Orlando, Florida, United States
Now that the chassis and drive train are mostly complete, it
was time to start earnestly looking for a body.
Unfortunately, I had to wait until after the first of the year to take
the next withdrawal from my 401(k). But
it was a good year for the stock market, so I have a little more available than
I expected. I did some looking on eBay,
but mostly I was using AutoTempest, which is a website and an App that allows
me to do searches of Craigslist for specific vehicles. I can then sort by distance to find what is
closest.
I made a couple of half-hearted eBay bids, looking for a bargain, but nothing was really outstanding. AutoTempest didn’t have much either, except for a promising 1953 5-window Chevy in Tampa for $4000. It was complete, but looked like it hadn’t moved for years and was stuck up to the rims in sand. It had a light coat of rust everywhere. I contemplated for a couple of days, and sure enough it was gone quickly. But, it taught me not to wait if something looked interesting.
Come the first of March, I found what I thought to be the perfect truck on AutoTempest in Daytona Beach, only 65 miles away. It was a 1949 5-window Chevy, dark green and until very recently a running, driving truck. I remembered seeing this same truck on Craigslist back in January before I had the money available. Back then, he wanted $9500, but now he was asking $10,500. A little more than I wanted to spend, but it looked perfect! This time, I immediately called the number, and the owner was an elderly man who had driven it daily until about a year ago, when he had a stroke and just couldn’t maintain or drive it any more. He had sold the truck back in January, but there was a problem with the VIN on the title not matching the VIN on the truck, so the sale fell through. He corrected the title, but the original purchaser had already bought another truck, so it was back up for sale again. (Since then, I’ve learned that Florida Titles on old vehicles are typically based on the engine number, since there’s no real VIN, so if the engine was changed, the title would not match)
This time, I didn’t hesitate. I asked the owner if I could come right up and look at the truck, but he wasn’t feeling well, and it was late afternoon, so we set up an appointment for 10:00 the following morning. This gave me time to get to the bank and get the cash. The following morning, Jody and I hopped in my Silverado and headed to Daytona just a little before 9:00 so we would be there right at 10:00. We were both excited and looking forward to seeing the truck. We were about 5 minutes away at about 9:55, when the owner called and told me that he was sorry, but he had just sold the truck to someone who lived in Daytona. The buyer had called earlier in the morning, dropped over and bought it out from under me. We were almost there, so I dropped over anyway. It was a nice truck, the owner was very nice, and even the buyer was nice. The paint was very good, and it had obviously been repainted recently, but there were bubbles under the paint in the usual locations, so the body work was suspect.
After looking at this truck, and after some discussions with Jody, I decide to rethink my approach on a body for my truck. Running, driving trucks in decent condition tended to cost about $10k to $15k if unrestored. But I already have a chassis and drivetrain, so I really only need the body. In fact, I can buy all the sheet metal for the bed, including fenders, brand new for about $2500. So what I really need is a cab and a title. There will be rust. The floors and cab corners will need to be replaced. Most likely, the lower cowls will need to be replaced. Non-running vehicles can be bought for as little as $1500 and as much as $5000, depending on completeness and rust. So I set my budget maximum at $5000.
The other dilemma was to decide whether to buy a complete, unmolested truck, or someone else’s project, already disassembled. Disassembling a 70 year old truck is not a pleasant experience. Bolts are rusted, break when you don’t want them to, and won’t break when you do. But disassembled trucks will have pieces missing, the previous owner’s workmanship may be poor and need to be redone, and my biggest concern was whether doors that were not installed would still fit, as a disassembled cab may have “sprung”.
While mulling over these decisions, a candidate truck showed up on AutoTempest. I had seen this truck earlier on Craigslist, but it hadn’t sold. It was located in North Carolina. It was a 1951 5-window Chevy, disassembled, with a LOT of metalwork done. It had a complete new floor assembly, both lower cowls, cab corners, and lower portions of the “A” pillars replaced. One of the lower doors had been replaced. The doors had been re-hung and the fit looked good. It was $5800, a little over my budget, but the metalwork fixes would save a LOT of work – IF it was done correctly. From the pictures, the welds looked great, so maybe this was the one!
I emailed the owner and asked about the truck. He called back and we talked a little about coming up to see it. The owner was a young guy named Matt, who is a welder (hence the good welds), and who bought the truck already disassembled, and had been working on it over the last couple of years. But he was also working on a 1967 Camaro (big-block RS/SS) and just didn’t have time and money for both. He promised not to sell the truck until I had a chance to look at it, so Jody and I headed to North Carolina to check it out. We took my Silverado, with the plan to rent a car transport trailer from U-Haul in North Carolina and one-way tow it back to Orlando.
We left on a Friday morning at about 7:00AM which put us in Charlotte at about 4:00. Matt was expected to be home at about 5:00, so we checked into the hotel and called over to meet up at 5:00. The truck was great! It was exactly what I expected, though it was missing a little more than I had hoped, but all the important parts were there. The doors fit great, and closed and latched well. The door gaps were even all around. There was some surface rust, but all of the real rot had been removed and all the metal had been replaced with replacement panels, mostly from National Parts Depot which has a warehouse in Charlotte. The workmanship was awesome! Essentially, Matt had already done most of the work that I had expected to need to do myself no matter what I found for a body. And he did a great job!
There’s still some interior metalwork to be done. The dash, kickplates, roof brace, and rear cab braces are available, but need to be installed. When I asked why they were not installed, Matt explained that it was his plan to send the cab to media blast before installing these remaining parts. This would allow media blasting and painting behind the panels before welding them closed. Most are just a series of plug welds with a few areas to be butt welded. This makes a lot of sense to me, and I intend to follow the same plan.
We agreed on a price of $5000 (it’s probably a $2000 truck with $3000 worth of metalwork performed), filled out a Bill of Sale, and all was going perfectly until Matt brought out the title. It turns out the title was “clear”, just not in Matt’s name. I decided to buy it anyway, and figured I would straighten out the title when I got back to Florida. Matt was very helpful and promised to work with me to do whatever was necessary to straighten out the title mess. Excited, Jody and I headed back to the hotel, planning to meet Matt the next morning to load up and head home.
Back at the Hotel, I reserved a vehicle trailer at the local U-Haul which opened at 8:00AM. In the morning, we picked up the trailer and headed over to Matt’s. Matt had been busy, and tightened up all the bolts on the truck, and gathered all the parts in boxes. We loaded all the loose parts into the back of the Silverado, and used my $14 Harbor Freight come-along to load the truck onto the trailer. Everything looked great and we headed out at about 11:00.
I made a couple of half-hearted eBay bids, looking for a bargain, but nothing was really outstanding. AutoTempest didn’t have much either, except for a promising 1953 5-window Chevy in Tampa for $4000. It was complete, but looked like it hadn’t moved for years and was stuck up to the rims in sand. It had a light coat of rust everywhere. I contemplated for a couple of days, and sure enough it was gone quickly. But, it taught me not to wait if something looked interesting.
Come the first of March, I found what I thought to be the perfect truck on AutoTempest in Daytona Beach, only 65 miles away. It was a 1949 5-window Chevy, dark green and until very recently a running, driving truck. I remembered seeing this same truck on Craigslist back in January before I had the money available. Back then, he wanted $9500, but now he was asking $10,500. A little more than I wanted to spend, but it looked perfect! This time, I immediately called the number, and the owner was an elderly man who had driven it daily until about a year ago, when he had a stroke and just couldn’t maintain or drive it any more. He had sold the truck back in January, but there was a problem with the VIN on the title not matching the VIN on the truck, so the sale fell through. He corrected the title, but the original purchaser had already bought another truck, so it was back up for sale again. (Since then, I’ve learned that Florida Titles on old vehicles are typically based on the engine number, since there’s no real VIN, so if the engine was changed, the title would not match)
This time, I didn’t hesitate. I asked the owner if I could come right up and look at the truck, but he wasn’t feeling well, and it was late afternoon, so we set up an appointment for 10:00 the following morning. This gave me time to get to the bank and get the cash. The following morning, Jody and I hopped in my Silverado and headed to Daytona just a little before 9:00 so we would be there right at 10:00. We were both excited and looking forward to seeing the truck. We were about 5 minutes away at about 9:55, when the owner called and told me that he was sorry, but he had just sold the truck to someone who lived in Daytona. The buyer had called earlier in the morning, dropped over and bought it out from under me. We were almost there, so I dropped over anyway. It was a nice truck, the owner was very nice, and even the buyer was nice. The paint was very good, and it had obviously been repainted recently, but there were bubbles under the paint in the usual locations, so the body work was suspect.
After looking at this truck, and after some discussions with Jody, I decide to rethink my approach on a body for my truck. Running, driving trucks in decent condition tended to cost about $10k to $15k if unrestored. But I already have a chassis and drivetrain, so I really only need the body. In fact, I can buy all the sheet metal for the bed, including fenders, brand new for about $2500. So what I really need is a cab and a title. There will be rust. The floors and cab corners will need to be replaced. Most likely, the lower cowls will need to be replaced. Non-running vehicles can be bought for as little as $1500 and as much as $5000, depending on completeness and rust. So I set my budget maximum at $5000.
The other dilemma was to decide whether to buy a complete, unmolested truck, or someone else’s project, already disassembled. Disassembling a 70 year old truck is not a pleasant experience. Bolts are rusted, break when you don’t want them to, and won’t break when you do. But disassembled trucks will have pieces missing, the previous owner’s workmanship may be poor and need to be redone, and my biggest concern was whether doors that were not installed would still fit, as a disassembled cab may have “sprung”.
While mulling over these decisions, a candidate truck showed up on AutoTempest. I had seen this truck earlier on Craigslist, but it hadn’t sold. It was located in North Carolina. It was a 1951 5-window Chevy, disassembled, with a LOT of metalwork done. It had a complete new floor assembly, both lower cowls, cab corners, and lower portions of the “A” pillars replaced. One of the lower doors had been replaced. The doors had been re-hung and the fit looked good. It was $5800, a little over my budget, but the metalwork fixes would save a LOT of work – IF it was done correctly. From the pictures, the welds looked great, so maybe this was the one!
I emailed the owner and asked about the truck. He called back and we talked a little about coming up to see it. The owner was a young guy named Matt, who is a welder (hence the good welds), and who bought the truck already disassembled, and had been working on it over the last couple of years. But he was also working on a 1967 Camaro (big-block RS/SS) and just didn’t have time and money for both. He promised not to sell the truck until I had a chance to look at it, so Jody and I headed to North Carolina to check it out. We took my Silverado, with the plan to rent a car transport trailer from U-Haul in North Carolina and one-way tow it back to Orlando.
We left on a Friday morning at about 7:00AM which put us in Charlotte at about 4:00. Matt was expected to be home at about 5:00, so we checked into the hotel and called over to meet up at 5:00. The truck was great! It was exactly what I expected, though it was missing a little more than I had hoped, but all the important parts were there. The doors fit great, and closed and latched well. The door gaps were even all around. There was some surface rust, but all of the real rot had been removed and all the metal had been replaced with replacement panels, mostly from National Parts Depot which has a warehouse in Charlotte. The workmanship was awesome! Essentially, Matt had already done most of the work that I had expected to need to do myself no matter what I found for a body. And he did a great job!
There’s still some interior metalwork to be done. The dash, kickplates, roof brace, and rear cab braces are available, but need to be installed. When I asked why they were not installed, Matt explained that it was his plan to send the cab to media blast before installing these remaining parts. This would allow media blasting and painting behind the panels before welding them closed. Most are just a series of plug welds with a few areas to be butt welded. This makes a lot of sense to me, and I intend to follow the same plan.
We agreed on a price of $5000 (it’s probably a $2000 truck with $3000 worth of metalwork performed), filled out a Bill of Sale, and all was going perfectly until Matt brought out the title. It turns out the title was “clear”, just not in Matt’s name. I decided to buy it anyway, and figured I would straighten out the title when I got back to Florida. Matt was very helpful and promised to work with me to do whatever was necessary to straighten out the title mess. Excited, Jody and I headed back to the hotel, planning to meet Matt the next morning to load up and head home.
Back at the Hotel, I reserved a vehicle trailer at the local U-Haul which opened at 8:00AM. In the morning, we picked up the trailer and headed over to Matt’s. Matt had been busy, and tightened up all the bolts on the truck, and gathered all the parts in boxes. We loaded all the loose parts into the back of the Silverado, and used my $14 Harbor Freight come-along to load the truck onto the trailer. Everything looked great and we headed out at about 11:00.
The ride home was mostly without incident, thought there was
a strap that held up the driveshaft torque tube that broke and the torque tube
dropped. I just used an extra strap I
had to tie it back up. I used zip ties
to be sure the doors stayed closed the entire trip, and the passengers door did
pop open once, but the zip ties held. I
will probably need to replace the door latches with “bear claw” style latches
as these trucks are notorious for having a bad door latch design.
It rained on and off for most of the ride home, and since
towing home was substantially slower than the ride up, we ended up stopping in
Savannah, GA about midway. The next day
was bright and sunny, and we were back in Orlando by 4:00. Jody and I unloaded all the parts into the
garage, and set about unloading the truck itself. It took a few tries, but I was finally able
to back the trailer into the driveway.
It’s harder than it looks! I was
going to use the come-along to pull the truck off the trailer, but I didn’t
have anywhere to tie the come-along cable in the garage. I ended up drilling a hole in the garage slab
and installing a concrete anchor bolt to tie off the cable. The truck came right off the trailer without
incident.
We were done! We’re
home and the truck is in the garage!
While I’m chomping at the bit to start tearing down the new truck, I
decided it would be smarter to wait until the title problem is resolved. So Monday morning, I headed over to the DMV
with paperwork in hand.
Things didn’t go
well at the DMV – no surprise. So I went
back online, found a company called Fast Florida Title in Tampa who promised
that since it is an antique vehicle, for $250 plus the sales tax, they would be
able to get a valid title. I called
them, followed their instructions, and mailed the documentation back to
them. Three days later, I checked online
and there is a title for the truck in my name!
Special thanks to Fast Florida Title – they were awesome!
Matt emailed me some pictures from both his work on the
truck and the previous owners teardown.
It showed what the truck looked like before the work began. In reviewing these pictures, it became
obvious to me that I had underestimated the amount of rust to expect on a truck
this old. The initial pictures looked
about typical of other trucks I had looked at.
The floors were rusted, but nowhere near as bad as others I had
seen. But a closer look showed that
there was some rust on almost every panel.
Matt really did a lot of work on this truck, I’m within days of test
fitting the cab on my frame. If I had
bought this truck or a similar one in its original condition, it would be
months of teardown, cleanup and rework just to get the truck to its current
condition. I will always be grateful to
Matt for saving me lots of work.
Tomorrow morning the teardown begins. I ordered a couple of tools and some of the
parts I will need soon. I hope to be
able to get the cab off the old frame and bolted to the new frame over the next
few days. I’ll need to do a little cutting
around the transmission tunnel. The
original floor is flat, but the 6L80E transmission is a little bigger and I
will need to fabricate a transmission tunnel.
That’s probably the only metalwork I need to do before sending the cab
out to media blast. I can hardly wait
for tomorrow!
2025-05-22