Hot Rods Official 1959 Chevy Apache Build Thread

It has been so damn cold out for the last several months that I have hardly accomplished anything. What I have been able to do has been on my 1940 Plymouth Coupe.

The link to it is : http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=427437

I will continue on the truck when it gets a little warmer out, but I will be focusing primarily on the '40 until it is drivable enough to make it to some car shows

 

Hi, here I post some pictures from Argentina, this is my 59'. You are doing a very nice job in that track!!!!!, I need to do the same with my brakes and the steering


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It's funny but it happends the same to me here, all the people says "look it's mater" i'm a little tired too!!


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Nice truck!

 

I agree, it looks great! I need to check all the fluids in mine and take her for a spin fairly soon if the weather would just stay one temperature.. It was 66-ish on Friday and this morning it was in the teens and twenties.

 

Thanks martin

Yeah, just had some guy give me the thumbs up and say that the other day lol

 

Somebody can answer if the 66 chevy chassis it's better than the 77', I don't know wich one is better for the apache. I am going to change the engine, the 283' is almost finish it's close, waiting for his orange paint!!



Allways chevy!

 

The best chassis for that truck is a 58-59.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.


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Thanks for answer!! But why do you think that is the best? It isn't better a 66 with 4 springs?


Allways chevy!

 

I just finished painting chevy orange her new 283 but I was waiting for the new chassis, now I don't know what to do


Allways chevy!

 

There's easier ways to improve your ride quality if that's what you're looking for than doing a frame swap on these trucks. Do an IFS install and 2 or 4 link rear if you are set on coils.
Nearly everything can be bolted on these frames.



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Camaro clips are a very popular front suspension option that will give you quite a few benefits over stock. You could go mustang ii. If you can weld well both of those are fairly basic solutions. And for the rear, you could go 4 link, but try a good set of leaf springs. Posies comes to mind, i have there 3" drop springs on mine and although i havent driven mine yet, everyone i know with them says it will make your truck ride as close to a car as you can get.


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Well I fired her up after her winter slumber in the garage and decided to grow a pair of balls and drive it around the block, down the street, onto a busy thoroughfare and got it up to 60 mph... Christ this thing is fast.... All in all it was about a 45 minute test drive and it went really well. I will need to tweak the timing a bit more, but overall she is looking good. I am looking forward to working on it this summer and getting it closer to paint, but I will need to finish up some of the work on the Plymouth first. No real updates anytime soon, unless I decide I want to install the speakers. so I can listen to tunes instead of the rumble of the engine... tough choice....

I got about 10 thumbs up yesterday, with it being 70 out and hot rodding around town... it was fun. I even got a group of college girls in the neighborhood interested, they stopped me, asked me about the Apache, then said they really liked the truck. I didn't ask them to go for a ride because it was a test run, but I had to promise to take them for a ride at some point.

 

Last thing I'll say for a while... I took the boss out in the truck today during lunch and he asked on our way home to the office how fast the Apache was. Without saying anything for a good 10 count the light turned green and I lit into it and scared the shit out of him... Literally, I am pretty sure he came close to crapping his pants... He started smiling and laughing after that... Guess who wants to do burnouts in the parking lot at work now?!?

 

hahahaha awesome!!!! man you are making me want to drive mine more and more after reading this. Unfortunately we still have over 2 feet of snow on the ground and I couldn't back my truck out of the shop if I wanted to. But I'm glad you got out and had an enjoyable ride

I'm not ready to run yet anyways, still need to get some paint on top of this primer

 

HAAAAAA! Awesome man!

 

That's great! Good to see you're enjoying it after all the hard work. Thanks for letting us follow along.

Time to get out in the garage and wake mine up. It's supposed to be 70 up here tomorrow.

 

I think we need a burnout video !!!! great job on the truck man. It really has come together nicely. I just went back and re watched your vids on youtube. It has come so far since i started following your thread


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Well I finally made the first car show of the season! I only made one or two at the end of last season because the truck wasn't ready yet. I still have some adjusting to do, but overall everything is going very well! Here is a shot at the car show... I couldn't find a spot to park... there were around one hundred cars there.



My wife took a shot of my buddy Daisy going for a ride

 

Good deal man. I cant get over how well that interior turned out. Looks great


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I haven't checked in in awhile, and the truck is looking great man.

 

finally getting caught up on y'alls projects on here. looking good 59Apache.

 

This is the first time since my 80 year old grandfather has say in one of these. He bought one of these brand new and weeks after purchasing it was crushed by a tree when he was working as a logger in Northern California. He loved that truck and was really upset when it was destroyed.

The truck will be in California in a few days!

 

Well I have been working on the truck consistently for months and finally took it on its first 50 mile highway drive over 65 mph and it ran great. Here's a shot at Huntington Beach. I had to buy a new carb and a fan thermostat and had to clean up the wiring. Now to do all the fun little things I've always wanted to do. Then I will get back onto body work

 

59, glad you are still going on your truck. hopefully after Jan 1st I can do more on mine. keep up the good work. you and the other builds are keeping me going on mine.

 

Well, looking forward to seeing more of your progress. I have been doing tiny projects here and there. Installing an adjustable fan thermostat, putting Packard 56 connectors to make it look nice and easy for remove and install of parts. Installing and finding the right size grommets for everything going through the firewall. Also got a K&N air filter for te truck, adjusted the timing, etc. I am going to install a Gennie shifter on the 700R4 and will be putting an order in on Friday when I get paid. Here is a picture at a local Saturday breakfast with some other HAMB members

 

Good to see the truck is still up and running! Nice one Scott!

 

Way to go Scott! You're living the good life!

We're freezing back here...

 

Thanks Eric! I have already put over 100 miles on the truck driving on the highways. I run 2000 RPM doing 65, it's nice to have overdrive!

Thanks Dave, when are you coming out?! I heard, its been right around 90 here all week... its probably going to be another drought filled summer with temperatures over 100 degrees