So the real story comes out...
Today I met with the guy I bought the truck from, just to pick up some small parts he had for me. Turns out, his son (who gave me the first story) had things a little bit wrong. The man proceeds to tell me that he had first seen the truck around town only a few weeks before he ended up buying it, and this is where it gets somewhat disheartening. 1973, he see's the truck in our small towns Knorr's Arco Station, notices the at-the-time owner in distress mode pacing around the truck with the hood open. He pulls in and yells to the man, "That truck still running?" to which the man tells him that the steering box had just gave, and he couldnt make any left turns. Minutes later, he bought the truck for $400.00, with the owner explaining how he had moved to PA only a month before from long Beach, California, he had bought the truck brand new in '58 and the truck was always garage kept and he hardly ever used it, He had to sell his daily commuter car for the big move, which is why he was driving the truck. He parked his truck, drove my 59 home, and again to his mother's house later that night, being the last time this truck was ever driven. He worked as a machinist and had a heavy rollback, so he towed it to a building in Rosslyn Farms, PA in an abandoned turnings processing plant that he owned, and that is the last time the truck's tires ever rolled, until I got ahold of it. He gave me a box of parts, all in mint shape might I add , the ash tray, the full gauge cluster with the gauges, and the chunk of metal cut from the inside wall of the cab that was cut for a whip antenna from a CB the Cali. owner had in it. He apologized to me for not having the original cali. black plates that were on the truck when he got it. He also apologized for what he let happen to the truck, the shape its in, the dents, etc. He told me how the truck was absolutely stunning when he got it, and how he could just sit and look at it all day long. He was genuinely sorry. But, when I got home, I took a look at the gauges and the odometer reads 11,720 miles, So now my mind is racing...what exactly do I have? Do I have THAT virgin of a truck? And more importantly, why didn't he EVER do anything with it?
Anyway, I pulled the seat out, cut out what was left of the glove box cardboard, and got everything that moves, to move like new. The tailgate was especially bad, it was literally frozen in place, haha. I also scored a parts truck. A TOTALLY rotten '57 with the Poncho v8 and hydramatic. Had a GORGEOUS red and white interior, which basically hit the homerun for me. Im gonna blow the interior all white, top half of the dash and door panels in black, with a red carpet, red/white seat, red/white steering wheel, red sun visors, red headliner. Should be killer. I've ordered basic stuff, like the glove box, door locks, wiper motor, brakes, etc. Also, being a Cali. truck, there's no freagin heater. So that throws me for a little bit of a curve. Here's a picture of the floor, just to show off what Im pleasured to work with
More pictures and **** to come.
Later, ElJay.
