"Tribute Truck" 1951 Chevy 3800 build

[thebooger13]

Hey guys/gals I'm a newbie to the site and want to show you my truck that I picked up a couple of months ago. It's a 1951 Chevy 3800 that I found after months of looking at craigslist almost on a nightly basis. After checking out a few rust buckets and alot of very incomplete/molested(can I say that on here? lol) trucks, I found this one, hiding in a garage up near Green Bay, WI. The guy I bought it from bought it from a gentleman down the road from him who used it as a farm truck for many years and then parked it in the barn when it quit running. I bought it as you see in the pics below on the day i brought it home. The truck doesn't run but it came with an extra(non-running) engine and trans in the bed. The truck is so complete/ rust free it blew me away when I first looked at it. The only thing that is missing is the seat cushions that the "wonderful" mice decided to make their home in.

As far as my plans for the truck, I haven't yet decided what I want to do. I've got a couple of ideas though. I've seen very nice restored trucks like this one and thought it would be great to have one myself. Just to cruise around in and take to the occasional show. And then I went to a local tractor/truck pull and watched a heavily modded '52 Chevy 4x4 tear up the track with a built big block under the hood. That was some cool $#!+ to see. So that got me thinking of using a truck that I had bought for a cheap mud truck as a newer 4x4 chassis for this '51 body. It would get better mileage(hopefully) and be more streetable for longer trips with power steering and brakes and such.

I'm sure some of you are wondering about the title "Tribute Truck", well, my grandfather has, I would say, "semi-restored" some old trucks over the years. About a dozen or so, which he still has. Chevys, Fords, Internationals, and a few odd ducks like a rare 37 or 38 Plymouth, a '36 Indiana, and '28 Stoughton. He keep mostly to the 20's and 30's trucks and has one '47 Chevy 3100 in his stable. With all of this work, he has done most of it himself, slowly over time, with out too much help. He does all his own body repairs(however sometimes not very professional or especially good looking) they get the job done. He has painted I believe all but two or three trucks himself, and only sent out two engines to the machine shop to get overhauled. So with this truck I'm going to build this truck the same way my grandpa does his, by himself, with what he has available, building the truck the way he wants, not worrying if its perfect or 100% original, and driving it around not being ashamed of the work he did. I can remember what he said to me after the first few trucks he built were done and ready(ish) for the road. "It may not be pretty, but I built it." So all in all I'm dedicating this truck to my Grandpa, for teaching me to not be ashamed of who I am or what I do. And to my late Grandma, who was always proud of me(except for the time I cracked my head open while playing at their house). She passed when I was 7 or 8 and from what I can remember she always had a smile on her face. She loved playing solitare on the dinning room table(not on the computer) and it seemed like she always had a game going on. Thank you both for all the memories past, and those yet to come.

Now here are a few pictures I took the day I brought the "Tribute Truck" home.

[tobins 52 gmc]

very nice start

[thebooger13]

Thanks, I hope I can keep it updated as some of the others on the site. I'm just getting started in this project and kind of have to wait until spring to start making more progress. Not sure what to do first, probably start tearing down the body to get it straightened out and in primer.

[ChevyBrad]

Oh man that's awesome, I wish my truck had that great of patina. I wouldn't paint it at all. Haha

[N.T.Q]

glad to see some one on here from Wisconsin, will be watching this build

[thebooger13]

Unfortuneatly due to work I've been unable to do anything to the truck yet. I just can't get anytime away to go start working on this thing... Stupid work...Why does everything have to be so damn expensive these days???

[fourspeedwagon]

Booger- I know it's just my free advise and definitely worth every penny- but I would think hard about tearing that neat old truck to pieces. All those "very incomplete/molested" pickups you mentioned in the first post were molested by folks with great intentions that became overwhelmed once they blew the truck all apart. Grandpa wouldn't be ashamed to clean and paint bits of the truck and perform regular maintenance and upgrades to the old girl. It looks very complete form the pics- maybe start with finding a seat for it and figuring out why it doesn't run? If the engine is seized, it still might not be a lost cause. Or, swap in the spare engine you have and go from there.
Anyway, just my thought. Get it rolling down the road and decide what you need to change- doing everything to it will be a multiple year endeavor that will frustrate and break the bank without any of the joy of driving your truck. Good luck and have fun with it- Greg

[thebooger13]

Fourspeed- I've been putting in alot of time thinking on what I want to do with the truck and I'm 99.9% sure I'm going to keep it original, or as original as possible. The 4x4 idea would be cool, but not for a truck in this good of shape and also one this rare(being a one ton). I can't even tell you how many people give me a weird look when I tell them it's a one ton truck. They look at me all funny and say "Really? It's a one ton? Don't see too many of those around." And the heck of it is, they're right, you dont see many one ton '51's around. Or even the 3/4 tons for that matter.

When my Grandpa would restore the trucks he had, he would really only take apart what he had to. To either get it working or to get at something he needed to get working. And he never seemed bothered by how much time it took him to get something fixed. He'd just keep chipping away at it until it was done. Like the transmission in his '28 Chevy truck, it was completely siezed and full of crap, like walnut shells, dried up oil, dirt and rust. He soaked the thing for about a month in some homemade penatrating fluid made of Coke and molasses I think, if memory serves me correctly, and when some of the junk would loosen up he'd dig out what he could and soak it again. He finally got that trans all cleaned out, pulled apart, cleaned up, reassembled it and got it working.

Like you said Fourspeed, it doesn't make sense to tear down the whole truck to the last bolt right away or to chop it up in to some sort of franken-truck. I've had my fair share of projects that I've dropped due to lost interest, time, money, or just being over whelmed or in over my head on them. I think I would start by pulling the motor and trans, tear them down to see if they are salvageable, and go from there. Get the trans rebuilt, and the motor running, put them back in and get the rest of the essential mechanicals working, like brakes, steering and such. Once I do that, then maybe start pulling a body panel at a time and get them straightened out and ready for paint. Then go into electrical wiring and other odds and ends.

I just need to find the time and money to start doing it...

[DieselRat]

I agree, thats a nice complete truck. Killer original paint and look. Maybe a little interior spiffing and of course heart and soul. I like it!

And to think my truck was originally that color until someone went and painted it pastel baby blue. Ugh!
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[av8tr33337]

I'm really gald to hear that you plan to keep it as original as possible. If it were a molested truck I could see going the other direction. Bottom line is do what feels right to you.

I was touched by the respect you show for your grandparents. Thanks for sharing that back story with us. I think we all have some history that makes us love these old trucks. Every one has a story.

I subscribed and will be anxiously awaiting progress pics.

[chevyboy73]

awesome! another wisconsinite! i love that you plan to keep it mostly orginal, i think they are the best that way or on a s10 chassis, can't wait to see what you do!

[thebooger13]

I really appreciate all the comments and input you guys (and/or gals) have been making. I guess I never really felt like I had anything too special with my grandparents. But now that I only have my one grandfather left, it kind of puts things into perspective, makes me wish I could go back and spend more time with the rest of them.

I got some good news, I found another '51 to do my 4x4 build with. It's been sitting out on a piece of land not far from town. Now I just have to come up with the money to get it. It looks pretty rusty compared to the truck I have now but I think I can make it work. I think I'll ask my grandpa the next time I visit if he likes the idea of the '51 4x4 build. A friend of mine started up an annual mud run with his brothers and close friends, and I started in on it building my own junkyard beater truck. Most any time I was working on it at my grandpa's shop he'd come over to see my progress and give me ideas on how to get the motor to run better, or how to fit the tractor tires that I had been eyeing up for it onto the truck. Grandpa even came to a few events too, for being an 80 something year old man, he sure enjoied watching all the homebuilt rigs throwing mud in the pits. Hell, I think he had a bigger smile than me after my second place run that I made in the 2wd class the one year.

Here is a pic of that homebuilt monstrocity known as The Mud Camper.