HI All,
Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks for me. I just sold
my '56 panel w/396/TH400/12bolt posi (which I sold out of state and it
was badly damaged by the shipper!, but that's another story). I had
been looking to buy an easier to drive newer 1/2 ton with the money.
Unfortuantely, I just wasn't excited about anything I saw and anything
I could afford was super high mileage. I then ran across an ad for
a '50 chevy 1/2 ton with ps, pb, 350/TH400, 10bolt rear. I asked the
list for some advice and I checked out the truck yesterday.
The truck is pretty awesome. The metal is amazingly straight with
zero rust and no bondo that I could find. I thoughly checked all the
normal rust spots and the truck is in great shape. The paint is still
good for an older build up. The frame is straight, the clip was welded
on square and the welds look really good. The seller was originally
trying to get $5200, but the truck has some problems and he scared
away any potential buyers. The wiring in the truck is pretty wild
looking, but everything seems to function. The truck runs fine, but
when it is shut off, the battery dies and it doesn't have enough juice
to restart the truck. I put a volt meter to the bat. terminals when
the truck was running and it showed about 12.8 volts. This seems a
little low and makes me think the alternator/regulator is screwed.
When the truck is turned off, the bat voltage drops to about 11.5
volts, but no lower. I'm suspecting the battery is also shot.
The only other major problem is the radiator which leaks.
The motor has leaky valve covers so the motor is a little dirty.
Over all I was pretty pleased with the truck. It has all stewart-
warner gauges, a nice tilt/column shift set up and a nice bench seat.
The truck even has the exact type of rims I was planning on putting on.
I got the truck for the sellers lowest (yeah, right) asking price of
$3500. However, he is throwing in a brand new edelbrock alumninum
intake, a new holy carb and a new american auto-wire 18 circuit wiring
kit.
It looks like my next step is to order a new radiator and shroud and
figure out the battery situation.
For the radiator I was thinking of the Desert Cooler from Chevy Duty,
or one of the other heavy duty radiators offered by the venders. Any
opinions??
For the battery situation, I am thinking it is the charging system.
Any opinions on that?
For some reason, I have been of the firm opinion that I don't have to
drive a cookie cutter automobile to have a reliable daily driver. I
have used my '64 caddy as my daily driver for a long time, but the
cusomization process has taken it off the road a lot so I have been in
the market for another daily driver. I certainly hope this new truck
will serve me well (once I fix the little bugs) as a second daily
driver/parts hauler.
Thanks for listening.
And also thanks to everyone that gave me some advice for checking out
the truck!
-alfie
|