Projects Building a 57 Chevy Shop Truck

I haven't even gotten it here yet but I'm pretty excited to get into another 55-59 task force truck ! The only other 57 I've owned was a GMC that I sold right before leaving for the U.S. Army, one of those immediately regretted things I managed to pull off in my life time.
I've already built this thing in my head a hundred times and can't wait to lay hands on it ! The plans are not to over power it like I do all my other builds, but instead build a daily driver that can tow my Henry J to the race track. It will be built in Popular HotRoddings most famous 57 chevy build, Project X' s style. I can see it now, yellow with big n little Cragars, minus front bumper, black tuck n roll, sitting tough with the M/T cross ram on its hopped up small block and the bronco 9in out back. Oh man I can just envision this baby now, oouuulala...
It's a pretty solid short bed, big back glass, uncut dash and comes with a new disc brake kit, tubular motor/trans mounts, 350/th400, extra bed and extra front/rear fenders.

 

Hey, Great score!
Big back window to boot.........

 

Wish i had it and you had a better one...

 

Washington State plates still on it? How did it end up in NY state? Nice score.

 

Glad you aren't overpowering it. Not like it's getting dual quads on a cross ram or anything.. LOL! No stopping a hot rodder, a shop truck is important to have. Why not have a cool one? Guessing you have seen the Mr. Chevy combo? The support vehicle for my '57 is a big block 4 speed El. For speedy parts chasing.
Looking forward to this build. Wood bed floors are the best.
Love it.

 

the big question is will it fit in the garage?
nice score...but i know it will have a big block in it at some point..lol

 

Welcome back to the family, looks solid.

And thank you for your service.

 

Great Phil, looks like a pretty decent start. Maybe you can get your son interested in this.

 

I've built and rebuilt 2 '56 Pickups. And of course I get excited about something else and have sold them. I'd do another if it it worked out. Here's a picture of the most recent one. Enjoy your '57!

 

I noticed that it has the mill mounted with the stock pedestal,s at the front. If the rear mount crossmember hasn't been removed. I would be installing a stick bellhousing and a granny 4 speed. especially if I was planning on towing. That granny low is nice when you need to creep around. And the super slow reverse is great when you are backing up a trailer. Everyone will start touting the benefits of a overdrive trans. However with a granny 4 speed you can use a tall rear gear and big tires and still run with modern traffic. My 66 long bed 1/2 has a factory SM 420 trans and a dana 44 mounted on leaf springs. It has 336 rear fears and a stock factory 250 engine. The only engine mods are a HEI and a mono jet carb from a newer truck. And it will go 80 MPH no trouble and will pull a load or haul one. and I aint afraid to load it. Forget those leaking worry some automatic transmissions. Put a stick in it. All real hot rods have three pedals.

 

Ive got a 57 dump truck with a 307 and a 55 GMC pickup with a factory 287 Pontiac mill. The GMC is a stick shift with the 318 Muncie trans. The 287 runs good don't smoke out the exhaust but has blow by. I retrofitted a PCV and that helped a lot. I have been looking for a low dollar 59 or 60 389 engine. A early 389 would be a bolt in swap and really make the old truck into a powerful beast.

 

I'm bringing it in and it's actually waiting to be picked up yet by the shipper.

 

what is the thing laying outside in the 2nd pic?

 

If I didn't have this M/T cross ram I'd probably run a bbc, I do have a square port tunnel ram and some fenderwell headers for one..lol as far as fitting in the garage I'm working on making more room now..lol

 

For now the engine/trans is just held up with a ratchet strap, no mounts yet, I do have a Hurst style front mount out in the garage (on that injected motor) and the tubular ones that come with the truck. I did think about a stick but think about clutches burning out too..lol

 

Jeff that's the extra bed box, minus the fenders, it's resting on its left side and missing the tailgate. The guy said the bed on it has 2 rust spots about the size of quarters in the front, the bed sitting outside has no rot.

 

Ha ha, I've been actively looking for awhile, drug my feet on a couple and lost them to other buyers, over July 4th I even tried buying back the deluxe cab 59 I drove in high school but no dice. My dad had a 57 chevy when I was a kid but he rolled it back in 73, you can see the back of it in this photo.

 

He always helps when I ask but he's quick to get going when the work is done..lol One of my ideas was pulling the t-bucket's engine and putting it in the truck and putting the milder truck engine in the t-bucket so it's not so powerful for him when he turns 16. Hopefully he gets more involved to take over the fleet..lol

 

It's not possible to overpower one of those trucks

looks like fun!

I'd try to keep the three on the tree, just because it's such a throwback, and it looks like the truck still has it, or at least many of the parts for it. The SM420 is also a decent trans for towing, I kept that in the 57 one ton I built...put a mostly stock 454 in front of it, and a 3.73 rear behind it, with rather tall tires. The gearing was pretty good, overall. If you build a RPM type small block, then put an automatic in it, you'll need more stall than you really want for towing.

 

Phil, the truck body may fit on the J frame.....I can see it now

 

What part of WA is it coming out of?

 

Enjoy your truck.

 

Congrats on the start of a killer project. My first "car" was a '58 short bed. I looked at another one a few years ago, ironically in the town where I grew up. Should have pulled that dang trigger!

I will be following along on this and I wish you all of the best. Enjoy that truck!

 

Looks good! I look forward to following along.

 

That sounds like a great plan, maybe involve him in some of the decisions like paint, wheels etc. Keep us posted, Carp

 

Fife, near Port of Tacoma he said.
He just sold a silver 59 short fleetside with chrome bed trim to someone in B.C.
He also has a 55 suburban if that rings any bells.

 

Just think Hollywood Knights Project X truck version

 

Jim I'm not sure what all is left, maybe just the column linkage, I am thinking column shift if I keep the auto though. I'd like to keep this a little uncluttered in the floor department, just a basic truck, although I do have a couple Ball's power window kits out in the garage I never used on the 41. Maybe rig up that factory column shifter to work the th400 ???

 

so in post #15 I see 2 sbcs and 2 BBc
the one with the injectors is the extra 010 block you picked up right?
where is the one with the 2 fours from? The bucket?
The BBC with the aluminum heads is the old truck motor? I knew you scored another one with the fly eye air cleaner....trying to update my score sheet

 

Very cool, always good to see a TF being saved