Almost un-noticable when standing at the truck is the bumper’s contour with the front of the body. The stock front bumper looked – to me – to be an after-thought and would belong on the back if there were a conventional bed. It was flat all the way across and stuck out 3 more inches on each side. One of the very first things I did to this truck long ago was to narrow that bumper 6″ and pull it in. To make it look right, I had to swap the left and right ends and flip them upside-down. It’s 5/16″ thick, required quite a bit of heat & “massaging”, and is the kind of thing nobody else would ever notice.   

The sides of the push bars are really not much more than some 1/4″ plate cut to shape with the torch and  cleaned-up with the 7″ grinder but since the bumper begins its curve towards the body as viewed from the top where these get mounted, each ‘inside’ is slightly less deep than each outside to ensure the 2″x1/4″ flat front wrapping top-to-bottom is flush with whatever is getting pushed.

Making them took a couple of days between work and the boys’ football games but with getting them mounted today and with the truck now in the garage with me, I figured I could keep cleaning up some other parts taking up shelf space and started on the gauges.

You know I had to pull the cluster completely apart to clean it… and while you’re there you might as well repaint the inner 50′s era sea-foam green surfaces white to reflect more light… and if you’re doing that you’ve got to repaint the viewable face with flat black so the sun doesn’t glare in the day time… and those needles looked too old compared to everything else… and the wiring obviously wasn’t designed to work with the updated running gear…

This is how it looks right now. I’ve still got to wire the amp gauge and I need a fitting for the most important gauge of all, the oil pressure. It’s mechanical and since the more modern sending unit/wiring harness was only for a light, I’ll probably “T” it and leave both a light and the original gauge. The hole to the left was for the PTO and will be the wiper switch location. I’ve also got the ash tray for the rectangular slot on the right, but it isn’t ready to go in yet.

The truck still needs a lot before it could be considered presentable, but you do what you gotta do and driving it right now has turned out to be the best thing. Even though this one isn’t close to finished yet, I’ve totally forgotten the effect these things have on people and how much fun they are.

I’ve been involved in the “Street Rod” scene with the ’56 Ford, and I’ve met some decent people at local shows, gatherings or stuck rows and rows deep in cars and unable to get out when you’ve had enough, and it’s just not how I want to spend my day anymore. I like building stuff and talkin’ to people who build stuff. I really appreciate the effect old mechanical stuff has on people and sometimes a vehicle just fits the bill. It just changes our perspective sometimes.

In about a week’s time or two, I’ve already got more stories than I can sit down and write about each night when I get home. but here’s two quick ones:

Last night on my way home from work I stop for fuel ( I do this a little more often in this truck than I did in the Honda ) and as I’m waiting my turn to pull up to the pump, this guy comes walking out of the store and gives me a thumbs-up as he passes in front of me & the truck. Cool enough, but not really enough to write about, right?

Well I pull up to the pump and get out of the truck and this same guy, a couple of islands over filling his ’79ish Monarch, yells out,

“Cool Ol’ Truck!”
“Thanks“, I reply politely, still just punching numbers into the pump.
“That’s Got to be the biggest, old flatbed I’ve ever seen! What year is it, ’61?”
“No it’s a ’58, but you’re close. Good guess.”

Then from near the Diesel Ford Pick-up between us, another voice pops up out of the night air,
“I bet it’s got some story!”
“It’s got more history than I do“, I quip back

and then some kid over by an immaculately clean, high-winged, foreign something or another lets out, “My grandfather used to have one just like that.”

“Thanks Kid“, I laugh, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?“, thinking about how friendly people can be when just one person makes the initiative to break the ice the way Mr. Monarch did.

The conversation went on between the few of us all doing what is usually a regular, run-of-the-mill routine that we do hundreds of times without even giving anybody a passing glance or thought, but this time people actually talked to one another. Had it been a warmer, Spring evening; we could’ve opened up a couple of pops on the stoop and kept at it, but I finished fueling up and yelled out, “Have a good night!” as I climbed back up & fired ‘er up to get home.

And tonight, I’m driving up N. Carefree on my way home and find myself behind a two-tone blue Baja Bug, but as we’re coming up to a traffic light, he pulls into the left lane and I end up beside, instead of behind, him. He rolls down his passenger window and yells out with a big smile,

“Hey! Give me a ride bro!” pointing to the empty flatbed that we could obviously fit his bug onto.

We exchange pleasantries and some build details while sitting at this light… and then the next… and then some laughs at one at Powers.  By now I know he’s running some over-sized cylinders, two carbs, etc and as he’s turning off, he just lets it rip to show me what he’s done with it.

Cool!

It’s really just our yard-truck that I couldn’t resist chopping and since it still needs tons of stuff done to it, I see more room for improvement with it (especially since I’m driving it) than I look at what’s already been done… and there’s always going to be the guy who walks up & points out what it still needs but some other people seem to see it differently, and I’m okay with that.

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Working on a 350 Chevy in an old truck’s engine bay is really about as easy as it gets. It’s usually just time consuming, but when the over-priced Snap-On junk breaks yet one more time, the process takes longer than it should.

I don’t really give two bits about the life-time replacement warranty and with the mobile tool vendors you’re really paying, in a large way, for that replacement service. It costs money to run those trucks, print those hats & calendars… and the dealer needs to make a living too. No harm in that.

It was all well and good when I worked at Salem County Harley Davidson and Larry Flintcraft would come by or be readily available by phone to repair whatever got broke. That guy had a phone in his truck before cell phones were in. But now that I’m home I’ve got to run out myself whenever something breaks… and it shouldn’t. I want my investment to be into the quality of the merchandise, not the service and the promo goods.

All I was doing with my 1/2″ drive wrench was taking off the driver’s side head-bolts (no cheater involved) when “Bang!” little pieces of The Amazing Exploding Wrench go flying all over my garage! They should list these things in the backs of comic books.

Be the First One on Your Block
Own
The Amazing Exploding Wrench
Fool Your Friends!

All I want is quality that will last. Funny thing, after the stars from my mashed thumbnail went away, I reached for the Craftsman that’s older than I am and finished pulling it apart.

Snap-On may have invented the little ball that snaps the socket onto the wrench (hence the name), but they haven’t done much good since then but build a decent tool box and collect payments. I’m done with ‘em.

I’ll get the valve seals replaced and put the rest of it back together tomorrow.

Ciao.

No special effects back then. I’d like to see that done with the new Camaro with all those crumple zones and all ;-) ‘ doesn’t even scratch a bumper.

I need some ramps.