Projects Saving Jimmy from the crusher

First off, I hope that I am putting this in the right place! Please (gently) correct me if I am wrong. I am hoping that my adventure is at least somewhat interesting to someone other than me!

Awhile back I was helping a neighbor with his off topic ’70 Ford tractor. While at his place I noted a 2 ton ’57 GMC farm truck sitting behind his barn. Does that make it a “behind the barn” find? During our discussion of the truck I told him that if he wanted to let it go; I would be interested.
He also mentioned that the truck had been parked due to an unspecified engine problem. “But don’t worry” he said “there is an old Chevy engine in the barn that I was going to put in the truck.”
The old Chevy engine looks to be a late ‘50s 283 with a factory four barrel. Does the four barrel make it a Corvette engine? I heard that all old Chevy V8s came out of Corvettes.
Anyhooooo,
A couple of months later he took a job out of state. Shortly after he took the job a mutual friend asked me if I knew the phone number of the “haul the junk away free” guys. It seems the wife was cleaning the place in order to put the property up for sale. I think that I set some sort of speed record getting over there to let her know that although I didn’t have the phone number I would take care of getting the truck gone!
Naturally I got permission from my wife to bring Jimmy home. She said that as long as she couldn’t see it from the kitchen window it was ok. I sure love that woman! Of course that meant that I would be putting it behind my barn; not a big change for the truck.
So the adventure began. The GMC was only a couple of miles down the creek but it had been sitting 50 feet out in the flood plain for six years. In that time the tires had sunk into the ground several inches and the weeds had grown up all around it. Did I mention the multiple rats’ nests? Ugh. And enough mosquitoes to bleed a person dry before carrying them off.
I put rat poison in the cab to deter the rats but had to wait for the first hard frost to eliminate the mosquitoes.
Step one in the recovery process was to mix up a spray bottle of bleach and water to drown the inside of the truck in order to keep the Hunta virus at bay. Then some time with a broom and a stick. I found all kinds of interesting things mixed up with the rat stuff. Things like the old registration that hopefully will provide the needed information to get a replacement ***le.
After the cleanup day it was time to figure out how to move the beast. It was about this point that I found the truck was a foot wider than my trailer as well as being a foot longer. As I said it is a beast.
So I called the local towing company. While talking to them on the phone they were all about how they could pick it up “no problem”. After they saw where it was all I heard was “big problem”.
So I got to spend some quality time with the aforementioned off topic Ford tractor. Did you know that if the fuel valve is left on the tank drains, imagine that. And after the tank is empty the tractor will go almost across the driveway before running out of fuel. Priming a diesel injector pump by yourself requires some interesting contortions.
Once the tractor was going I made several other discoveries. Things like when the truck wheels are underground the steering doesn’t work very well. Also it is helpful to take the truck out of gear if you really want it to move.
In spite of the confusion I was able to get the truck up to where the towing company was willing to load it. I would have taken pictures of the evolution but I was busy steering the truck while driving the tractor. This left no appendages available to run the camera.
The tow truck pickup and delivery was a nonevent; the only interesting thing about it was the camera breaking while trying to take pictures of it. The wife mentioned something along the line of “I told you it was ugly”.
As far as I can tell the engine in the truck is the factory installed 347 Pontiac. I have had the adventure of putting a Chevy engine into a GMC once before. As a result of that little disaster I’m planning to sell the “Corvette” engine to finance a rebuild on the original truck engine.
So now Jimmy resides behind my barn. I expect that someday, after getting my new shop done, I will see what it takes to get him back on the road.
I'm thinking that it would make a really cool car hauler.
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Looks like a solid old truck.

 

It looks like a really solid Truck, Congrats on your score!

 

So far I have found zero rust. Perhaps rat pee is a form of rust proofing? The only body damage is where the drivers door opened too far and put a crease in the fender.

What do you think; new tires & drive it?

 

nice find 51 norm, what do those size trucks go for?

my50chevy

 

I'm glad you plan on rebuilding the original engine, it's a lot cooler than the Chevy.

edit: It's a little unusual to see a big truck like that with a chrome grille and bumper. They look to be in pretty good shape, too.

 

I like the grille and bumper on here, almost Cadillac-ish. I'd be much more tempted to make this into a big pickup truck with a regular box. I had a ton and a half '38 Chevy that I bought at a rummage sale for $225, it was cool but totally useless from a practical standpoint. No matter what you do with it, glad to see it was saved.

 

Old farm trucks are often low mileage. A girl I went to school with learned to drive on a '37 Ford 1 1/2 ton flatbed that had been on the farm since new. Just used on the farm, never took it out on the road. By the time she was 12 years old she could handle that truck as well as any man. Anyway, don't ***ume the original engine is toast on what is probably a low mileage truck. If rain hasn't gotten down the intake and it turns freely, you might get lucky. I have seen supposedly"blown" engines that just needed a timing chain or a distributor drive gear.

 

beautiful truck, good save! Might not make a good car hauler, but it'll make a good farm truck.

 

Wow, make her a pumpkin hauler and mind the rat turds.

 

Nice save! Love the grille and bumper.

 

Wow... that truck is in really nice shape......+1 on the chome, looks sweet...
Tom

 

Good save. To many of those old beast have been crushed.

 

The odometer shows 72,000 and as far as I can tell that is original.

Since the hood has never been off and the air cleaner is in place I'm hoping the engine internals are at least in rebuildable shape.

I did rebuild a 421 Pontiac that had been laying around for years with one head off. That one was a bit of a challange. I'm hoping for a much simpler fix on this one.

I don't have any idea what a big truck like this normally sells for. So far I have a whole $50 invested in getting it towed to my place. If you include the diesel fuel for the tractor I'm into this one around $75.

The local s****per is giving $175 a ton; at that rate I have a ways to go before I am in the hole!

The bumper, grill and other trim is all there and in good shape; no corrosion bubbles or flaking. A little elbow grease and they should be like new.

 

I love it, Man!!!! I'm a ****er for 1 1/2 tons and would love to have one that straight!! Get it going and put it to work!! Have fun!!!!!

 

Great save! ,,as said, the chrome looks great, unusual on that sort of truck. The 347 was a one year only use,,,5 & 2 gear setup? 8.25-20's ?

 

Tell us more about that late '30s humpback sedan sitting next to the truck in one of the photos.

 

Nice truck you got there. Cab corners look great considering where it is sitting. Inside looks good too.

All 283's with a 4bbl are from vettes, you should save that for the kids college (just kidding)

 

Cool story, glad it never wound up getting crushed! It does seem interesting that it's got a chrome grill.

 

Man that is sweet, love the chrome! That front end is gorgeous, looks custom.

Mine has the V8 option, I think it's a 265 but someone swapped it with a 327, that poncho will have much more torque so I hope you get it running. These big trucks are more practical than you'd think, mine has a hoist and I haul firewood, junk, landscape rock, gravel, lumber, etc:

 

WOW ! What a great condition truck, the chrome is an odd option for a work truck for sure. I would be all over that if it was here, but if it was here it would be just a pile rust and rot. Good luck with it.

 

Trucks like that are going for around $1,500 around this part of the country, I paid $1,700 for mine, but once yours is running and cleaned up it would be worth more than that. If you need tires let me know, I found a good source for good used ones, if you buy new they'll be worth more than the entire truck! Mine has 22.5" tires and they are stupid money new.

 

s****iron,

The truck has a two speed rear end and I ***ume a 5 speed transmission. It also has a side dump bed.

As far as the tire size goes, I haven't checked Yet. All I really know is that they still had air in them after sitting for six years!

I expect that replacement rubber is giong to be pretty expensive.

38fordpickup,

The car next to the GMC is a once and future project. It is a '35 Ford four door with '35 Studebaker front fenders and grill.

The Studebaker fenders bolted to the Ford running boards, strange but true! I had to make the hood top and stretch the wheel base almost a foot.

The project was going great guns until the garage fire. It took the wind out of the sails and I haven't had the heart to start over. Someday, maybe.........

 

nice truck on mine 100 gmc there is stanard cab and deluxe cab deluxe cab came with extra moldings on windsheld and crome bumpers and grille.when ordering new windsheld rubber there is diffrent partnr
the green 57 is crome bumpers and grille painted(before me as owner)
ken
sweden

 

Great save. That would be a tough looking car hauler. The front end is cool.

 

Saving big old truck must have been in the air lately, I saved a 55 F600 from the s****per.

 

Neat truck. Love that body style.

 

More motivation....Here's "Otis". It's my '55 First series. I use this old dude about everyday.....

 

Norm,

Good Read as always! Glad to hear you got it over to your place without a hitch.

GMC's always have been a step-up from Chevys style-wise. Nice green...



but it looks a little disproportionately tall


Keep us posted.

 

That gets my vote too - swap in newer running gear and a big pick-up box - you could still keep the engine - maybe it would bolt up to a turbo 400.

Check out BIG BERTHA for inspiration....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8533502&postcount=3371