I started on this last year and had a long wait to get my truck into my buddies shop. I have finally got her inside bay 3 and have been working my but off. A lil back story.... The truck was found by my father in New Mexico back before I was born. Early 70's. My father had the engine built for him at some race shop out west. My parents were hippies and toured the country with the truck. Eventually settling down in NY. My father p***ed when I was young and the truck sat in a family friends barn for a long time. Fast foward 30 years and I have the skills developed to handle the task of bringing her back. What I have learned about the truck so far.... truck is a 1949 chevy 1 ton panel deluxe. It has a sm420 4 speed. The 216 was not original and after inspection has a crack in block. The rear axle is pretty cool as its an eaton HO72 and has the heavy duty leafs. I have all new smoked oem gl*** and all trim except fenders. Rear window trim is real nice. The floor was toast as was both front corners. The frame is incredible. I have a set of gray leather seats out of newer suburban. I might be installing my big block buick 455. I have found a company that sells an adapter for 455-sm420/456. 500$ includes centerforce clutch. Big discs could be coming but more on that later. 3.23-3.73 will be swapped into the rear depends on what I find. I am pretty good with copper so might do some custom copper/chrome interior stuff.lil secret custom idea I have for ac/heating. I have a large electrolysis tank I use to clean and strip parts like fenders , doors etc. My first go was with a small 12 v charger. I upgraded to a beast 36v golf cart charger. The second pic is the results from that. Whole proccess is so pain less. Before pic is below. I have a ton of pics to upload .... I'll try my best to orginize as I go but I might come back and edit later ..... thanks for checking it all out.
How she looked when I started. Current condition. Eaton correct? Helper springs. Rear suburban 60/40 or 70/30 what ever... works very similar to original suburban seats. The small seat folds up into the dash for rear access. Got 235? Oh well if I can't find 235, 455 buick can go in. I am not sure how much I am going to change on this truck. I would like to look stock. Maybe just improved. Guess it all depends on finding a 235. Big block power with all this heavy duty stuff just seems natural.... ? Please opinions. See once I make more power gunna want to stop better.... steering linkage needs to change if B.B. goes in. One thing leads to another.
That's a big old boat. I looked at one locally and decided it would be very tough to make it look like anything but a beached whale. Would have made a great camper conversion.
New brake lines. More brake work. Quick run with wire wheel does amazing things. New master cylinder. New heavy duty body mount. Reconstructed lower corners in front on both sides of cab. There is a lot more work I put into beefing up the floor.
A couple of questions... If I drop the 455 in ... Will the stock drive train hold up to 500+ tq.? If I go the adapter route with .sm420. What if I put my th400 behind 455 with new drive shaft? In either install I would change the rear gearing to 3.23 -3.73 range. Also if 455 goes in I will box the frame and add a cross member.
love those big ol panel trucks. there is a 54 sitting down the street from me in pretty good shape. been there for years and I have never seen it move.
Thanks for looking guys. Has any one seen a deluxe one ton panel? Mine rolls , steers , and stops... working on go..
There was a striper, Jake I think, that had one of those long wheelbase panels as his business truck. Made all the NSRA events and more back in the 70s-80s, maybe still does. Those LWB models are rare in any make that made them. Always seem to look best as relatively stock outside. Some even hadthe three chrome strips on the back side of the front fenders like the Aerosedan p***enger cars in 47-48.
This one is supposed to have strips on front and rear fenders. They were stolen off the truck a long time ago.
I love the story that your dad bought it and your parents were hippies and owned the truck back in the day and drove it all over the country. If that thing could talk I would love to hear the stories. So did you ever ask your Mom if you were one of those "child of a novelty" and conceived in it?
The Jalopy Journal
