Can this GMC 700 Series be saved?

[MP&C]

Jim Hery is a coach builder from Belfast TN, a bit of his work has been seen at Pebble Beach. Here is a 1923 RR Silver Ghost that the Insurance company had written off, but the owner wished to fix.

before
















after






Some excerpts of Jim's recommendation to another in repairing fire damage:

I have been in the restoration business specializing in coachbuilt cars for a few decades. At first glance you may think this job is overwhelming or indimidating however it is not as bad as it looks. The car is definitely repairable, you just have to decide which route you want to take. A repaired original car has more value than a car which has been rebodied so you have to take that into consideration. Everybody has a different way of getting a job done. The first thing I would do if I was working on this car would be to take all skins off the car and sandblast the sheetmetal inside and out extremely well. This will do two things, one, it will clean the carbon out of the pores of the steel or aluminum so paint will stick and to it will give you a much better prospective of what to do. Don't worry about warping the metal. Ha Ha!! After it is clean you will be able to read things alot better. I always sand the metal good with #80 grit on a DA, this will take temper out of the top of the metal so it will be easy to file. The principles are the same for repairing as collison work. A fire job can be a learning and rewarding experience. They never are as bad as they look.

[Gypsyman]

That's some great information and definitely gives me more confidence in taking this on. The truck should be here Friday if all goes well.

In the last week I found the following...

'49 ADFR chassis with a Detroit 4-71. This will give me period specific suspension and has an air brake front axle should I decide to go this way.

[Gypsyman]

A junkyard single axle 900 series tractor that should give me the gauge package for the dash and the angled steering column which I hope I can use to free up some leg room and give the wheel a better angle for my long arms.

Someone tried to scab on fenders from another truck but the seller claims to have the original GMC fenders and the hood. Unfortunately no grill or I would buy the whole truck.

[Gypsyman]

And finally a brand new, in the crate, Detroit 4-71T Non-Mag aluminum block along with a pile of new parts. Don't know if I could squeeze a turbocharged 4-71 under the hood but down the road it might be worth a try. =)

[Gypsyman]

I have the '49 ADFR chassis coming this way which will give me the period specific mounting and accessories for a Detroit 4-71. As you can see above it still has the original 2 valve 4-71 in it.

Does anyone have any idea what a new in the crate Non-Mag 4-71 block is worth in todays market?

[Gypsyman]

Got her home. Turns out it's a 1948 AC-724.

Tire fires apparently do burn pretty hot...

[Katrina/10]

Wow, melted springs!

[mrolds88]

The good thing is that now its had heat applied, the lugnuts should come off easier!! Nice save!!

[dubds10]

Before seeing the pics I was going to say the springs will be toast & frame questionable as tires burn extremely hot. I'm a Fire Investigator & have seen enough heavy equipment burnt to the ground to know it's all questionable steel afterwards lol The body is easy enough to repair though, so good luck and have fun!

[Gypsyman]

Originally Posted by dubds10

Before seeing the pics I was going to say the springs will be toast & frame questionable as tires burn extremely hot. I'm a Fire Investigator & have seen enough heavy equipment burnt to the ground to know it's all questionable steel afterwards lol The body is easy enough to repair though, so good luck and have fun!

The springs appear to have taken the brunt of the heat. The good part is that since this was a longer wheelbase truck most if not all of the section by the tires will be removed when the frame is shortened to tractor length.

[Gypsyman]

Thanks to an ATHS member I just scored a very complete parts truck. This will take care of the interior and 90% of the air system parts. Can anyone tell me if the rear axle can be converted to air brakes? I'd really like to keep the original axle under the truck.

The cab appears to have burned hot and fast. Almost everything that was pot metal or cast aluminum is now just a puddle on what is left of the floor. Oddly some parts vaporized while other parts just a foot away survived.

With the parts truck shown below I have more than enough parts to build a very period correct truck with some upgrades and still have a ton of spare parts left over. =)

[junkmandan3]

Richard------Your donor has those unique wheel adapters. they're rare and will be good for a lot of conversation. Dayton was one brand, although there may have been more. I have a Dayton ad in an old dealer accessory catalog that shows them .

[Gypsyman]

I noticed the odd wheels. Can you tell me any more about them?

[junkmandan3]

Simplicity,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,For fleet standardization, easy to mount and a lot less torque required to remove or tighten . Among my jobs in the freight industry with a large carrier in the midwest in the early '60s was to monitor tire banks on our major routes. Starting out with city delivery trucks, they had 5 hole Budd, 6 hole Budd, 8 hole budd and 10 hole Budd, and could have 6 and 10 hole hub piloted rims. Consider the inventory if the various combinations are mounted on the rim in various sizes . Another concern is hardware for the right and left hand threads on the Budd-Stud piloted design.

Today , the smaller sizes that we used to see 55 years ago are scarce, with most everybody standardizing on the 11R22.5 with the hub piloted wheel . This approaches the simple standard of the Dayton design hubs and rims that we enjoyed years ago ..