Ok, so I know its a GMC but thats about it. It has an overhead valve 6 in it that is believed to be original. The guy I bought it from played on it as a kid some 50+ years ago and he said it'd appeared to have been sitting a long time then. I have I believe, most of the pieces of the cab to put it all back together, just gotta get new wood or tubing. I am curious how rare these are if I should restore it or hot rod it. Even the rear axle has GMC stamped on it. The front axle is missing but that appears to be about it. Supposedly even up to about 10 years ago the guy could turn the engine over buy moving the fan belt. Uncracked headlights, no bullet holes. Too cool. Give my your thoughts and what not. The model is identified as a T-25 but don't know what that means.
it has a '29/30 ish Buick engine which I think is correct, would be difficult to find an axle down here but maybe not so hard up there?
Extremely rare, but a truck, values not usually that high. Early GMCs do have a following, it might be worth looking into before anything else. But probably a good one to rod without hacking up too much. It's already differnt as hell just the way it is, most people will have to ask what it is. Most restorer guys turn into vultures when they see one in this shape, just want parts for theirs and could care less if there's enough here to save a whole truck. So you can probably sell the extras.
I would get on the Vintage GMC webste Old GMC trucks .com Great source for info. I too didn't think that GMC went back that far.
I would think that if anyone on this site said to restore it they would deserve a serious tongue sticking. This is a rod and custom site after all.
I'd get it back on the road. Mildly hop it up. Then put a hitch on it and use it to tow your other hotrod to the dry lakes and back.
When a vehicle is that far gone it makes sense to build a rod out of it. Use a later model pickup axle, they made solid axle Chevs and GMCs up to 1959 Ford pickup to 64, Dodge to 1971. Build a big Woody wagon body or make a roadster pickup body, that would be the easiest. I'd go for a resto rod, with later axles and brakes and a big 292 Chev six for an engine, manual or automatic. But keep fairly close to the original style and original chassis frame. The original rear gears will be super low giving a top speed of 50 or 60 MPH. But you won't want to go very fast anyway in a thing like that. So you could keep the rear axle for the cool logo and appearance and use it for local driving. Or, use an overdrive transmission.
Well I have discovered a few things with some research. It is one of only 13,746 trucks that GMC built in 1930 in all the series of trucks they built. It is a 1 1/2 ton with 8500 GVWR. It is running a Buick OHV 6 with 221 cu. inches. Called the "Super Power" HP was not mentioned. Does anybody know anything about these cabs? Are they essentially the same as the Chevys of the same year? I'd like to buy a wood kit to rebuild the cab since I am not anygood at tubing. Maybe sometime down the road, as I become better at my metal skills I'd look into replacing the wood with metal. I'd like to see the cab put back together so it looks like something and focus on the chassis.
The cabs are totally different than a Chevrolet as is most of the truck, so i doubt a wood kit for a Chevy will help much.. It would be a few more years before Gmc and Chevrolet started to have more in common.
That's what I'm finding out. I have almost nothing to go on for patterns. Up a creek without a paddle.
I say stick a pick up or suburban frame under it and just replace the rest as close to stock as possible. That way you have dependability and wow factor.
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