Will's 1955 2nd Series Stepside Project

[ChevroletWT]

Hey guys,

I'm new to this forum. I just picked up a 1955 2nd Series 3100 Stepside pickup project last Saturday! I am currently restoring a 1956 Bel Air as well and I will begin on the truck as soon as I finish it up.

A bit about it:

• It has a very ill 1980 Buick V6 with a TH350 transmission.
• Hood was swapped for a '57 hood
• Rear end was replaced with a 12 bolt 3.25
• Dash was smoothed out
• Came with two boxes of parts (Three speedo clusters, headlight bezels, emblems, spare door handles, regulators, heater boxes, lots of bolts, etc.) original bumpers, and a spare grille.

My plans for the truck:

• Swap the V6/TH350 for a 350 V8 and Munice 4 speed (or similar manual trans)
• Smooth firewall
• New wood bed
• Repaint and reinstall bumpers
• Ocean Green paint
• Rework all wiring
• Rework brakes
• All new glass

Someone did a very sloppy job of riveting some sheet metal in front of the original firewall at an attempt to make a "smooth firewall". It looks terrible, and I'm hoping I can get it off without too much trouble.

The goal is to make a good daily driver out of her. Nothing too fancy, but also something that would be fun at the cruise in.

[jimig1]

looks like a solid start.

[Kim57]

Welcome.
Looks like a clean truck to start with.
Kim

[55Cameo]

Wow that is a nice clean solid truck to start with. I even like the wheels and tires on it haha!!

[ChevroletWT]

In the midst of working on my '56 Bel Air, I have had much thought about the direction that I want to go with this truck build. I began to toy with the thought of doing a "rat rod" type build, but wasn't sure if I wanted a rusted out cruiser. So I began to factor in some points.

• My wallet is EXHAUSTED from my '56 Bel Air resto. I want to get this truck on the road, and Lord knows I can't stand to spend another 30K to do so.
• An extreme amount of bodywork needs to be done just to get the body to driver quality. The idea of blocking out body filler in 104 degree Memphis heat really does not appeal to me.
• All the cars I own are "flashy" and attract attention. I would love having something that is more understated.
• I want a work truck that I can toss bags of sand into and not worry about scratching the fender, and not worrying about when "Marty McConvertible" decides to lean against it with his riveted jeans at a cruise in.
• I don't want a truck that looks so rusted out, that is appears it would fall apart if it crossed over a speed bump.

I thought, "surely there is a happy-medium here". What would fall between a "rat rod" build and a "driver quality" build? With that, I think I invented a new type of restoration. I will conduct a "Survivor Replica" restoration.

I want to build this truck to look like as close to original as possible, but show clear signs of the hard working farm life it has had in the Mississippi Delta. It is somewhat like a rat rod build, but the wear will be more mild and believable. Coincidentally, the original color turns out to be Ocean Green, so that is also a big plus as well.

As I played with this idea, I had a small batch of Ocean Green mixed up, and painted just the front clip to see how my idea looked in reality. The goal was to achieve the look of an aged factory lacquer paint job, and to replicate natural patina that would come from years and years of hard labor. I also cleaned and repainted the original front bumper (and then purposefully ruined it ), and also found a good home for my '56 TN truck license plate. To me, the final result is gold. She just looks like she has some stories to tell, and truth is, she does! That is original paint on the headlight bezels! Total time invested: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

I believe I will buy a gallon of Ocean Green and finish it off sometime soon. In the mean time, I will still be on the hunt for a good deal on an engine and transmission.

[_Ogre]

very nice truck you have there.
front clip paint looks good in the pictures, i'd do the whole body that way.
i agree with you, once you start block sanding and worrying about every ripple,
the paint job goes from driver to worrying about every scratch and nick.
that said, get it dependable and fix that rats nest of wires

and welcome to the forum :

[ChevroletWT]

Thanks, Ogre! I will finish off the rest of the truck this way, it should be tons of fun!

And I read your entire build thread, you do some amazing work, sir! That some kind of TRUK you have built!

[drivea55]

That green looks great on your truck!

Keep going with your theme and its gonna be a cool ride!
Posted via Mobile Device

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by ChevroletWT

Thanks, Ogre! I will finish off the rest of the truck this way, it should be tons of fun!

And I read your entire build thread, you do some amazing work, sir! That some kind of TRUK you have built!

thanks wt

[ChuckDriver]

Cool project!

[cAlvis165]

Hey Will,

It's a small world! I've been following your '56 build for a number of months now. I was first drawn to the tri-five forum after following Matt* over there. He built a beautiful '69 pickup Here that I found on Youtube. Then I saw him start the 57 and asked him if he had a build thread. Once I started visiting tri-five I quickly noticed your '56 build and have faithfully checked it every other day or so. I never joined because I don't have a tri-five and don't see one in my near future. Come to mention it I don't have a chevy pickup either, but these guys on this forum are some of the best and I will have a chevy some day (after I finish this beast.)

Glad to see you over here and welcome aboard. I'll be watching this build as it unfolds.

[oldcouple]

Good god its a Corn Binder! LOL

[Kabwe]

Very nice truck I only wish I started out with something as nice as this truck. Keep us posted.

[OrrieG]

Nice starting point, really like the license plate!

[cAlvis165]

Originally Posted by oldcouple

Good god its a Corn Binder! LOL

[ChevroletWT]

Alright guys I finished up the '56 Bel Air so it is time to get to work on the truck. Here is what I've been up to.

I purchased a brand new 327 crate engine for the truck and have hopes to soon buy a 2004R for it as well. I want something that can be driven on the highway.

I also pulled out the cheap looking bucket seats in hope that I can find a good bench seat. An original 55-57 seat would be nice, but probably won't be in budget. Question: What seats from later model trucks fit well in these task force series trucks???

Today I decided to do some paint work.

I got up early and headed for the paint store so I could knock it off my to-do list.

I got home and went straight to work prepping the truck for paint. Remember, I decided to do no bodywork and leave it as-is because I want this to be solely a work truck and not a garage queen. I also don't have the time to take on the task of straightening this thing out, either.

I made the decision to use the greatest paint booth in the world given to us by mother nature - the outdoors.

Despite a heat index of 108F and no shade to be found, I decided to go ahead and start painting. I first masked off the windows and laid down the white on the cab.


Then began the tedious process of masking off for the green.


Three coats of Ocean Green and we are cookin'


Pull off the masking and see what we have. Total time elapsed: 5 hours

[Kim57]

That looks real nice in the pics. Good job.
Kim

[wayne4252004]

Looks good. Did you paint the rims as well. I'd like to do the same thing. I've already sent them off to be sandblasted. But I'm not sure what paint to use or if I should have them powdercoated.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by ChevroletWT

Total time elapsed: 5 hours

wow.


looks good, real good.
you made the right choice

[oldcouple]

Looks very original, good job! Someone put backup lights on the front as turn signals, maybe they used them for driving lights,lol.

[ChevroletWT]

Thanks guys!

Wayne - I am going to repaint my rims, but powdercoating will be much more durable and will be less prone to chipping. If my budget had room for it I would powdercoat my rims as well.

So I have been making progress on the truck lately. You know, just little by little wins the race.

After pulling out the POS engine and transmission, I started working on cleaning up the engine bay area. Of course the first thing that needed to happen was the removal of the crappy sheet metal that some idiot riveted all over the firewall.


I welded up some of the holes, just to the point where it looked mostly factory and no longer like swiss cheese, and then shot the firewall with fresh primer and then with color. I also made factory style "delete plates" to cover up the two huge hacked holes in the firewall.

I also wirebrushed the front section of the frame and gave it a fresh coat of semi-gloss black. The inner fenders were also repainted. To top off the engine compartment, I added a brand new powdercoated battery tray.


Next up I tackled the interior paint.
Here is the way it looked right after I finished tearing everything down.


And here it is after fresh paint. My apologies for the poor picture quality, my lens was fogged over and I did not even realize it.


You may notice I also applied truck bed liner to the floor. I think it all turned out pretty nice.

I have just placed a huge parts order (including all new wiring) and hope to continue with progress. I also found a nice seat that will work really well. It is out of a 1981 Ford F-150. The fit is just perfect, and for $30 at the local junkyard, you can't go wrong!

Here is a picture of the seat before recovering (and long before I painted the interior)

[Kim57]

You're doing a real nice job. Everything is looking great./
Kim

[Russell Ashley]

I think our trucks must have had the same previous owner from the looks of the "smoothed" firewall you started with, LOL. I wonder if that hole in the top of the firewall was someones attempt to make a cowl induction system.

You have it looking really nice now, that green and white paint looks great.

[Coupeguy2001]

Your truck is the perfect example to point out how the styling of these trucks was right on in 1955, their color palette was right on as well.
you paint it close to one of the original colors, and you can't help but smile.
Great job so far Will

[OrrieG]

Someone spent some time smoothing that dash. Looking good.