58 Apache - Great Granddad's truck

[58apache31]

Hello Everyone,
First post here.

I'm admittedly not a Chevy man, but this truck is cool to me and has a ton of family history.

My dad's grand dad was a farmer that bought it brand new in 1958 in the small town of Pink Hill NC.
He died in the early 60's, and his wife gave the truck to my dad in the mid 80's.

Dad drove the truck for a few years but it suffered mechanical failure and it was parked. I last saw it run around 1995, and it was billowing smoke. Dad believed it was either a blown head gasket or cracked head, along with a broken ring. Since then it's been under a shelter at my dads house.

I've been resto/modding a 66 Mustang for the past few years, while casually looking for a 50's pickup, since my wife has always loved those years.

Out of the blue a few months ago, my Mom called and said "Dad wants to know if you want his truck" I said, what truck?
When she said "the 58 Chevy" I did not hesitate to say yes.

He said he kept meaning to fix it but kept putting it off, and he felt like after seeing me fix my 66, he figured the best thing to do is give me the 58 to fix and appreciate.

We went and got the title work done this week, and today I drove a few hours and picked up a complete 235/3speed for it.
I don't even have it at my house yet, but i'm ready and excited to get started.

Everything appears solid, as Dad has always tried to make sure it's at least out of the weather.

Hopefully I'll have it at my house in a few weeks and can assess it further.

[68panelman]

Looks like a good one, and an heirloom to boot!
Good luck and have fun

[dsraven]

looks pretty solid. keep posting pics as you go. good idea to take pics before you start any disassembly of anything so you can remember how stuff was originally put together. a free download of the 55-59 chevrolet truck factory assembly manual can be found at the trifive site. invaluable sometimes after stuff has been apart and had to be left for awhile. memory is good but not usually detailed enough.