Newest addition has arrived home. Have to make room in the nursery.

[aerotruk63]

Cool Pack installed in the wrong position. Torched and contoured the A/C housing with the 4speed shifter.
Wrong seat but have a spare waiting.
Will have the seat reupholstered with the correct fabric and red vinyl.
Theme on this one is to clean house. Patina stays . Empty some shelves and totes of extra Accessories.
Install 63 Power Brake Unit.
Power Assist Steering goes on.





Wrong Air Cleaner.
Need a 2 barrel paper element air filter.
Plastic fuel filter goes and a DUREX filter will go in.
Horns removed and High Note installed.
Correct A/C condenser and dryer.
Factory chalk marks. Have to be careful with those when cleaning.
3C154S178263 . Therefore 78,263rd truck off the St. Louis assembly line.
Has a Fawn firewall.



First order of business before it went on the trailer? Aluminum wheels had to go.



Paint: 526A Cameo White. another paint code was XXXX'D out.
Trim; RPO Z62PT Custom Comfort Option
5000lbs GVRW
Trailer wheels 15 x 5 from Vintage Trailer Supply.
Bias Ply Whitewalls.
Borrowed hubcaps from a buddy , maybe permanently..lol
Headlight needed attention on drivers side.
Once had a drivers side spotlight , will put one back in.





Wrong Diff, have another one.
Aftermarket helper springs will get the toss as well as the Firestone air bags with the sheared valve stems.
Install working parking brake cables.



Chalk marks on the rear frame crossmember. 1534 code for 127" wheelbase with a Fleetside box.



Someone along the line cut the #2 crossmember, bed strip and wood floor and installed these tubs. Wood is to far gone so I'll mill some new one's and replace the butchered steel. Have 2 in bed spare tire brackets to make it right.



If you can't see the modification blooper then you shouldn't be in this forum.. What a waste of a nice instrument panel.
Removed the toggle switch and some extra mystery wires.
Steering wheel 62 Biscayne? Lost out on a Deluxe Wheel while driving back. Thought I paid the seller and he sold it off. Great guy Hmh70.



It's going to stay stock as possible. Shop truck United Delco markings as well as other GM service stuff was in mind.
Would like to use this truck on June 19th 2024, Fathers Day , to re create the "Check The Champ" tour Chevrolet did in 1962. Maybe not into Mexico but from Detroit to the Mexican border then up to Washington State. Across the Northern border with Canada , crossing the Mackinaw Bridge , finishing back in Detroit. It will be the 60th. anniversary of the original tour. I'll be 60 in 2024. Call it my mid life crisis.

[pimpston65]

yeah. now head to colorado for a few parts for me...

[aerotruk63]

I really wanted to go to Crowley on the way back but a return load was in Kansas so had to go that way. Headed to Colstrip Montana Tuesday then where? Don't know so far.

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

I really wanted to go to Crowley on the way back but a return load was in Kansas so had to go that way. Headed to Colstrip Montana Tuesday then where? Don't know so far.

i do know a guy in colorado that has parts!!! maybe u could stop there???

[Clyde65]

Where did you find that girl??

[oem4me]

Good lookin' truck! Backstory please.

[Captainfab]

Nice find aerotruk63

Did you get my reply regarding the booster brackets a month or so ago?

[aerotruk63]

Back story,

We transport Bombardier Recreational Products out of El Paso Texas. On one of the trips a few months ago I saw the Ad on the El Paso craigslist for a listing from Los Lunas NM. The main picture was of the A/C unit. Called right away no answer. Left a voice mail. no response. Text and left a message , no response.
Subsequently I would call or text every other day for a month and a half , no response.
I sent a PM to jchav62 who lives in Albuquerque. He got hold of the owner and was kind enough to go see the truck and assure the owner that I was not a fraudster trying to get his banking information.
A load for California came up , so instead of passing by the northern route , I went south and arranged to go see the truck. I didn't care about the rest of the truck , I just wanted the A/C unit for my blue one. I've collected A/C parts from other applications but never had a true piece to copy from. It started and idled right away, I mean started lighting fast and still does.. In his ad it said it smoked a little. at idle you can see it.
Plated but no insurance on it , I didn't take it for a drive. I didn't care about the rest just the A/C.

How to get it home?
Option 1 - what I originally wanted to do was to take time off work and drive it back. Make an adventure out of it.

Option 2 - couple of buddies volunteered to come with me in the Semi on a trip and drive it back for me so we could have an escort vehicle with 2 bunks.

Option 3 - have it transported by a car carrier , but that seemed defeatus when I haul all sorts of different goods on the flatbed.

Option 4 -Dispatch quoted $3200 CND to bring it back, way to expensive. I called one of our in house load brokers to have it posted to see what kind of prices I'd get. The owner of the transport company I work for was in the brokers office. Without hesitation he told me to take the truck and trailer to go get the pickup. We waited for a load close to Albuquerque and things went into motion. A drop above Pecos Texas came up so they jumped on that for me. After I got unloaded we waited to see if there were any partial local loads of 32ft since the pickup is 18ft and were allowed to overhang past the back of the 48ft deck trailer by 2ft. Nothing local , so they sent me up to Los Lunas NM to go get it.
Over the weeks of waiting to go get it, I started looking for parts that I wanted to replace. The windshield gasket is so dry it's pushing out the windshield. There's gaps on the sides and on the bottom. The owner offered to receive a gasket if shipped to him and have his neighbor in the automotive glass industry install it.
Ebay find and off it's shipped to him. His wife refuses the delivery and it's sent back to the shipper...... he never told her of the plan.
Had it shipped to jchav62 as he had offered to take any parts I wanted to ship. jchav62 received it and was nice enough to bring it to the truck for installation. Well the neighbor backed out of his offer.
Ordered 6 wheels from Vintage Trailer Supply , had them sent to jchav62. Joe brought them down to the truck to await my arrival. I had tires from home I wanted to use. Couldn't stand the thought of transporting the pickup with the aluminum wheels , also not having hubcaps on the new steelies. lol

Walmart let's big trucks park in their parking lots. Walmarts also have tire centers. Walmarts also have groceries. Well this Walmart has security driving around the parking lot. Talked to the security guy and explain the plan. I'll bring the pickup to their tire center, have the aluminum wheels and tires removed and the steelies and bias ply's installed. They measure across the the outer diameter of the wheel and look at the tire size. " You can't mount a 15" tire on a 16" wheel " I'm told. I explained that he had not measured the wheel correctly and that it was a 15" wheel. Well their going to have their technician explain it to me. He comes over a goes through the explanation. He then finds a sticker which clearly indicates that it's a 15.5" wheel and that it won't accept a 15" tire. Ummm that's a 15-5 meaning 15" X 5". Service manager is called over and I explain that I'll simply take it across the street to a tire shop and have the work done. He says they'll try mounting one to prove their point but that if the the tire gets cut that's my loss. Tire went on like a dream , imagine that.
Flatbed tow truck with a T bar raised the pickup to the height of the flatbed trailer. Drove off one onto the other. Strapped it down.

No LTL loads Friday around Albuquerque so I started pressure washing. Sunday drove to Oklahoma City. Monday up to Wichita for 33ft of aluminum road signs.

To get it across the border I needed an original Title and Bill of Sale. pimpston65 suggested I have the Bill of Sale notarized. Done.. but now I needed an ITN# which you absolutely need to have in order to Export a truck from the U.S. and Import it into Canada. Quick internet search and $35USD I get a emailed ITN# . Took no chances printed the message in the truck.

Special thanks to jchav62 for all the work that he and his family did in order for this to have come to happen.

Crossed the border within a 1/2 hour of paying Duty on my purchase.

[rideblue00]

Cool story. Nice looking truck. My vote is to keep the patina too. Ive been wondering if anyone has bought those trailer rims and liked them. I take it the caps fit on them then? They are on it in the pics huh?

[ls60apache]

awesome truck and the story acquiring it...even though I have a 60...63 is my favorite as long as it has a 60 grille it..

[Clyde65]

That’s all?

Jk, Aero! It’s good to have friends willing to assist! Great “adventure”!

[BR3W CITY]

A lot to like in those pics dude!

[jayoldschool]

Congrats. If you need a working T3 for it, I will pull it out of my truck for you. I only have one, and mine doesn't need the original. I do have all four T3s in my 65 Impala that is more worthy.

[aerotruk63]

Originally Posted by rideblue00

Cool story. Nice looking truck. My vote is to keep the patina too. Ive been wondering if anyone has bought those trailer rims and liked them. I take it the caps fit on them then? They are on it in the pics huh?

I called before ordering and asked the dimension of the moon cap they sell. 10 3/16 inner diameter just like GM hubcaps. The last cap which was N.O.S. didn't go on. The old hubcaps were a bit of a challenge but they went on. Maybe the black powder coating increased the diameter of the nubs? lol

[aerotruk63]

Originally Posted by jayoldschool

Congrats. If you need a working T3 for it, I will pull it out of my truck for you. I only have one, and mine doesn't need the original. I do have all four T3s in my 65 Impala that is more worthy.

I could trade the two headlights that are in the grill now. A T-3 would certainly add to the original look. PM me your mailing address.

[shp4man]

Holy crap, what a PIA. Damn nice truck, though. Good job, jchav62, thanks for helping to making it happen.
Also, that root beer brown truck looks sweet.

[aerotruk63]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

That’s all?

Jk, Aero! It’s good to have friends willing to assist! Great “adventure”!

Is yours now out of paint prison?

[Clyde65]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

Is yours now out of paint prison?

Not yet, went to inspect and he has a little more finishing and assembly to do. Could be soon tho.....

[jchav62]

Hey Norm! Glad to see this thread. Your "new" truck looks 10 times better already. Thanks for delivering those wheels and tires. They sold in 2 days. I look forward to seeing what you do to the truck and glad to see you're going to use it on your 2024 mission. I'm glad I was a part of it all. I was happy to help...

Thanks for all your kind words.

[aerotruk63]

Spent yesterday with a hard working 3rd cousin. Man is it ever nice to find a young man with so much talent. We added insulation and plywood the walls and ceiling of the Blue trucks crib. End of July we do the rest of the garage.