How do you make a longbed-stepside cool?

I've been looking for a 55-57 truck,
Found a couple,
But nothing I want in my price range.

The closest I've come was a LONGBED-STEPSIDE
The only long-bed's that look HALFWAY decent (IMHO)
Are the cameo's,
(58 and 59's especially!)

So should I get get the longbed
and maybe look for a later cameo bed??

Or do I just need to learn some patience and keep looking, hoping that something will turn up in my price range???

Or has anybody seen a customized longbed that looked cool?

 

I think it's kinda like trying to make a four door look cool.

 

Cameo's are short beds. TP

 

ok a 58- 59 is NOT a cameo,they are called fleet sides and they can look pretty cool!the only TRUE cameos where 55-57's ( i might be wrong on exact years)and the beds where fiberglass.they were pretty darn rare...,,as for choosing between a long bed and a fleetside,well i like the 58-59 fleetsides alot better that a step side,,,short or long...

 

make it low, big rolling stock, and enough motor to move the combination through traffic.....also knock most of the chrome off'n it.......
just my 2 cents.....

 

Heavily lowered with a slight rake(stance), a set of nice wheels,the right color and not much else.
if your going for the simple approach, i think this does the trick.
These three things are a major factor in making a car/truck look "right".

Oh yeah, make it run like scared rabbit..


Rat..

 

Why not shorten it?

 

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I think it's kinda like trying to make a four door look cool.

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retard

 

<sigh>

Okay,
My custom plans for a shortbed-stepside ARE:

-Extreme lowering w/o adjustable suspension
(see pic)
-Custom front bumper
-Custom grill (homemade)
-Single frenched antennae
-Shaved handles
-Custom Taillights in rear fenders
-Bel Air gunsights

And evetually
-Bedside exhaust

BUT
I don't want to put all that work into a gay truck,
(and bedside exhaust just wouldn't look right on a 58/59 bed)

And thanks for correcting me on the "cameo" remark,
I didn't think that was right,
But I'll be DAMNED if I could remember what was-

 

Tinbender-
Please correct me if I am incorrect,
But the problem is that the long beds are longer
in between the cab and the bed,
Not the end of the bed...

So I believe that would mean-
Cutting and re-welding the frame,
Along with shortening the driveshaft...

Two projects which I'm really not "up for"
Right now-

Germ-
Lemme know if your buddy is interested in selling his ride
Price, if trades would be considered, and whatever else-

 

Not the same body style, but this was one of the coolest trucks at the HAMB drags this year...it belongs to HAMB member Scallop53....I'm a fan of long beds now....

 

Cameo pickups were built in 1955 thru 1958.

I had a 55 (shown) and a 58 parts Cameo.

If I remember correctly.........a little over 10,000 were made all 4 years combined. The 55's were the highest number produced.




Sold mine over 25 years ago.......

 

Stop it , you're going to make me cry.

 

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Cameo pickups were built in 1955 thru 1958.



If I remember correctly.........a little over 10,000 were made all 4 years combined. The 55's were the highest number produced.





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cool, i didnt now they were made in 58, i know alot of people call the 58-59 fleetsides cameos,but i didnt know they made them in 58,thanks

 

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cool, i didnt now they were made in 58, i know alot of people call the 58-59 fleetsides cameos,but i didnt know they made them in 58,thanks

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The 58 Fleetsides killed the fiberglass Cameos. A lot easier to produce, cheaper too.

I was a Cameo nut years ago (I could not afford a Deuce).... I remember that only about 1200 1958 Cameos were built. That was the lowest number produced. Seems like 5200 or so 1955's were built.

My memory may be wrong.............it was over 25 years ago when I was into them.

I have tried to buy mine back a few times. It is sitting in a basement.........ever since he bought it. He has 10 or so neat vehicles just sitting there......39 Ford convertible, 40 Ford Woody, 57 Chevrolet convertible, late 50's Corvette and a 69 Z28 to name a few.

 

What all would be involved
in making something like this for a bed?

 

I think someone had a post on here not too long ago about reproducing the Koppercart(spelling? I don't know I'm just a retard)I think they did something similar to the bed of that truck.

 

Make it into a cool ramp truck for hauling other project cars home!

 

.......so, take a 58-59 longbox stepside and simply shorten it into a shortbox stepside. Now, if you really want a Cameo, remove the stepside fenders and buy the re-pop Cameo bedsides. They just bolt onto a steel stepside box exactly like they did from the factory. Finish it off with the re-pop spare tire cover and bumpers. Forget buying the garish 58-only Cameo boxside stainless mouldings..they're double oogly. I know, I had a 58 Cameo. Ex brother-in-law ended up with it and loaned it to his drinkin buddy who installed it around a big ol' Portland fir tree. The end.
For my money, I'd just shorten a long box stepside and leave it a stepside...

 

Not exactly the same,
but i have a '73 cheyenne 4x4 that was a long bed fleet side. I picked up a short bed frame, and a step side bed. I did a complete frame off on it.When i put it back together, all i did was shorten my original rear shaft and use all the rest of stock parts on the old truck...
Granted, i had to change all the line's, e-brake cable's etc to the short wheelbase platform.
The change over is very straight forward, especially if you can find a short bed frame.

Rat...

 

Greaseball, if it's not what you want, then don't buy it.

If what you want is a '55 Shortbed, Fleetside, BigWindow truck, there's a '58 in original chalky white paint north of Dallas with one bad lower passenger side hinge. Delux trim, original V8 3speed truck. Very little damage, all the glass is good. $2000. The front clip can be changed out with a '55-'57 clip when you turn one up. I know your in Cali, where everything was picked over 30 years ago (just ask Mike Bishop) but look around, they're still out there. Specially '50s trucks, they're everywhere.

 

You can do something like this. me and my son did this one
and it turned some heads. The main reason we did this is because we were told we couldn't. I love a challenge, makes me work that much harder to prove em wrong.

 

Some info on the 55-59 chevs:

The cameo was a big back window short bed only, with the rear stepside fenders removed and replaced with fiberglass bedsides and a new tailgate/bumper****embly. The were made from 55-mid 58 when it was replaced by the metal fleetside box.

As far as longbed stepsides, From 55-57 the longbox was only longer in front of the rear fenders (the step area) than the shortbox models. In 58 and 59 the box is longer both in front and behind the fenders. Making the box look more balanced than the 55-57 longbed models in my opinion. On a longbox 58 or 59 stepside, the tailgate is about a foot away from the back of the fender, on a shortbox the tailgate is almost right at the rear fender.

Here's a couple photoshopped pics of what I'm planning for my truck. A longbox stepside '59

 

another

 

My 50 longbed

 

with stepside.
we never got stepsides from the factory in Australia.

 

The new issue of "Classic TRUCKS" magazine has an article about going long to short...didn't read it, but saw it mentioned on the cover.

Might be worth a peek for ya?

 

my 76 step side had the same bed as the 55. maybe up to the 88 bodychange. The fenders and maybe fender bolt holes are different, but that's it. Shorten the frame right behind the cab. Get a cheap 70's step side bed and bolt on the early fenders. You may need to weld up a few bolt holes. The beds are the same.

I shortened a suburban frame while it was still on it's tires. Tack weld small pipe from the frame to the ground on either side of the cuts. Then cut the piece out and roll the rear up to the front, measure, measure, measure, tack and weld. I fish plated mine. It was a 3/4 ton 4X4 "length adjusted" to take a 54 Willys p/u body and bed. It was cheaper than replacing 2 sets of the Willys 4.56 gears.

 

Longbeds can be cool.

I have a 54 1/2, series 1, 3/4 ton pickup. I'm not doing anything much. Just dropping the rear two inches to level things out, blasting &amp; repainting the wheels, putting wide whites on, tossing a mexican blanket inside, and getting her mechanically sound.

In my humble opinion, you're getting into way too much if you're doing the whole shorten the bed thing. Why not just go ahead and sell your longbed and buy a short bed if you want one? There are solid ones out there &amp; it would be a heck of a lot less work.

As a side note, I have this idea of a long bed series 1 that is airbagged, painted a weird old original Caddie color, nicely shaved, &amp; featuring Caddie caps &amp; a Caddie hood emblem. Kind of what a Cadillac truck would have been back in the day if there was such a thing.

 

I prefer the long bed.
So do lots of other people especially the one's who bought them new. guess that's why they are so pleantiful.
I think the short bed makes the cab look cartoon huge on most pick ups especially from '55 on.
I think this reasoning can be backed up by people's long time quest to make the cabs of trucks smaller by sectioning and chopping, while leaving the bed alone.
It's to bring the cab down to the proportions of the too small bed.
Long beds have longer wheelbases so, for the most part, ride better. They aren't as apt to pitch on undulating roads.
The long bed helps the proportions especially the profile.
Alleycat is right though about them being like four doors in one respect. They will never be as "valuable" as a two door or short bed to collector/restorer types so you shouldbe able to demand a better deal on one.

(Don't extend the fenders on it like your photoshop though...that's what I'm planning on doing!)