The story I have on this truck was it sat in a barn for years. The current owner pulled it out & soaked the engine for two years to get it free. He had it running & driving for a few years after that but the fuel pump & brakes are currently out. He is asking $1500 for this & an earlier Chevy that is back in the trees. I haven't seen the Chevy...and he doesn't seem too excited about cutting down the trees to be able to get it out. I guess the Chevy is missing the rear axle & other stuff. I may just try to get the GMC by itself & tell him to call me when he drags the Chevy out...or offer to help. There is rust in the cab corners, driver's sill plate area, inside bottoms of both doors, and the bed is beat up. My plans for it would be to redo the drivetrain & interior, metal finish the bed & fenders, & leave as much of the blue paint as possible. Not sure what I'd do for paint/primer on the metal worked areas yet. So...comments on cost, condition, etc?
That would sell in less than a half hour here in Connecticut. Never knew the GMC dash differed from Chevy trucks. Bob
Depends on what you want as an end result. As a daily beater? It's a pretty good candidate, and a fair price. But its going to need a lot of hours and some $ to get it to be a dependable driver.
My daily driver is a '71 Torino 4dr with two car seats in it...this would mainly be used for parades, parts runs (just a few blocks to the parts store, and going to shows to advertise my metal working. I looked at a 54 IH but the body was almost too nice...nothing to fix. The IH has a rebuilt drivetrain & suspension but body is untouched.
My dad had this same year truck in dark and light green... in the 1970's.. it was restored and he drove it everywhere.. i always liked the dash of that year GMC nothing like it.. was an awesome tough looking truck... A truck like that may be my next resto... keep us posted if you restore it...
I like it! My Diamond T came with a parts truck like that. I had to take both of them in order to buy the good truck. The parts truck had no wheels, and they are unique, which means we had to improvise. It took me six months to get the parts truck home. That story is at http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=807257&highlight=drug&showall=1
You asked for opinion... thumbs down. I'm biased by being out west, many rust-free candidates, and I've had two chevy pu's of the same era. Both were/are rust-free. No way I could even think about the one in the picture, and bring it to the same condition, even if it were free. Speaking of free... One of mine came to me free. I held it a few years, did almost nothing to it, and gave it away free. Just a point of comparison. Like others have posted, if you have the interest, and the bucks, and if it represents the market in your area, go for it. JMO
Here in the NY trucks of that vintage are few and double that for rollers. I would pick it up both for 1500 if I could. LMC and Classic Parts of America sell sheet metal for the cab corners. I would swap the fuel pump and go through the brakes just for peace of mind anyway. Good Luck!
You should buy it. That is a hell of a good start for a car project. There is a lot of aftermarket support for those. I chose a bastard brand for the same kind of money and I'm still fixing rust. A title is important.
Yep, assuming a title it'd be a good one. That dash is cool. Makes my 51 look very plain. Right behind the distributor there's a pad with a few digits stamped. The first 3 will be the engine size - 228, 248, 270, etc
Given you get two trucks for the money at $1500 you're not paying a whole lot more than scrap when it's high. Spoiled west coast guys aside, it's a deal, you could easily clean it up and get it going, and if you wanted sell it by itself and make a little on it.
I bought a 54 GMC parts truck like that, about the same shape, except it's front fenders were a little better for 1350.00, put my rust free cab and mint clip on it's chassis and used the parts truck bed, then sold the parts truck cab and clip for 800.00. I would buy the truck for 1500.00, looks like a great start. I just sold my 54, running and driving for 4500.00. Something to think about.
Cool truck, the way I look at decisions like this, first think about it at your house/shop, really like where is it going to sit while you work on it. As long as that is not a major issue, the price and truck is right. And how many 54 gmc's are in your area waiting to be plucked? Lol. Good luck bro. Bring it home ask questions later
I hauled it home this weekend for $1,000. If I was going to restore it for my personal use I'd have spent another $500-1,000 and got one with less rust & dents. But I want something to showcase my metal working as advertising. While it doesn't run I was assured it ran not long ago (yea I know....) so hopefully I can get it going without a full rebuild. The body is rough enough I have plenty of areas to show off what I can do & I like the patina on the body...going to try and leave as much as possible. I'm not set up to paint so I'm going to try and blend the repaired areas into the existing paint. When it comes down to it...there just aren't that many complete 5 windows left around here.
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