Just a quick introduction.... I've loved anything with wheels for as long as I've lived... mechanics for me were towards the simple things.. brakes, tuneups, oil changes. When my eldest daughter was around 3, I decided the family Astro needed some more umph.. did a Chevy 350 transplant for the old 4.3. While fun, it wasn't "family friendly"... my daughter got good at knowing when I said "hold on" she'd grip the sides of her toddler seat, 'cause daddy was going to do a power slide in the rain. She always seemed happy with those moves! So I've been bugging the wife for a car for her.. (now 16), and she kept saying "no, we don't NEED one for her..." Well, her high school has a "senior project" that can be about anything... so I tried the whole ... "how about me and her BUILD us a car for her project?" That worked! Just knowing that my daughter loves old pickups made the search kinda easy... lots of pics of old trucks led me towards the unconventional... either a '57 F100 or a '55 Dodge C3. So.. without further ado.. here's a pic of the truck I presented to my daughter for her 16th birthday....
Literally... I found the truck up in Mt. Vernon... the seller said it needed "some electrical work and stuff... I wouldn't drive it too far.." So I towed it home. It is pretty solid.. some rust here and there, but nothing terrible.. (that I've found). A cool looking and sounding Poly 273, bucket seats mounted on wood... (we're going to get rid of the wood), rough primer, suspension is stock... but not too terrible looking or feeling either. One dead battery (with too short jumpers), a trailer that needed to be returned, and a child that needed to be driven to school without her seeing the truck made me inpatient.. I tried to push the truck off the trailer, and promptly ruptured my Achilles tendon.... mother of #$%&^! Off to the emergency room.. then surgery.... Did I tell you I love my daughter? Now that I can sort of hobble around on my one good foot and a knee scooter... we've started work to get the truck running. This week, my daughter replaced the old carburetor with a new one (the old's linkage was toast). It's got the old gennie... so a new alternator is on the way... as is a Rebel wiring kit from Todd here on the boards to replace the monkey wiring that was there before. So much to do... but we got 2 years to get it working right. Thanks for listening! Marc
Marc---Welcome from the other coast. That truck will provide you with a lot of fun and many cherished times. Larry
Awesome brother! Building a '55 for my 15 year old daughter as well. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=574288 Currently in the ghan and haven't been on here in a while though. Keep the pictures coming, I love seeing what others are doing out there. And feel free to hit me up if you have any questions on anything I've done. I'm by no means an expert, but I'll pass on what little bit of knowledge I've obtained.