend's sandblaster to clean things up better. I contacted George about getting some new parts for the '72 rear. We ended up replacing the axle seals, pinion seal, rear housing gasket, wheel cylinders, drums, and brake shoes. We also drained & replaced the fluid with some new Lucas gear oil.

[likaroc13]

Since I was about 4 hours away, I wasn't there to take pictures of the rear end swap process. It simply bolted right up though. We did paint it with some satin black rust control paint, and dad also cleaned up/painted the metal rear brake line. I also took the time to partially clean/paint the frame and trailing arms around the rear, as well as the coil springs and hardware. I wasn't able to get pics of it before installation, but here's how it looks underneath the truck.

[darkhorse970]

Beautiful truck Philip, and I'm enjoying revisiting your older pics...keep them coming.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by Racer2172

Nice pics,.cool truck
Posted via Mobile Device

thanks!

Originally Posted by darkhorse970

Beautiful truck Philip, and I'm enjoying revisiting your older pics...keep them coming.

Thanks Keith, I've got several more to upload. I often wish I was able to be more involved with the build. I know things would move along a lot faster, & I'd be able to take more in-depth pictures of the process. Hope your '68 is still coming along nicely

[likaroc13]

So after the rear end was back together, it was almost time for a road trip. Our wedding would be just around the corner, & I knew there was something else to take care of beforehand. I just couldn't live with that crooked bumper messing up the wedding pics. Here you can see on the driver's side how it is bent in towards the grille, and in the pics above you see how the end of the bumper was twisted upward.



So, I began checking around to find a new replacement. With about a couple months to find one and get it installed, I figured that was plenty of time. Well, I ended up finding the best deal at Summit Racing and ordered their Goodmark bumper. After it arrived, I pulled it out of the box. The first thing I noticed was that the bumper bolt holes were crooked. Aside from that, there were also blemishes in the chrome. Not wanting to take any chances, I sent it back for a refund. Customer service was great, & they gladly refunded me. But now I had to find another source.

[likaroc13]

After a little more research, I decided on Kenny's Trucks in Oklahoma. I called them up and placed an order. At the time, I found out that they would be a vendor down at Cruisin' the Coast on the Mississippi Gulf. This would hopefully make things easier since I planned to attend the show anyway. So I made plans to have them bring the bumper down in their trailer, and I'd pick it up at the show. Well the show rolled around the first week of October. When I arrived, I looked everywhere around the site where they were supposed to be set up. I couldn't find them anywhere. So, I spoke to another vendor nearby and explained my situation. He then informed me that they had left earlier that morning. This was the last weekend of the show and normally when most people attend, so I'm not sure why they left. The other vendor told me they had my bumper but didn't think I was going to show up. The problem is that I was never told that they didn't plan on being there & instead heading back to OK early. Now I was a little frustrated but panicked a bit as well. My wedding was scheduled for October 23! I tried to just forget about it and enjoy the show. I was able to meet up with George. He was down there hanging out with some other fellow board members who also met here & started their own club, the Louisiana Classic Truck Club:

http://louisianaclassictruckclub.fre....org/index.php

They're a great group of guys who share a passion for classic trucks and enjoy helping each other. The forum here is full of stand-up guys, & these guys from LCTC are just the same. I was able to meet several of them and hang out with them at Cruisin' the Coast. They took me in and treated me like one of their own. I hope to be able to meet more of them in the future. So, a big shout out goes to George for introducing me to those guys

[likaroc13]

With only a couple weeks to spare, I decided to go with my third option for the bumper. I placed an order with Classic Parts. Since I didn't have much time, I just had the bumper shipped to my future In-law's house. I could only hope that there wouldn't be any issues. The plan was to have my dad drive down to their place the morning before the wedding. Then we would get the old bumper removed and install the new one.

Well, on wedding day my dad & great-aunt embarked on the 4-hour journey with the truck. Being in the fall, temperatures were a little cool in the morning. My great-aunt, about 83 yrs. old at the time, bundled up with a blanket since the heater wasn't functional. Fortunately, the weather warmed up later in the day. They ended up making the trip with no real issues. They did have a moment where the truck wouldn't start after stopping at a gas station. However, after cooling off for a bit, it cranked right up. They ended up making pretty good time overall, but we still didn't have much to spare. Once they arrived, dad pulled the truck under the carport so that we could get to work.

Me (left) and my friend Jeremy unwrapping the new bumper. Not having a chance to look at it beforehand, I was grateful that everything looked nice. I will definitely not hesitate using Classic Parts again in the future.



My dad rolling on the ground, probably saying he's getting too old for this and asking if I'm worth all the trouble.

[VA72C10]

Cool thread! Following along for the rest of the story

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Cool thread! Following along for the rest of the story

thanks!

[likaroc13]

One thing I forgot to mention is that I removed the bed rails one weekend before dad brought it down for the wedding. I definitely like it better without the rails.

After we got the new front bumper installed, I had to get ready for the wedding. Then I drove her over to the venue for pictures before the ceremony. Our wedding was outdoors & rustic/vintage themed, so the truck fit right in. I actually wish we would have done more pictures with the truck, but I'm happy regardless. Here are some pictures with the truck:

[likaroc13]

For anyone interested, more pictures of the wedding can be found here. Click on the picture twice to enlarge:

http://mabus.zenfolio.com/p176276936

We were very pleased with how it turned out. It was simple, unique, & relatively inexpensive overall.

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Very nice, this has always been one of my favorite trucks! I managed to stumble upon your photobucket album quite awhile back when searching for 64-66 pics. The all black color combo is killer too! What are your plans?

Coming back to your question, I think it's funny to look back and read how your mindset changes. If you check out this poll thread I posted before the wedding, there was quite a discussion about the direction for my truck.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...hlight=wedding

I ultimately decided to keep it "stock" for the wedding and was still a little unsure about future plans. I want(ed) to upgrade the safety aspects of the truck and make it more pleasurable to drive. Once the wedding concluded, my dad took the truck back to North Mississippi so that we could move on to front suspension modifications.

[flips72]

absolutly one of my favorite trucks on this site,i wouldnt do anything but a little cleaning and drive the wheels off of it. love the wedding pics by the way.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by flips72

absolutly one of my favorite trucks on this site,i wouldnt do anything but a little cleaning and drive the wheels off of it. love the wedding pics by the way.

Thank you sir! I appreciate the compliments. I hope I can "stick to my guns" for the most part and not dig in too deep. I just want it to be a fun, reliable driver that I don't have to stress out over with the occasional paint chip, scratch, or ding. I'm very cautious myself, but I know many others are not.

[DRTYRAT30]

Wow man great job, love the classic american feel of those wedding pics. Nice work...
Posted via Mobile Device