A little diversion from progress for some random stuff – The last time anything I owned made it into print was the January 1976 issue of Street Rodder when my flamed 54 Chevy made it into the Early Iron segment:
So it was a real treat when my truck was selected for entry in the 2009 Stovebolt calendar:
The following year it appeared in the February issue of Classic Cruisers segment of Classic Trucks magazine, which was also fun:
I was surprised when it showed up, as I had just sent in the information a few weeks earlier. Even more of a surprise was being notified by one of our forum members living in Germany! He received the magazine before it was available here.
I’ve always wished I hadn’t photographed the truck with those stupid tie downs installed in the stake pockets. I never even used them. They were removed shortly after the photos were taken.
It showed up again with a different photo in the 2010 Stovebolt calendar:
I’m hoping to get it considered one last time if I can capture a really fantastic photograph presented against a better background location (which I haven’t found yet). I’ll only make the attempt if the stainless windshield trim gets installed, this likely being the last exterior cosmetic upgrade the truck will receive.
And while I’m already slightly off track from the truck progress, I’ll throw in some models of the truck I’ve built over the years:
The first was built to replicate the original concept. Gloss black with steel rims and small hubcaps. This was assembled (with great difficulty) over the course of a year, and almost went in the garbage multiple times.
The cab is made of Modelhaus resin replica 1960 GMC doors, front fenders, cowl windshield frame, hood, grille and grille support. The roof, back of the cab, and chassis are from the 1964 Revell short fleetside kit. Although both kits were 1/25th scale, they weren’t close to being the same so nothing fit without serious effort. The original bed came from the AMT 1955 Chevy kit, it was slightly too small and didn’t look right. About the time this was coming to completion Revell released the stepside/boat kit, so that bed ended up being used instead. It was painted with acrylic enamel car paint, and other than wheels looks the same today. The front bumper guards came from the 55 kit.
This was taken a short time later after a set of 5 spoke mags were added.
Hanging on the wall it fooled a lot of casual observers into thinking it was real, but closer examination reveals the left front tire is floating above the snow. In fact it was taken on top of a 4 foot berm of snow right outside our front door.
This one came along much later and is a stock Revell kit with a GMC grille.
This is what I envisioned as the final build level of the real truck with complete chrome trim. I even obtained a mint condition grille for the real truck to have chrome plated, but costs are too high for retirement pay, and I’ve grown to like the white front end. If I win the lottery however I may still chrome the front end. Compared to the original/resin model which was more accurate, the AMT version actually has a desirable 1-2” chop to the top. It’s clearly shorter than the real thing, but it makes for a nice improvement.
The last version represents my truck as it sits today, complete with windshield trim:
I believe I still have photo reduced copies of the original California black license plates to add, which I’ll get around to eventually. Studying the photo, I finally realized the front bumper is incorrect on each of these models. The ends slope up to the rear on the rear truck. The models are backwards sloping rearward from the top and they’re also too rounded. Maybe I’ll fix that too eventually.