If you've been following my last post you'll know that we picked up a 1951 Chevy Suburban panel truck during our trip to Texas. This truck is an obvious project as its quite rusty in spots with cancer all over. It will need a total restoration for it to be of a quality that would make people turn their heads in an impressive manner versus looking with disgust. The unique thing about this truck is that its complete. It still has its straight 6 engine with the 3 speed manual transmission in the "3 on the tree" configuration where the shifter is on the steering column like many auto tranny shifters were in late model trucks. The truck does not come with any seats however, it was most likely a bench seat but that's ok. The floors inside are quite rusty with large gaping holes all over the floor pans. Many of the windows are either cracked or completely broken or missing. We're going to have to do some hunting to find these parts for this truck but I'm sure the parts are plenty available as you see these trucks and their pickup versions all over the place in car shows all the time. Somebody's gotta be making parts for these things otherwise nobody would be able to restore them. And unlike a 65 Mustang or similar car, these cars are plenty old enough that if its not restored or in the rare case, in a controlled environment of a garage or enclosed barn on a concrete or gravel floor in a relatively dry environment, the vehicles are going to be rusted out. Because of that, there has to be a large aftermarket catering to these vehicles to allow for restoration and maintenance after the fact as many people will use these vehicles in varying states. The interior of this truck is pretty basic, even by old car standards. There's just a couple of gauges in the dash, of course on this truck one of the gauges are missing. There isn't a bunch of idiot lights or switches for all kinds of gadgets. There is no fancy sound system with a bunch of controls. Now of course with vehicles like this the sky's the limit on what you can do. You can add all kinds of gauges based on what you're trying to build. You can add fancy sound systems and backup monitors or whatever. When there's a barebones basic dash, cutting holes to accommodate extra gauges or switches or whatever is pretty easy. Plus with the interior being super basic, there isn't a bunch of interior trim and panels that you have to take into account when adding anything on the inside. Even the steering column is basic, just a simple shaft with the hook up for the column shifter in place. This thing doesn't even have a turn signal, even though there are aftermarket additions for these late add-ons. The rear of the interior was basic as well. Since these trucks were really more of a utility vehicle, they incorporated the same design as the pickup which was to have a wooden bed. Well the bed is made up of dividers with wood boards between them to make up the whole bed. This truck most likely had a bench seat, as previously mentioned, while the rear was set up for use in carrying cargo. With no need to climb into the back from the inside, a bench was more than adequate. These were the kinds of trucks that most likely had a single driver anyway since they were most likely used as delivery trucks or work trucks. Now this truck doesn't have any headliner as I'm sure it disintegrated a long time ago. The support rods are still there but that's about it. I'll have to see about how the headliner/ceiling is put together to determine if I might omit the headliner and its support rods all together as sometimes just painting a ceiling is enough to make the interior look decent. We'll see, however if the kits are available I may go ahead and install a headliner along with other interior components like replacement door panels and what not. As for the rest of the interior, with the internal framework set up the way it is, it opens the door to a number of possibilities as to how I may redo the interior. One thing I do plan on doing that I would recommend is to research what others have done as it will give you a good idea as to how to set up your build. Depending on what you may use your vehicle for, you may choose to really build up the interior. Since we plan on using this truck in a combination recreational and utility stance, we want to have the interior be comfortable. While this would involve having full HVAC, it will also include things like soundproofing. This would incorporate sound deadening padding placed between dead spots along the inside of the body then be covered up with some type of interior panel to make it look more "homey" inside the truck. We may just ride around in this thing on the weekend or to get some things done and bring back materials for projects, or we may press this thing into service as an interstate traveler, going to bring back automotive parts or even a whole car with the use of a tow dolly since this truck has a hitch on it. Now after doing some brainstorming I did think about the idea of removing the whole body of the truck from its old frame and installing it on an S10 pickup frame. Ironically we have a long bed single cab S10 that currently has a high mileage engine and a worn out transmission. The bed on the truck has already been crushed by a tree and patched up crudely. If the wheelbases are exact or at least super similar, then I will probably go ahead and utilize this truck's chassis as a donor to do a frame swap. The unique idea I had was one that involved keeping the EFI V6 powertrain in the S10 so even after the body swap, the 51 Chevy would underneath be a modern truck, using the modern powertrain and brakes/suspension. This would make the vehicle be even more desirable as an interstate traveler since replacing parts in the field would be much easier when parts can be had from local auto parts stores quick and easy. Even if I didn't want to keep the V6, especially in its EFI configuration, I could swap to a carbed intake for the V6 and either get a trans controller for the 4L60 tranny or just swap it out with a 700R4. I could also swap out to a SBC V8 instead of the V6. The accessory drive system on the V6 will bolt right up to the V8 so there wouldn't be much of a difference. Of course the only difference would be having to re-do the engine and transmission mounts if I go the V8 route. What's also funny is the idea that the I-6 engine originally in this truck probably has the power of a weaker V6 or even a 4 cyl, using only a dinky 1bbl carb. A 4.3L V6 with a 4bbl on it and a modern 4 spd overdrive tranny with lockup would probably surpass the old I-6/3spd manual powertrain greatly. Even if I swap out to a 5 spd that was also equipped in the S10, that would still put it ahead of the game. With the modern hardware that would allow this truck to get the decent fuel economy that would warrant its being used as an interstate runner. There will be more to come about this truck and our plans for it after we go pick it up and bring it back home.
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