1955 Tupelo Mississippi Fire Truck...Elvis!

[the1ted]

This just came this weekend from TX-a great find on eBay and eventually turning it into a 3/4 ton NAPCO 4x4. The reason for the theme choice is Elvis Presley embarking on the year that made his career-1956.

[Kim57]

Nice truck.
Kim

[apache200]

great looking truck to start with

[6BT 56]

That sure is a good place to start. Nice truck . You allready have the napco stuff? mine had anapco driveline under it for a while . Just finished swapping some more modern stuff for diriveability sake

[the1ted]

Yes. I have a 3/4 ton set rebuilt and backed off of using them in my 1957 Chevy truck because of the 4:56 ratio. It would have been 'gearbound' to drive in that low range with a 4-speed. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=529546

[the1ted]

Great luck on eBay-found a trading card of a 1955 fire truck. Cool story on the back!

[Kim57]

That's cool.
Kim

[the1ted]

One item I couldn't do without is the A-frame chain hoist. A work and life-saver. I picked the bed off with 3/8 eye bolts thru the wood bed on top and flatwashers with nuts underneath. I even up 2 lengths of chain and criss cross them in the bed. The hoist is on rubber lined casters so I moved it forward for the cab and rolled the truck under it.
The cab is a lot heavier so I used two short nylon straps for handling bundles of pipe and steel on the front windshield posts and a longer tow strap tied around the cab corners and looped thru the rear window. After unbolting it from the frame I raised it high enough to clear the chassis and rolled that out from under the cab and into the garage. Then I backed my lawn trailer under the cab and lowered it on there to take for sandblasting. I fixed a clevis on top for the Sandblast folks to lift it off the trailer. It will be good to see bare metal as someone already attempted repairs to the cab corners and covered the gas fill port. Both need redone.
Once I got the frame inside I measured the spring centers and checked the crossmember where the transfer case will mount-all good. The leaf springs are the same width which is a relief. A big plus is this '55 was a factory small block. There are some differences in castings and frame layout between the '55 and '57, but for the most part they are the same.

[Kim57]

It would be slick to have room for the A frame hoist.
The frame looks nice and clean.
Kim

[the1ted]

Got the body off to the sandblaster. Here is the luck I had with a trailer that used to have a portable welder/generator on it. Welded some structural 2" angle on each side and placed some pieces left over from some beams I used in my house, then screwed the wood to the angle. The cab rests nicely on it and I secured it for the ride with 2 ratchet straps hooked into eye bolts-same ones I used for the bed lift. I just pushed them up thru the cab mounts with big flat washers inside. It towed like a champ! Big plus is that I left it on the trailer and removed the straps. The sandblaster will cover the tires and protect the bearings in the axle from contamination. You can roll this around with one hand and little effort.

[the1ted]

Now the 'ugly truth' that you only learn when you do a closer inspection. These things were never revealed in the eBay auction-lesson learned there! Miserable repairs to the cab, terrible attempt to cover the gas cap area. Worst is they installed cab corners OVER the rusted area-this makes for twice the work to remove and section in properly new ones-GEEZ! Another photo is the torched cut of the driver door mount. Almost abandoned the project after finding all this and problems with the frame (to follow). Not so much a rant as hopefully education so someone else knows what questions to ask and where to look or see photos before buying.

[the1ted]

The frame was incredibly straight and level. Measured equally from corner to corner-so not tweaked by an accident. Sadly it had rust pitting throughout and the biggest problem-again, both undisclosed by the seller on eBay-was the crossmember being removed that bridges between the rear spring hangers behind the motor-a BIG no-no in my book. I assume it was meant to be replaced with an automatic trans and crossmember that came extra. They did an excellent job capping the cuts on the crossmember-obviously not the same guy who welded inside the cab! A buddy of mine calls those kind of welds 'dog welds', "Ruff, ruff."

[6BT 56]

Well your in it now . Still a good start . If they figured out how we could listen to a car and have it tell us it's life story then none of us would ever restore a car again ! Every car or truck has seen some sort of redneck resto/ repair by the the time they get this old . Just keep moven forward it will be the way it's suppost to be in no time .

[the1ted]

Thanks. I love the term 'Redneck Repair'. I think it's the same as a 'brother-in-law job'!

[Kim57]

To bad about the hidden treasures but nothing there that can't be fixed with a little time.
Good luck on it.
Kim

[6BT 56]

If you have any questions abt the napco stuff ask away. I did a all original napco swap on mine first drove it that way for a bit and then did the D 60 D 70 swap and the cummins .

[the1ted]

Todays news is a game ender for this truck. Had the cab sandblasted and it revealed tons of cancer throughout the floorboard and steps. The guy who sold it to me lied, plain and simple. He had filled all the rust pits (photo) with Bondo and undercoated the bottom with rubberized spray-so no closer inspection would have revealed this. He also sanded the filler to the contours of the floorpan and put a heavy coat of primer on top. Sucks. Only big plus was the metal scrap yard is on the same street-got $30.60 back so far on a $6,000.00 investment.

[Russell Ashley]

Sorry that you are getting bummed out, but we have all run into that situation at one time or other. Replacement panels for every part of these trucks are available so you might look into what it will take to fix your cab before making a hasty decision. Look through some of the build threads, some of the folks here started with much worse.

[ghettoluxury]

Wow that is good clean metal in my parts! Sorry to hear you sent her to the scrap yard.

[Kim57]

Sorry you had it crushed.
I replaced my whole floor and fire wall with home made pieces because I didn't have the cash for new stuff.
You should be able to find another cab for it.
Kim