1955 L3800 panel truck 7469 original miles

[Bucky10pt]

Just sealed the deal on this old gem. Was a local fire dept rescue, all original.
Not sure which direction to go with this to enjoy driving it. Thinking Ls. Steering and suspension need to be updated. This will be my first build on one of these. Any help or suggestions would be great. Price was too good to pass and way to cool to pass.

[roger55]

I love these panel trucks.
It's a dream of mine to make one into a cross country cruiser.

Are you thinking of a new crate engine or finding a used one? What do you want for a tranny?

[Bucky10pt]

I have a jasper 4l80e I pulled from a wrecked van. Ls 4.8, 5.3, 6.0s are fine a dozen here in upstate N.Y. loads available due to cancer from N.Y. salt. Pick and pull yds loaded. I've been picking up wrecks and pulling drive lines, then scrap the rest. Definitely going Ls fuel injected. Just finishing one in my son's C10.

[Daze57]

looks like a good project -- keep us posted !

[mongocanfly]

nice find you found there....

[Bucky10pt]

Yeah a mile from my garage. Was in a friends junk yard for last 10 yrs, never knew it was there. Made a deal with him (he never gets rid of anything) for cash and Ls swap in his 71 camaro he's had stored away for 25+ yrs. He has all nos panels for camaro. Good deal for both parties. Now I'm researching how to build this panel. Crazy cool.

[wphilli1]

Hey Bucky,

Looks like a nice project you've got there! Its amazing what you can find in people's back yards around these parts. I'm located near Cooperstown, let us know when you get that thing up and running, I'd love to see it.

[CountofMonteCarlo84]

Congrats! Should be a cool build.

[whitedog76]

Did you save it from the crusher? Looks like there's a compactor in the last pic.

[Bucky10pt]

An old friend had it in his grave yard last 10 yrs. Her owns a garbage business. He crushes some now and then but keeps the cool stuff. Crazy the stuff he held onto when junk went high. Now I'm trying to score a c4 suspension set-up for this and put together by Syracuse Nationals. Leaving patina but making it drivable.

[_Ogre]

sweet find bucky!
nice thing about fire & rescue trucks is they spent their life indoors and very pampered
the last 10 years probably didn't do it much harm

i gave up my 59 3800 last year after a 40 year friendship, sad to see it go but realized i'd never get around to it
i didn't want to be one of those guys