47-59 How did you find your truck? Or did it find you?

[LEEVON]

Just for fun...how and where did you find your truck?

I'll go. The finding of my 1950 3100 is a modern-day story of the internet. I was actively searching for an AD truck and I responded to a craigslist posting outside of Billings, MO with no photos. This was in 2009 when AD trucks were getting more popular but not crazy yet. I lived in Arkansas at the time and the seller was located off the beaten path so I was able to get there and buy it quickly but needed a couple weeks time before I could return to pick it up. That's the boring part of the story. It gets more exciting when I made a poor decision. Worried that it might get stolen out of the field it was sitting in I asked the seller if he could move it closer to his trailer house. The seller followed my wishes and picked the worst possible spot for anyone to access the truck and the best spot to deter theft. Then it rained and snowed for the next two weeks. When we came to pick up the truck it was angled between trees, in a sloping and grass-less muddy trailer "yard" with poor access, no sunlight and just generally crappy conditions. All four wheels were locked up, tires flat and the hubs were frozen to the wheels. We had an equipment trailer with a hand winch, a jack, very slow tire pump and few tools. It took about four hours of winded slipping and sliding and cussing to get the truck on the trailer. We left almost defeated and frozen from the wet muddy snow-slush and dreary rainy weather. A quick bite at the Wendy's drive through before an hour and a half drive home was no consolation.

It took Dad years to add that to the list of "fun" car adventures I had dragged him on. That particular day he was NOT my biggest fan. Near the 10 year anniversary of that mess I repaid him with a steak dinner : ) Here are some photos from gotcha day, including a forced smile from Dad holding my oldest boy who is old enough to drive now. And the easy-access original location of the truck where I should have left it.

Let's hear your story! Cheers!

[nvrdone]

i'll go. I found mine listed in the Oakland (CA) tribune in 1973. asking price - $300.00
I went and checked it out. Had a 265 v8 set in at an angle to clear the steering box & a 3spd with overdrive. It ran on 7 cylinders but the body was straight and no rusted out panels. I offered $200.00 and drove it away for $235.00. I drove it that way for about a year. Then scored a 327 that was built for a sprint car by a friend. Still driving it today with that 327, m21 and a 12 bolt. still scares the hell out of the imports.

[LEEVON]

Awesome!

[Black_Sheep]

I first became involved with the truck when my brother Chris showed up with it one day. He had big ideas but not a lot of experience so I gave him a hand with it whenever I could. When Chris passed away in 2010 I convinced my folks that I should be the caretaker of his beloved truck. Since then I've torn it apart and rebuilt it with the intention of being around for a very long time...

[1project2many]

I was moving out to Hardin, MT about 50 miles from Billings when I first saw my truck. I stopped in Alliance NE to see my uncle and the truck was being stored in his workshop by a coworker. I wasn't real excited. It had some '60s bucket seats, the heads were off the engine, the bed wood was rotted, and it was a long box. My uncle tried to get me to buy it but I passed.

A year or so later I was looking for a project. I really wanted a truck from the '30s but folks who lived within a few miles of I90 all thought their trucks were made of gold. I looked at one piece of junk after another all priced way too high. I went to see a truck in a newspaper ad right off the highway in Billings, "2 1959 Chevy Trucks, $900." Every panel on both trucks was cut, pierced, or dented. The fleetside bed in one truck had been run over with a dozer. One truck had a rusted iron lump under the hood that the seller said was a "high performance six." The engine bay of the other truck was empty. I was disgusted with the search so I called my uncle and made a deal with the owner of my truck for $175. More than I wanted to pay but he said it had the original V8. Seemed a little steep in 1993 dollars but looking back, maybe not too bad.

Getting the truck back home is a story of its own...

[NorCalGal]

Not a great story but here it is....I worked at an appliance store and had told one of the service tech’s I was looking for a project. One day in 2006 he was in the foothills doing a call and saw 53 five window,he called me and sent pics. I called the owner and worked out a deal. I paid more than I should have ($2500) but didn’t care.

[59chev]

My truck was sitting in front of a body shop that I could see out the window of the school bus. I didn't know what year it was at the time but I just thought it looked cool. I ended up buying it for $300 when I was 17 years old. I still own it 23 years later and I'll building it for the second time. I restored it back to stock the first time and going a hotrod / lowrider look the second time around.

Pics show:
- Day I towed it home
- First build ( on the road for 5 years or so )
- Mock up of second build

[MiraclePieCo]

Dang, these are great stories! Terrific thread idea!

Mine's not nearly so exciting. I found a basket case panel truck on Craigslist, hauled it home, got it on the road a year later

[LEEVON]

These are fun, keep em coming! Black_Sheep I remember your story about your brother you must have shared another time. Nice tribute! I dedicated my '50 to my sister Jessica who passed less than a year after I got it. Had her name put on the tailgate in angel's wings.

[57tailgater]

Me and a buddy used to cruise the country roads for something to do. Saw my '57 sitting behind a farm house in '78. The truck never moved so in the fall of '79 I went up to ask if it was for sale. I was told I had to talk to their son and was given his phone number. So I called him up and we talked some about it and finally I asked if would sell it and for how much. He said "Yes and I'll take what I have in it - $50." I told him I'd take it then he informed me he had lost the title and I told him I'd wait. YEAH!! Well time went on and I kind of forgot about it as I never heard anything back. Christmas time rolled around and we were having our family Christmas gathering on Christmas eve. We were opening presents and I got an Army jacket and couldn't figure out why everyone was looking at me. I was then told to look in the pockets. There, in one pocket, was the title to my truck. Seemed they guy got the lost title, called and my mom intercepted the call and bought it for me. That was my senior year in high school and me and my buddy went on Christmas break and pulled her home (had to cut out the small tree growing up between the big wood push bumper and grill first). Since then she has been driven some, used when I finished up college, and has taken a back seat to family priorities. But eventually she will be back on the road and being how she was given to me by my deceased mom, she's not leaving my possession anytime soon.

[jweb]

My parents bought my truck in '77 and brought me home in it when I was born in '78. A few years later my dad stripped it down and wanted to rebuild it.

It sat from about 1980 until 2005, when my dad got cancer for the second time and passed away. That's when I decided to pull the truck out from under the pine trees where it had sat for most of my life and rebuild it.

First pics are from the day I pulled it out of the trees, blue primer pic is about a year later. I tried to rush and put it together to bring my daughter home in the truck when she was born but it wasn't quite ready.

[mr48chev]

Father in law knew that I was looking for an older and cheap truck to drive to work and he told me about one a guy who was moving out of Texas had for 75.00 I went over with 75.00 bought it and drove it home and drove it to work the next day. Blew one of the really rotten (age and weather) 16 inch tires on the way home from work the first week I had it.

The truck had a hand brushed paint job on it at least the primer had been put on with a brush and a 194 Chevy II six in it.

That was in early 1973. The Street rod Nationals were in Tulsa that year and I knew my T bucket had no chance of being finished so I started in on the 48 not long after I bought it an turned it into a painted and upholstered cruiser with open drive and 5 lug Z28 Rally wheels in a 3 or 4 month period of time while working swing shift at a Ryder truck shop.

[Volfandt]

About 3 yrs ago I traded a running 72 Karmann Ghia for this 49 GMC that wasn't running.
I felt so sorry for it when I saw it I had to get it if just to save it.
Looks like it was modified sometime in the 70's run hard and put up hot.
That era/style is my fav so it's going to stay that way. Needless to say it's a work in progress.

[58APACHEE]

Found my 58 truck in the back allies of Down Town LA. Painter had it parked in an alley, city came down on him and asked him either move it or get fined. He asked my dad if he knew any one interested in it. Turns out his father bought it brand new. long story short picked it up for $300.00

[58APACHEE]

Found my 58 truck in the back allies of Down Town LA. Painter had it parked in an alley, city came down on him and asked him either move it or get fined. He asked my dad if he knew any one interested in it. Turns out his father bought it brand new. long story short picked it up for $300.00

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by 58APACHEE

Found my 58 truck in the back allies of Down Town LA. Painter had it parked in an alley, city came down on him and asked him either move it or get fined. He asked my dad if he knew any one interested in it. Turns out his father bought it brand new. long story short picked it up for $300.00

Great photo.

[LEEVON]

These stories! Keep em coming!

[BLAC]

I found it in a back yard in compton. I contacted the owner and agreed on a price. He gave me a phone number, told me to ask for Nacho and it would be delivered to my house haha

[LEEVON]

Originally Posted by BLAC

I found it in a back yard in compton. I contacted the owner and agreed on a price. He gave me a phone number, told me to ask for Nacho and it would be delivered to my house haha

Did you say you'd give full price if Nacho brought food?

[Coupeguy2001]

Next to the chevy dealer was a u-fix it maintenance bay rental place. For $40 a Day, you could rent a work stall with a lift and fix your car.
The place used to be a dodge dealership.
Anyway, people would take their cars apart, and if they weren’t dine with them, they would push them Or drag them with a forklift to a lockup area so that when you came back to finish your car, you can get the car pushed or dragged back yo a stall.
Dome people never came back for their cars. The place had started to accumulate a bunch if cars and trucks.
When i was 12, there was a wrecked 57 chevy truck at the fence, facing the street.
My parents were taking me every thursday for guitar lessons, so i saw that truck coming and going every thursday.
When we would go to church that way On Sunday, it was there, and when i got into college, you guessed it! It was still there.
After college, i worked for a few years, and got married.
It was still there.
Finally one Saturday i stopped to ask about it.
The guy said u don’t want it, it has a bent frame.
I said what’s it worth for parts, he said for $150 i will tow it anywhere in this city you want it to go, but you have to buy both of them, and i want $100 for the other one.
So i went and looked at it.
The left front spring pin had sheared off in the accident, and left tire slid up to the cab.
So i went to the bank, and gave him $250, and he delivered one to my apartment, and the other one to my sister’s garage.
In a half hour, both truck’s tires were flat After winching them down.
Both trucks were big window cabs.
So with a battery, and a can of gas, my truck started.
I had to rebuild wheel cylinders, replace rubber hoses, rebuilt master cylinder, flush out the gas tank, switch sheet metal and bumper with the other truck, and buy a spring pin at the chevy dealer for $3.
A carb kit and a fuel pump, and it was driveable.
That was 1973.
I still got it.
It has a kimbridge frame stub, coilovers, G body suspension, front and rear sway bars, hydroboost, tubular control arms, 1989 corvette engine, 4+3 corvette trans and 96 impala SS wheels

[Divine 59]

I will go. I married my wife in 1987. In 1988 her Grandfather begged me to buy his truck. I was not really interested but I eventually paid $600 for it. I would never consider selling it. It is a part of the family now.

[skihor]

I was building a 1928 Hupmobile coupe. '87 4 bolt 350/700R4 Ford 9" 4 link front and rear. It was a project with my son. He lost interest because he didn't think it was "cool" enough. The guy that bought the Hup was a big block guy so I have the engine & trans. I type "chevy" into Craigslist and start cruising for a suitable body. I came across a '49 panel.It had a fresh, (never had oil in it even), 235. It had been outside for 1 year. Prior to that it was in inside, heated storage FOR 42 YEARS. Zero rust. the running boards don't have so much as a wrinkle. The body was ready for paint, but the year outside wasn't kind to all of the glazing putty. I bought it for $2000. I sold the 235 and trans for a quick $1500. I put a M11 front end in and new rear leafs under an Explorer rear end. 4 wheel disc. brakes So far $14K invested. All the best parts. Still need to install the wiring, fab the exhaust and a fuel tank. 2 years and counting.

[Johns327]

An acquaintance owned the truck for a couple of years. He then pulled the 389 Pontiac/3 speed out of it and wanted to put in a 455 Olds/400 hydro. His Dad decided the truck needed to leave the garage. I paid him $400 for everything and drug it home. My Dad and I welded up the mounts, and it was on the road. That was 1975. Drove it daily for years, did a paint job and couple other engine swaps until the 327 ended up in it. Stored it for about 30 years. I decided it was time to either rebuild it or sell it. I'm glad I decided to do the frame off build. It's back on the road with the same SBC (second rebuild).
I think I'll keep it for a while longer.

[LEEVON]

Originally Posted by skihor

I was building a 1928 Hupmobile coupe. '87 4 bolt 350/700R4 Ford 9" 4 link front and rear. It was a project with my son. He lost interest because he didn't think it was "cool" enough. The guy that bought the Hup was a big block guy so I have the engine & trans. I type "chevy" into Craigslist and start cruising for a suitable body. I came across a '49 panel.It had a fresh, (never had oil in it even), 235. It had been outside for 1 year. Prior to that it was in inside, heated storage FOR 42 YEARS. Zero rust. the running boards don't have so much as a wrinkle. The body was ready for paint, but the year outside wasn't kind to all of the glazing putty. I bought it for $2000. I sold the 235 and trans for a quick $1500. I put a M11 front end in and new rear leafs under an Explorer rear end. 4 wheel disc. brakes So far $14K invested. All the best parts. Still need to install the wiring, fab the exhaust and a fuel tank. 2 years and counting.

Welcome to the forum. Let's see this bad boy!!!

[Daze57]

Ater a 3 year stint in mexico working shows i came home and decided i wanted to fullfill a childhood desire to own a old truck -----after coming home i met the owner of tuckers pickup parts here in vegas ------he -at the time was driving a 57 bbw -primer grey --after long conversation ----the end went like this ---'' If you want it ill sell it --if not its not for sale ''---ive had it since '83 ---- bought it drove it home and still have it today ----its a keeper that;s it !!!