RoddingRon
A man in his natural habitat....a Studebaker
This was done almost as a challenge to myself. I had a 40 Buick that was subframed and chopped but needed everything, and I was more interested in doing a pick up at the time. I had the Buick on Ebay, but didn't sell....I was offered a "nice workable 59 Chevy pick up" as a trade. It looked good in the picks and he said he'd throw in an extra front end since that was "the worst" part of the truck. I said OK and loaded the Buick on the roll back. I worked all day that Friday, got back home and headed from eastern PA to western Ohio right after work. Basically I drove all night and met up the following day. I was tired and when I saw the truck he brought I almost turned around and left, but I wasn't going to drive all that distance for nothing. It was a rusted piece of crap and the extra front end was the best part of the whole truck...Heck the frame broke in half just trying to tie it down on the roll back.
What I did was throw away the cab and the frame since they were so bad they couldn't be saved. A friend had a 46 Chevy truck frame that he wanted out of his way so I started with that. I added a Camaro subframe and an S-10 rear. Then the hunt was on for another cab and doors. The buddy who had the frame found a guy not to far away that had a cab with doors that he would sell for $50. A trip with a trailer and this time the cab was nice except for the door step wells...they were gone and the cab corners were rusted....still it was solid around the window and the rest was in decent shape...unlike the original deal.
I rebuilt the step wells and replaced the cab corners and mounted the cab on the frame. I took the original bed and narrowed it up 4 or 5" if I remember correctly...so the bed side steps were even with the back side of the cab. and this is what I ended up with
This last pic shows the truck at the Bloomsburg PA fairgrounds. The end of Car Craft Magazines Americruise a few years ago. This was the first outing with the truck....didn't even do any shake down runs around the area....finished up that morning and went to Bloomsburg (about 60 miles or so from here...Thanks Big Al from Hotrodhotline.com)
What I did was throw away the cab and the frame since they were so bad they couldn't be saved. A friend had a 46 Chevy truck frame that he wanted out of his way so I started with that. I added a Camaro subframe and an S-10 rear. Then the hunt was on for another cab and doors. The buddy who had the frame found a guy not to far away that had a cab with doors that he would sell for $50. A trip with a trailer and this time the cab was nice except for the door step wells...they were gone and the cab corners were rusted....still it was solid around the window and the rest was in decent shape...unlike the original deal.
I rebuilt the step wells and replaced the cab corners and mounted the cab on the frame. I took the original bed and narrowed it up 4 or 5" if I remember correctly...so the bed side steps were even with the back side of the cab. and this is what I ended up with
This last pic shows the truck at the Bloomsburg PA fairgrounds. The end of Car Craft Magazines Americruise a few years ago. This was the first outing with the truck....didn't even do any shake down runs around the area....finished up that morning and went to Bloomsburg (about 60 miles or so from here...Thanks Big Al from Hotrodhotline.com)
