Family Truck picked up

[benIV]

Sorry it’s not about a diesel, but I am excited about this.

My father in-laws truck which he sold about 15 years ago to a friend finally found it’s way home. My wife’s been so anxious to get this back in her family. Glad we did. It’s a lot of fun.

Her father is having some memory issues and can’t remember a lot about the truck itself. I know it’s a ‘56 Chevy. I’ll be learning a lot in the coming years. It needs a little work, but it is solid and no rust. Her father used to show it in competitions in the 90’s after he retired his drag racing side-career. (he did it to make money to build his cars, lol) Only picture I have as of yet. I can’t get a break on the rain and my back these last few weekends.

 

[aja8888]

Very nice!

I had a 1959 Chevy pickup when I left the Air Force in 1968. I had a 283 V8 in it and drove it from Missouri to Connecticut which was home at the time. I gave the truck to my Dad and went back to MO to marry my girlfriend and buy a 1968 SS Chevelle.

 

[benIV]

Do you still have the chevelle?

 

[aja8888]

Do you still have the chevelle?

No and I don't have my old 1965 Corvette (C2) roadster with both tops either. No one knew back then these '60's cars would command so much money these days.

(That wife is not around anymore either ).

 

[benIV]

lol. cleared it all out .

 

[KCTDI]

Nice looking '56. Yes, please post more pics when you get a chance. It's hard not to get the "I wants" when I see a sweet 55-6-7 Chevy truck.
Perhaps a 3.0 TDI swap? Gotta quit fantasizing.

 

[aja8888]

lol. cleared it all out .

Was able to sell the cars, but the wife cost money to get rid of.

 

[benIV]

when it stops raining, i'll be getting it out and taking some more pictures. It will never be in a magazine, but it's not trash either. lol.

Was able to sell the cars, but the wife cost money to get rid of.

^^^lol

 

[oilhammer]

Neat truck, love the period paint job, too!

Local place here (which is featured on the show Speed is the New Black) does a lot of neat things with stuff like that... among other things.

I like it when they modernize the mechanicals, to make the truck better roadworthy and more enjoyable to drive. Heck, if you are gonna customize it, may as well be able to enjoy it!

 

[benIV]

yeah. that's the next step. It's a beast to drive, no p/s obv and the suspension seems so poor that it almost feels like it's falling apart at 50mph or so. My plan is to update the suspension, steering, etc. as well as a few cabin conveniences in order to make it more fun to drive, as you said oilhammer.

There's an actual hot rod shop here that a friend uses a lot. So we will be looking in on that. There's some body work needed, but very little. The motor was replaced a few years back, but I need to get it looked over just to get a baseline of where we are at and if anything is not functioning the way it should or if anything looks like it might cause problems later. It's very clean and works great, so hopefully there's nothing needed other than normal maintenance.

 

[benIV]

Engine bay

Exterior

Interior

 

[jmodge]

sweet ride! You have good enough roads down there to enjoy it too.

 

[aja8888]

Do I see FI heads on the block (double hump)? In any event, those had big valves in them. Nice truck!!

 

[benIV]

I honestly don’t know much about this truck right now. Father in law is having some issues and can’t remember a lot of things about what he did, and I’m just not as learned about this kind of thing as I should be. I have a guy I trust to work on it and he’s going to help me learn by letting me work with him on the truck and learn that way. I’ve got lots of questions for him. lol

but the truck is going to be in the family for as long as I can ensure it is, so I’ve got time to learn.

 

[Lightflyer1]

I kind of have the same thing with my 1935 Ford. I have all the manuals and attend Early Ford V8 meetings to learn from others about working on it. It is all stock and pretty straight forward though.

 

[benIV]

That is one beautiful car. Gorgeous!

These early automobiles are amazing...

The way they balanced form and function; showing the beauty in both. It seems too often people succumb to the false notion that form and function are mostly contradictory, that if you give more to form, you have to take from function (and vice versa)... so we end up with things that are pleasing only in form or function, but rarely both.

Maybe that’s why I love my mk4 tdi so much, it has beauty in both form and function.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Parts can be a problem though for stock ones like mine, although I can still find NOS parts for it for some things. Fords are good about that. The biggest issue for me is learning things only the older mechanics know and aren't in the books. Just think your MKIV will be that way at some point.