Dave--
You've brought up some interesting questions.
I don't have much actual show judging experience. One thing to
remember, is that different shows are judged in different ways. If you
go to a Classic Chevy Club show, they have a book they follow (this
applies mostly to 55-57 Chevy cars), and they award points accordingly.
At other shows, the participants all get to pick their favorites, so
there are no "real" judges. Most shows are somewhere in between, at a
show our local club puts on, we have local "car nuts" do the judging,
and they just look for the best job, and are not concerned with
originality (like most shows, we welcome original and modified
vehicles).
As for bolts, if they were plated before, get them replated the same way
(cadmium most likely). The paint on the bellhousing should be a
duplicate of how it was done by the factory...in general, they assembled
the engine/bellhousing and then sqirted the whole thing (at least on
later models). Usually brackets and pulleys were painted black
separately..but not always. If you want it to be historically accurate,
then it won't be as pretty as if you spend a lot of time detailing every
little part...because it was thrown together on an assembly line, and
they didn't care too much how the underside looked....after all, it's
just a work truck (seen thru the eyes of the folks building it).
I think that if you will be disappointed if you don't get first place
trophies, then you may want to step back and reconsider why you're doing
this...from what I've seen, the guys who don't care about trophies
usually are having the most fun! I don't want to dissuade you from
doing the best you can restoring your truck, but I just want to warn you
that there is always someone with more money to spend, and the tastes of
judges is something you can't know ahead of time. So, build it the way
you think it should be, and don't worry about it too much.
Bob A. may be able to help with telling you how to finish which
parts...he is quite knowledgeable on the AD trucks! I won't pretend to
know the detailed answers, as I mess with the later TF trucks mostly.
But, I try to pay attention when I'm taking something apart, to see how
it was built originally.
Jim F
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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