I am a Chicago native... living in Colorado, and finding my way back to the midwest... I think my with taste comment may have been mistaken, it was meant as a compliment to the members of this site, I really have seen some amazing members cars...I like the trad aspects the guys on here have... my truck is still 6 volt and will have my 235 in it.... I just bought the how to hop up your chevy 6 book... I have been very motivated to work on my truck after being on here for a short time
Here's a pic of my old 51 with 49 plymouth bumpers. I sand blasted the bed fixed what little rust was there was and sprayed it with black primer, Then I painted it dark metalic green after I saved enough money to spray it. I really liked the way it looked with the black primer.
Your truck is bad ass dude, but it looks more at home at the rodeo than it does cruising the boulevard. That can change though, but it all depends on how radical you want to get. My impression is that you want to make a few subtle changes, fix the rust, put some good paint on it and cruise around profiling. For that it's best to keep things simple and stick to the tried and true formula that less is more. My suggestions... 1- lose the cow-catcher in favor of the stock blade or similiar bumper 2- nose it shave it, remove all unnecessary emblems 3- french your headlights. If you're feeling ambitious, 55 chevy headlights are a natural 4- your stance is already good, but add some WWWs and maybe a set of flipper caps 5- paint it, and make it a nice color that will have some pop to it. you obviously have to remove the brush on paint to prep the surface for real paint. Thus you will need a sealer or primer that will protect the body before it's in final paint. Flat black will cause your truck to get lost in the crowd, but maybe pick a color, and paint your dash and wheels that color so you HAVE to finish the body work. Then use the HOK epoxy prime, which is like the color of a lima bean, and use that since it's probably the best prime you can use. Now your field truck will be STYLIN'!
see now we are gettin somewhere... I am committed to painting this truck a real color, I like those plymouth bumpers... the 55 headlights were an Idea I had... (my body work skills are non existent... but I am willing to learn) and I have some 50 merc taillights for the rear fenders...I thought about continuing the peak from the 55 lights onto the rear fenders and int the merc tailights I am with you guys subtle is the way I want to do my mods...I want my truck to be something that car guys can appreciate... I will look into the lima bean primer, it sounds cool... I have massive amounts of dents in this poor truck... it was a real work truck... as for paint I want it two toned in the end... my grandfather had a 56 bel air that was canary yellow and black, I have been leaning towards that as a tribute to him... I still have his old creeper hanging in my garage.. and music name dropping you forgot one screeching weasel
Ok here are a few photos to bring you up to speed, I have been strippin paint in my spare time, since it has latex paint on it... (I did not do that) it is a brutal process... This truck has dents in every panel, you can see the stripped grill. I need to figure out whether or not I can replace or pound out a few of the dents... Here's the stance.... and some of the nasty dents I have been uncovering
I like the two tone, you should try to replicate that. My vote is to keep that front bumper too. It just screams "Get outta my way"