Projects Look what followed me home...'56 GMC

Hey Guys and Gals... My bad habit is starting up again. Its been a while since I had a project to work on so I started looking. Came across this ad for a 1956 GMC on the CL and called the fella. Never got a response for about 3 weeks so I assumed I was too late. Sunday before last I get a phone call after church, it was a return call on the truck. He said he still had it and finally told me where I could see it. Last Friday I took a drive over to check it out. Super nice old guy. Talked a little then he said go take a look. I checked her out to see what all would go into it. Decided for the price he was asking I better pass. Long story short, he tells me to make him an offer so I shoot him what I think and he says I'll deliver it in the morning. Sure enough Saturday morning he is at my place bright and early. So I ended up with an old hot rod from around the 60's by looking at the work that was done.

Someone put a 327 in it backed by a 3 speed I haven't identified yet. The rear end also appears non-stock. The Paint job was nice in the day.. Brown Metalflake with yellow panels and dark fading. They also put 58 Chevy taillights on and thunderbird bucket seats inside. The truck was supposed to be from around the Dayton,OH area but has Colorado plates.. I am trying to find any pics or local history. I know there is gonna be alot of body work to get it going again but I'm ambitious and have been looking for a truck like this for a while. Let me know what you guys think. Opinions welcome!

 

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. I dig the front bumper though!.Good luck with it.

 

Sweet! Going to be some work but It'll be cool! Lets see some more pics!

 

I didn't know you were on the HAMB. It was nice meeting you last night and I'll see ya Saturday.

The 56 now has a new home in Kentucky fellow HAMB'ers I'll set up a thread for a build log on this pickup soon.

 

Yes! that's awesome. You should try the CLR treatment and see how much of that paint comes back

 

That reminds me of a similar GMC (1955)pickup my cousin had. He swapped out the stock Pontiac V8 for a 425 Horse (real) 1965 Vette 396, he used the column shift three speed and with 3.01 gears it was a real hiway cruiser. This was back in the 70's and his dad (a farmer) really liked it
I like the grille too.

 

Since the truck was already on this thread I figured I'd just keep it here.

Well we took the rollback and picked up the ol' girl. Getting her out of the garage really showed the beating she has taken in her past. She has one foot in the grave but I think she's can be saved.

You never know what's hiding behind the doors of those little garages. This one being in Richmond, IN

One of our club members was kind enough to blow off his Saturday to pick up the 56 with the rollback.

 

Good shot of the underside while it was on the rollback. Someone thought it sat too low looks like.

 

The truck belongs to my 18 year old nephew. He moved in with my family after he had some issues at home that was beyond what any young man should have to deal with. I thought we were helping him out but seems the other way around. Having him here has been such a blessing. His work and school ethics are not what you see today and the thoughtfulness of this young man has really given me hope that the next generation may just have a chance.

He's nuts over cars and his dad was too but his dad refused to help him or teach him anything. Now that he's here that is all changed. He listens to me and soaks it up like a sponge. He told me he did not think he could ever afford to have an old 50's truck. I explained to him that all you have to do is reach for it and you could have anything you want. He kind of laughed. I told him if you want something bad enough and worked at it, it would fall in your lap. 2 days later he owns this 56 pickup. The old owner worked with us on the price and he paid for it with his own money.

 

Myself and I think most of us really take things for granted. It's easy for most of us to do what we do. To see this young man get this truck and the reaction he has you would have thought he just won a 30 million dollar lotto.

We got hit with a snow storm and they called school off. Wasn't too bad but it didn't matter. Since he had no school Earl started the tear down of his 56 to see what he had to work with.

The windshield came out first followed by the bed, bumper, and what was left of the exhaust. He took a short break before returning to cut out all the old wiring. Not bad for a few hours of work.

 

Sometimes you just have to ask why??



I was really worried about the windshield lip where the seal goes. After the windshield came out to get a good look I was really happy. Looks really good.

Firewall is not too bad either. Plenty of factory holes to weld up.

 

The truck is really rough and one body part was not fixable or worth the time to fix I should say, the door. To make him feel like there was a fighting chance my wife and I jumped in her little gas saver and headed south a couple hours to look at this door we found on Craigslist. We got it and brought it back for him. He didn't know anything about it until he went out in the garage and seen it. He was tickled to death.

 

Great story, and good on you looking out for that boy. Ill be following this one

 

Way to go, this is a great story to start my day with! Momma always says theres still good people left in the world, I guess theyre all here on the hamb!

the metric system? never heard of it.......

 

Ya great story!! Keep in being the good role model you have become for him!! Ya for sure gonna check in on this one!!!


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Can I start calling you DAD and move in? lol.Bruce.

 

Wow that cab is rusty! He will definitely know how to weld after fixing that! Will be watching this one!

 

Don't get me wrong she needs some panels. She is rough but the surface rust is what makes it looks so bad. For me truck is second only to teaching him how to fix it. By the time this rig is done he will know how to weld, use the English Wheel, bend some tin, other metal work as well as everything else involved. It should be a lot of fun.

 

Couple days ago Earl had about an hour between school and work so he got the stock gas tank out and some more stuff off the firewall and the dash. Wiper arms came off too.

Yesterday we got the junk left door off the rig as well as the right, huge west coast mirror, some more stuff off the firewall, the steering column, shifter and trans cover, heater box and more. Sad part is all the easy stuff is off and it's down to cutting or grinding all the bolts that are so rusted you can't get them out. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea how rough the old gal is.


Earl got the old radio out of the dash that someone had put in. I wasn't too happy to see the hack job they did cutting the dash up. Not only did they cut it, they bent the metal all the way up to the body lines of the wrap around to make it fit.

 

Since my nephew is on a strict budget you have to search for the deals. Even when you don't have a lot of cash and something pops up that you can get a deal on you have to go for it. We are both looking for stuff and asking friends if they have what we need. I lucked out when I seen an ad on Craigslist for a 350 turbo transmission. He had it listed for $150.00 . I emailed the guy and he was nice enough to let the trans go for 100 bucks. Only issue he is in Georgetown Ohio. Once again I jump in the wife gas saver and head north.

 

It was rush hour so I figured I'd run down the back roads on Rt. 52 following the Ohio River. I'm not much on sitting on the highway doing 25 MPH beside it was a nice day and we got to see some cool stuff.

Don't ask me why I snapped this. I guess I'm easily amused at anything doing with cars.

We jumped up a couple back roads and hit old highway 30. If anyone has a chance to drive up this road you should. It was the first time I had ever been on it but I'm going to make it a club run this summer for the guys to get together to cruise up that way. There where miles and miles of these rock wall that where well over 100 years old. A super wide creek that flowed over shallow rocks as well as old log cabins and other things that a history buff like myself just goes nuts over. Not many pics but here are a few with some cars I seen.



This ragtop and T/A was sitting out front of a junkyard. The number is on the wall behind the T/A if anyone wants to call about it. The Chevy took a hard hit but it had some nice parts on it.

 

We made it to the guys house and we walk in the garage. He's a gearhead with a 70 Nova. 48, 49 ? Ford Truck and a early 50's Chevy. He let me look around at his projects and we talked for a long time. He was one of the nicest guys I've ran across in a long time. We took some pics but it was getting dark and the camera was not working very well.

 

With all that the diamond in the rough that Earl needed, the 350 turbo loaded up and ready to head back to Kentucky.

 

Sweet.....keep after him to not get discouraged. The tear down is the easy part....based on what I have seen you already know that. Good Luck!

 

You never know about someone but he's putting ever spare minute he has into the old truck. So far he's doing great. I'm not sure his girlfriend likes all the times away from her. I guess he put his foot down and told her to come and help him if she wanted to hang out. She spent a day helping him put the old body parts out of the way and cleaning up. Even did some small metal work. If he doesn't run her off with this truck build she may be a keeper.

 

Nephew Earl, my wife Amy and myself took off Saturday to Louisville Kentucky for the swap meet. Earl made out like a bandit. He's flipping the rear end over the springs for a drop so he needed some axle saddles or brackets, whatever you want to call them.


Both cab corners are shot. I told him even with new cab corners we may even have to add metal to the top after we get all the rust out.


We not only found the cab corner but they cover the whole mess.

I was telling him about the YOM law in Ky. You can run a tag with the same date on it as your car/truck if you have historical tags. He thought that was really wild so he dug through every tag he could find trying to find a Campbell County, Kentucky tag. I did not think he would find one but he did. $25.00 though. He ask the guy if he'd take 20. The guy said no. Earl ask 22? Guy still said no and so we walked off. After looking through the other tags he couldn't find another one and went back and paid the asking price.

 

Earl is learning how to do some tin bending. Here he is on the English wheel.

Even his girlfriend gave it a try.

That piece of metal that was cut and used to fill the gas filler hole in the cab. The gas tank is coming out from behind the seats. I shot some white paint on it to keep the weather from rusting the bare metal. I don't guess it really matters much. The whole cab will be blasted.

 

School time. I took two pieces of scrap and told him to lay me a small stitch. The heat was up hi but on purpose. He laid the line down until he blew threw it. I explained that once you see the metal blow through like that you will know it's too hot or you are moving too slow. I ask him to fill in the blow through, he did. Then I started adding scrap on to of scrap explaining the thinner metals as I handed stuff to him. With the heat up he never blew threw the metal again and everything he welded burned in good and strong. He still has to learn a lot of stuff but he picks it up fast. I see no issues with him welding up all the holes in the firewall with only a 20 or 30 minutes schooling, he has the basics down pat.

 

I even gave him new pair of welding gloves and apron. He ask if this was for rookies. I laughed and thought about it for a while. While he was welding I told it was all good until he gets a big piece of hot slag fall into his gym shoe while he's welding. I have done that more than I care to talk about.

Here is a shot of all the scrap metal just stuck on wherever. Crazy set up but it's all about having a little fun while you learn.


Next time school is in session he will learn how to do some hammer and dolly work on his hot welds.