Razz 59

[Razz11]

This is going to be more of an introduction to my future build thread than anything... So bear with me!

This all started when I was 13-14 years old. My dad and grandpa ran an alignment and body shop for my entire life up to this point. Well, until I was 11 or 12. They ran in to some tough times and shut the shop down. My grandpa became the shop foreman for the local Chevrolet dealership and my dad went to work for another body shop. To say the least I pretty much grew up in a body shop and never had a babysitter. I would help out as much as I could and built some really sweet, custom bikes. LOL

Back to the story. When I was 13-14 my dad and I dreamt and always talked about what would be my first vehicle. We decided on a Task Force Apache swapped on to a 4x4 Blazer chassis. We located and picked up two long boxes and put them in the back lot. One was a 1958 GMC fleetside and the other was a 1958 Chevy long stepper. We pulled the Blazer out of a scrap lot at his shop and stripped it down. Things kind of sputtered out at this point. I was very into baseball and sports year round.

The summer I turned 15 we went down to the local car show and saw a 1959 Apache shortbox fleetside that we had never seen before. I HAD to have it. My dad worked out a deal and helped me take out a small personal loan to buy it the next week. I officially had my first vehicle and I felt like the coolest kid alive! The pickup was actually one of my friend's grandpas that he bought brand new and it lived as a farm truck until the early 90s when it was rebuilt to stock specs and parked in his shop. I'm not even sure it was ever driven after the first rebuild because none of us had ever seen it in our small town. I drove it daily for the better part of 3 years. If the snow was too deep I parked it and drove my dad's old Suburban or caught rides with my older sister. I basically just did maintenance and didn't change much on the pickup in this time. My dad and I started a build on a 400 sbc and 700r4 to put in the Apache. Things sputtered out on that project. Meeting a girl and spending all of my time and money on her may have influenced this...

My junior year of high school rolled around and I stupidly decided that I needed a 4x4 to bog around in... My grandpa wanted the Apache and we made up a deal. He always had a hotrod car or pickup around and just sold a beautiful C10 short stepper. He bought me a 1988 Chevy 1500 4x4 RCSB with a newer crate motor and he got the Apache in trade. The deal was that when he was done with it I could buy it back for price he bought my 1988 for. I rebuild the 1988 from the ground up in a "whiteout" theme and drove that for 2 years.

My vehicle history goes like this from there:
I got ride of the 88 and picked up a 1999 Ford Expedition that we repainted for road trips back and forth to college.
I wanted another pickup so I got rid of the Expedition after a year or two and picked up a 2001 Chevy 1500 4x4.
That one was totaled in a hit and run and I picked up a 2003 F150 crew cab 4x4.
Both of my parents started working at the local Ford dealership at this point so all of my new rigs have been Fords since.
I had a 2013 F150 Fx4 crew and then most recently my baby is now a 2013 Ford Raptor crew.
I got into motorcycles and have owned a handful of those and some other toys along the way.

The next chapter of the story would be my grandpa's ownership. He always had a thing for 50s style hot rod stuff, because that's what he was. His nickname was Greasy for a reason... He put his own touches on it with a white two-tone paint job, side pipes, wheels and tires, etc. We moved the trans from 3 on the column down to the floor with an overdrive. It pretty much stayed like this and is in this condition today. He would drive it some and a couple of us grandkids were allowed to drive it for special occasions, etc. for the next handful of years.

After college I got a job in the Bakken oil field which I still hold today. (Cross your fingers with the price of oil!) I have been bugging my grandpa to let me buy back the 59 for a few years now, but he's a hard ass and would never let it go. He and my grandma have been battling health issues for a while now. She passed away in August and he just passed away last month.

Current: So in unfortunate circumstances I got my Apache back 11 years later. Timing could have been better. A few years ago when I was single and had cash filling my pocket would have been nice, but that's how things work out... I am 28 now and married to that girl I spent all my time on when I was 15 and we have a beautiful 7 month old baby boy.

Plans: I am going to rebuild this thing starting late this fall and through the winter. I WILL have it driving and back on the road next summer. I am waiting until fall so I can spend all of my free time on the build. I am an addicted golfer, boater, and an avid bow hunter. I will let those things finish for the year before starting. I will drive it this summer in it's current form and determine exactly what I would like to do.

I'm pretty excited that I never got the chance to build it until now. I would have built it a lot different back when I was 17 than I am going to now. I plan to keep it pretty classic. As of right now I want to put a dropped axle and Posies all around. I want to use boosted disk brakes up front and swap in a newer rear axle with drums. I will either stick with manual steering or try an electric power steering unit. I'm hoping to find a 327 SBC, but will settle for the right 350 and want to put an automatic behind it. I would like a 200r4/700r4, but would live with a th350 for the right price. I would like to run it in coated bare steel for a while, but I have a feeling there is quite a bit of bondo on her. If that turns out to be the case I will go with some sort of metallic hot rod flatz. Interior will stay pretty much stock with a few updates here and there. The two old Task Forces are still around locally. I'm thinking about grabbing the GMC grill and bedside spears which are still intact!

I have been back and forth with IFS and which way to go. I daily drove the stock straight axle for a long time and kind of like that it will still feel like an old truck. I WILL keep this pickup for the rest of my life, so if I run the straight axle and decide to cut in an IFS a few years down the road that won't be too big of a deal.

That's pretty much it for right now. I plan to gather parts throughout the summer, so I will update the thread whenever I pick things up. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated. I will attach a bunch of pictures in a bit!

[Razz11]

Here's me and the pickup at 16 and one at our wedding.

[Razz11]

Here's an engagement photo

[Razz11]

Current

[Razz11]

Rear

[Razz11]

Here's one of my Raptor

[Dan in Pasadena]

A FORD?! On a devoted vintage Chevyboard? HERETIC! HERETIC! Burn Him! Lol

(Nice truck)

[BIGglaSS]

Great story! Nice looking trucks.

[Kim57]

Welcome.
Nice story.
Kim