Hot Rods Thinning the herd over the weekend

Stored the El Caminos for a guy for few years, & he finally has room. He's the guy that straightened the cowl & firewall on my '54 GMC pickup. Wouldn't take any money, so I fixed him up with this early '55 GMC dlx trimmed panel ... pretty good loading, only had one tire refuse air, no drums seized.

Then it was time to re-pay another friend who won't let me pay him. He got a '39 GMC AC 102 for his next project. That bed is a factory item - the short, cut off fenders came that way. It's going to have a '41 8' box when it gets back on the road.

 

I always wanted to build an old el Camino or panel truck for my business.

I remember the owner of the beer distributor down the street had a 59 el Camino. He made delivery's when things got back up. It was this beautiful dark blue/purple with white and silver writing down the side.. I think the color was the same as that dark blue that came on the 49-50 Murcurys..

That 59 sure looks like it was that color.. I've been looking for that color for my el Camino..

 

Remind me to do you a favor sometime! Nice!

 

Good on you !

 

Ted, you're a great man, geneous with your knowledge, your time, and from what we see here, generous with your collection.
I'm so glad to be able to say that I am your friend.

 

Looks like the '60 Merc grill'd clip came off of the car with the custom molded tail lights, seeing as one body is grey with the purple/blue custom paint and the other is purple/blue with a grey primer front clip. Would be cool to find the history of the custom one and reunite it with it's clip.

 

I can provide the history from '68 on ... don't know when the owner started on it, maybe as early as '62. He ran the only custom trim shop in a town of 30,000 population, and was skilled in every type of auto repair, fabrication, engine building, and metal finishing. He married at 17, raised a family of 4, coached Knothole baseball, would help virtually anyone do anything without expecting any payment ... he taught countless guys & gals the auto trim trade, and when they left to start their own business, he never said a harsh word.
His problem was going too fast, too often. The Camino had a couple screamer 301s, some 327s and as soon as the 396 was released, a few of them ... he didn't have many serious legal problems until divorce after 22 years, and then the drinking started.