Projects Build Thread ~ '58 Chevy Stepside

Since it's the dead of Winter and not much is happening, I'm going to revive my old build thread and bring it up to date. I started this build thread in 2010 and finished the truck in October of 2018 so there's a lot of catching up to do...

Better days ~ Chris taking a break during disassembly...​

This is going to be a different sort of build thread, let me explain why. I lost my brother Chris in May of 2010, one of the many things we had in common was our passion for cars. In the process of dealing with his estate I've come across a boatload of pictures of the build that I will scan and try to put in some semblance of chronological order. This was his first and only build and I helped him out quite a bit so I should be able to comment or answer questions with reasonable certainty.

 

Starting point, a worn but solid Texas farm truck.

 

Sorry to hear about your brother. Looks good.

 

Killer truck and a great idea.

 

With a lot of help from family and friends, Chris put together the truck of his dreams. Considering his limited budget and experience it turned out pretty good. Here it is on it's maiden voyage.

 

I am ready . I had a '59 I wish I had back.

 

It had a '74 454 , TH400 and a Mopar 8.75 diff. The interior was basic paint and a Mexican blanket seat cover.

 

Chris enjoyed it for several years before passing away in May 2010 from complications related to his life long battle with Cystic Fibrosis.

 

At this point I asked my folks to keep Chris's truck in the family. It meant so much to him that the idea of selling it was unimaginable, I became the caretaker of my bro's '58. It needed a little love to be safe and reliable so I went to work sorting out the mechanicals. The big projects were done over the winter so the truck would be drivable during the too short Minnesota summer.

​

 

One of the first things I did was swap the painted trim for chrome. I know Chris would have liked to but funds didn't allow...

 

The following Winter I went to do a cam swap because the one he picked for the build was too much cam for a stock torque converter. In the process I discovered a wiped lobe and things quickly snowballed. The engine came out for a rebuild and I cleaned up the engine compartment and at the same time added a little bling.​

 

I also rewired the truck and spruced up the interior a bit that year. Almost a year to the day after Chris died, I found this message scrawled on the back of the cab behind the fuel tank.

His handwriting...

​

 

I enjoyed the Hell out of the truck whenever I could...

 

Sorry about your brother, nice you're taking car of the truck, except getting rid of the M/T valve cover...lol

 

The next Winter I did a little work on the suspension to get the front end down where I wanted it and redo some things I didn't like in the rear suspension. I never did figure out what front coils were in there, I think they came off of a box car

 

I still have them

 

This is an awesome story. You are doing your brother proud.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

After a couple years of basically driving it everywhere I got a wild hair and decided to get the hood louvered. I ended up driving it like this for most of the summer...

 

Cystic Fibrosis sucks ass ...One of my coworkers several years ago lost two of his children to that horrible disease .Glad to see you are keeping his dream alive.

 

After driving it to Back to the 50's the following summer I was satisfied that the mechanical stuff was sorted out so now it was time to make it pretty. What started out as a quickie repaint spiraled into a ground up rebuild...

 

First thing I did was shave the dash. While it was easily accessible I installed a modern cab heater and electric wipers...

 

Then I shaved the firewall...

 

I also enclosed the step wells so the cab floor was flat from door to door...

 

Very cool! Is the main paint by chance '87 Ford lite green pine? Looks exactly like my '58 which is that color (the cab anyway)- and was a Texas farm truck also!

Keep on put'in the miles on it!

 

Before proceeding with the body work I started fabbing door and kick panels, incorporating some of the lessons learned in my first go around.

 

I think it was iceteacharlie, the painter doctored the color with some pearl. He introduced himself at a car show and we had a nice discussion about it, but he couldn't recall other than it was a Ford color

 

Last one for tonight. I body worked the cab and got it in primer so it could go back on the frame. I needed room in the garage to work on the other stuff...

 

I lied, one more chapter for the night. I painted the firewall and inside of the cab prior to putting the cab back on the frame.

 

Before putting the cab back in place I made new brake lines, installed a new master cylinder and straightened out a few other odds and ends.