Mechanical Resto

This truck is another of those that had been sitting for a LONG time. This particular truck was nose first in a single car detached garage out behind a house in rural Oklahoma. The owner's grandfather drove this truck, and parked it in the shed many years ago, and now it's time to get it out and get it going again. This resto will entail mainly mechanicals, as the body and paint are fairly good (once they were washed down a bunch).

It looked a lot better once washed, except for the bed...

The engine bay needed a lot of work. It showed the orignal red color on the firewall, but had a green engine from somewhere, and peeling blue and black paint - plus more than 30 unnecessary holes to be filled.

The floors were covered in about 1/2 inch of roofing tar, over old asphalt shingles, covering rust holes - all that was cut out so new metal could be welded in. Then it was all covered in Dynamat and new black carpet.

The dash was likewise suffering from age. Extra metal had been cut around the radio opening long ago, then abandoned, so all that was welded up. All the stainless was polished, then the dash was repainted. The gauges got new faces, polishing and painting. Electric wipers were added, and everything was updated to 12V electronics. New doorpanels, and a recovered bench seat will make the interior livable again.

The old bed rails and wood were removed to ready for some new red oak flooring and stainless steel trim. The header panel was also replaced.

The finished product!!! What started out as a simple mechanical restoration turned into a bit more. About the only thing that we didn't do was repaint the body. It shows it's age, but the paint is good and this is a driver that needs to show it's heritage, so shiny paint isn't necessary.

The engine bay cleaned up nicely. Engine was repainted factory gray, and some original style decals were applied. This old 216 still runs great. Some new plugs, wires, hoses, radiator and rebuilding the carb was all that was necessary.

After the dash was cleaned up, the steering wheel was repainted, a newer turn signal handle was added, and new doorpanels, sunvisor, recovered seat, and new carpet make it comfortable inside.

While the body didn't get any work done, it did get new custom made steel wheels with chrome outer rings and chrome center caps, wrapped in beautiful wide white wall tires. New front and rear bumpers, and a repolished from brushguard make really help with some shine. Finally, the bed was redone in red oak with polished stainless trim.