My girlfriend Dani wanted a 49-53 suburban badly, and it´s nearly impossible to find one over here, but yesterday was day one of her first project. It´s rough, but most parts are there and the rust is not unfixable.It´s got a 75 Camaro front clip and rearend, but the frontclip installation is a hack job. Still nothing that can´t be fixed. We´ll start working on this as soon as my 34 is off for paint ( at least that´s the plan). So we have plenty of time to gather parts and ideas. I never had a AD truck myself yet, although I installed a Camaro clip and airride in my friend´s panel truck in about ´06. What are hard to find parts? Dealer´s to go to? Watcha got? Show what you have!
Baumi, When I got married in 75 I had a chevy panel like that one. Our house didn't have A/C at the time. We used the panel as our bed room in the summer. Fun memories, Thanks for your post. This is our 34 delivery. I love Panels, Deliveries, and wagons. Ron...
I found this 36 Plymouth rear haft of a delivery in a field. The farmer gave it to me for free. Than I made a camper out of it. We had a lot of fun with it. You should have seen the campers in their motor homes, when we pull in with this. lol I still have it. It would make a 4 door into a cool delivery. Ron...
Ron, your 34 is purrrrrfect! The cheaters in the back are dead on! I also love the stance of your Chevy with the Plymouth "half"-panel in tow! The Chevy does have a mean rake to it, and the trailer is even higher and just exaggerates the rake, just sooo cool!hahahaha Awesome!
I don't know about the AD trucks...the later ones, stuff for the side windows, rear doors, and quarter panels is kind of hard to find. I parted a couple rough ones over the years, but finally got my 57 (with 56 front clip) done a few years ago. I've put over 40,000 miles on it since. They're quite useful!
Jim, your 57 is outstanding! I was scrounging some websites yesterday night but it seems like there are not a lot suburban specific parts availible. Like side glass seals, repair panels, and so on... You drove your 57 to NY and back this winter , right?
Thanks! Yes, it went on a 5000 mile trip in March. And last week I drove it to Las Vegas (1000 mile round trip). Steele Rubber has some of the rubber seals for glass and doors. I have never seen any reproduction body parts like quarter patch panels, etc made specifically for Suburbans. You kind of have to make your own, if you can't find used parts. if you look close at the picture of mine, you will see that I replaced the sliding side windows with solid windows. I used the seal for a 1960s Suburban, some of them came with solid rear side windows. The side window channels seem to rust out on most of them, and are not easy to find.
Hello, Most hot rodders modify station wagons. Back in the early days, this GMC Suburban was considered a station wagon. It was used as a people mover from train stations to hotels, metropolitan centers, and homes. These days, the giant Suburban SUVs take up not only a lot of road space, but parking spaces, too. They are usually driven by small, long hair, blonde, suburban, soccer moms too busy to notice anyone else on the road. Yikes! This 1950 GMC Suburban is one of the early classic models that came out of the factory starting back in 1935 as family transportation. During the war years, it was a troop transport vehicle. But, classified in the Advanced Design group, it was the do-all transport vehicle of the times. The old surf inspired transportation sitting next to the newer family transport…we all know which one we would choose…There is no comparison other than they have 4 wheels and move people/surfboards. This Suburban has the 50s-60s surf inspired look of a cool, mild custom as well as a family surf transportation vehicle. The flat primer paint has the ever popular “frozen” look as per today’s standards. The custom wheels have the look from the 50s-60s with the beauty rings and small center hubcaps. But closer inspection reveals slotted sections for cooling. These are “Rally” wheels made to look like old GMC wheels, but are upgraded to the cooling slots of a Corvette. Jnaki The fine, detailed pinstriping adds a mild custom look to the “frozen black” style. This is one cool Suburban for the So Cal beach scene. "A nice front end..." 1950 GMC Suburban
My good friend Wayne Bowers, Chevy suburban. He puts lots of miles on it. His brother Jerry's bus is in the back ground. Both are very practical and KOOL rides! Ron.....
I thought I post a little update on my friend Dani's truck that I 'm building for her. I let the rebuilt 327 run in Monday night and we drove it for the first time. Next weekend we are going to put in primer I hope. The 327 seems healty enough to lay a little rubber going back in the Shop. She 'll have some fun I guess , hahahahha
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