1954 Monster 4X4 Shop Truck "Crush"

[OYMC]

So, here is my story...

Just like my fellow fabricator's, and classic car / truck enthusiast, I am addicted to finding smokin' deals on forgotten soul classics.

One day while cruisin' Craig's list I found an ad that said, "1954 Chevy 2 ton pickup". No picture, and a price of only $200.00. I really didn't think twice about calling the owner and inquiring if the truck was still available.

The owner answered, "Yep it's still available, but someone has already looked at it and is looking for a trailer".

I replied, "I will leave right now if you promise to hold the truck".

After agreeing to the terms, and two hours of driving later, I was standing in front of a 12000 lb truck. The truck had been past down from the original owner AKA "Crash" to a friend. "Crash" had sense past away.

"Crash" had been an industrial welder, and used this truck as a back bone for his business (Survival) for over 40 years!

[OYMC]

So there I was, standing in front of a huge hunk of steel, and all I had to toe it home was an 18 ft car trailer, and a 1/2 Ton 4X4 GMC Pickup...

Needless to say, I was ill equipped...

Realizing I was already 2 hours from home, and didn't have any other alternatives. The truck was loaded, heavily strapped down, and I was down the road...

30 MPH... That was as fast as I could go with 3/4 of my new 12,000 lb truck hanging off the back end of my dual axle, half ton trailer.

It took me over four hours to get home, taking as many back roads as possible to avoid the CHP.

[57ToyBox]

HaHaHa Great story... And Awesome find
You gonna keep it as a work horse and restore the tool box too.

[Lextech]

Cool truck. What are your plans for it?

[PDW HOTRODS]

Got any pics of it on the trailer? I would like to see that!

[OYMC]

Half way threw the drive home I realized that I was trying to cheat death itself... Without the wish of killing my wife and son who were securely fastened to their seats, I decided to call a friend / family member.

After a disgusting meal at KFC in Marysville CA, my brother in-law showed up in his 2006 Chevy 3/4 ton duramax truck. My sister and 6 month old nephew regrettably tagged along.

The trailer was unhooked, and after clicking the last chain to my brother in-laws truck, the last thing I heard him say was, "Ah, that's it".

Being the contractor type he feels his hair grows thicker than everyone else... Here is what happened next...

I finally caught back up to his truck at the end of town... 35, 45, 55, 60 mph...What the heck is this guy doing, I told my wife... Almost simultaneously the trailer began to whip back and forth. A semi truck pulling a 40 ft box trailer, carrying who knows what, whizzed past, their truck. The moment it past they were shoved into oncoming traffic!

All I could think was, I'm going to see my sister die over a $200.00 piece of rusted steal.

With in a few hundred yards, they finally slowed down enough to regain control. Luckily no one was coming in the other lane after the semi past.

I called my brother in-law and amazingly enough, he didn't answer, but my sister did. I told her that we didn't need to kill ourselves tonight, so slow down...(I think they already knew that)...

[sgtusmc]

Very nice find. Man your lucky the CHP didn't find you. I'd also love to see it on the trailer. Wow, you guy's are lucky no one was hurt. I'm glad to hear you guy's made it okay and it's of the road in one piece.

[dennis57]

Cool truck and I am very glad you guys arrived intact.

[OrrieG]

Great find! If you ate at the new KFC in Marysville built about 4-5 years ago I will own up to designing the store, but have nothing to do with what is cooked or who does the cooking. I've always wanted an old wrecker something like that, closer to the bob tail Holmes style.

You could hire out pulling engines, cabs, etc. Or hitch up to a Hybrid car and tow it around to get folks excited.

Is it really a 4x4 set up??

[OYMC]

By 12:00 A.M. (roughly) the caravan arrived at it's destination (My Driveway)...

Thank fully we were all in one piece...

Now for the fun part... Driving a 1/2 ton truck was obviously not going to cut it for my future gem finding expeditions, like this one. So I knew I was going to build a work / hauling truck with my blank canvas...

"Blank Canvas"...that brings up a quick discussion topic...

I have dealt with guys in the past that believed if a car was not as it was after rolling off the assembly line, it wasn't worth the "investment".

Here is my thought about all of "Those People". When you buy a pair of boots you struggle through the first few weeks (Break in). After that you slowly begin to fall in love with this article of protection that has, over time, grown a part of you (figuratively).

Who are we? Well, for the hard working type, we are the kind of people who enjoy the "simple" things in life. Driving a car that has been personally altered or modified, and yet draws attention, and respect.

The kind of person who only appreciates a "numbers" matching car is one who has never understood the feeling of good, solid, broke in, work boots...

So, back to "Crash". Crash built his truck to support his life. The stories told to me by left behind friends, told the story of a real life "Cowboy". They said, he work hard, and played harder.

I also asked why people called him "Crash". As many of us can relate, this guy had his string(s) of bad luck. When he crashed, he really crashed!

This old truck had a 350 SB motor, cargo lights everywhere, bells, whistles, the works. Under the bench seat, is written with a sharpie, "Louise Loves Crash". This thing is pouring out this old man's history / spirit, and I wasn't about to wash him away.

After many hours of contemplation I came to my conclusion... 4X4 flat bed, diesel, with the exterior of a forgotten soldier. What says forgotten more than "Gun Metal" Grey and Chrome?

So the demolition began!

(The Excavator tractor next to the old truck, is what I used to pull the bed off, after a lot of plasma cutting)

(Sorry guy's but I do not have photos of the truck on the trailer, but I will take a photo of both, and post soon)

This story will move quickly so stay tuned for more!

[Bigblue29]

Great story so far! Cant wait to see how the build goes!

[MrTucker]

That's gonna be a bad rig!

[OrrieG]

Can't wait for photos of the transfer case and front drive axle. Did the boon have an electric winch or pto off the tranny?

[OLDIRON69]

cool rig!

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Sweet find fo sure.... congrats

[renegade6]

This looks like a good one

[OYMC]

Wow... Bed Removal... Talk about a fun day!

After hours of plasma cutting, and a final confirmation that the bed was officially detached from the chassis...Trust me "Crash" could weld! I wrapped some heavy duty chains around the front and back of the bed, and began to drag the beast off the rusty old frame rails.

Once off, I leveraged the back of the bed against the front scrapper blade of the excavator, and lifted the front half of the bed with the excavator arm. Slowly I drove up on a flat bed utility trailer, where it was laid to rest on a set of dirty old tires.

When I returned from the scrap yard, I began to map out my project. I decided my custom flat bed was going to be a bit to long for the look I was going for, so I cut about a foot off of the rear frame rails. This left me with 12ft from the back of the cab to the trailing edge of the chassis...

Perfect...Just enough room to fit a customers dirty, molested, bare chassis on for those trips to and from the sand blaster and powder coater... No more 18 foot car trailer for these trips (Money Saver, and rolling advertisement for my fab shop...Two thumbs up!)

Then began the tedious detail work of filling holes, and preparing the chassis for its new suspension.

The truck was set up on jack stands, axle center lines marked, and the old suspension cut out...

[OYMC]

More Photos

[dennis57]

WOW!! Nice progress, at this rate you will be up and running in no time.

[OYMC]

Now that the old suspension had been removed, I had a pile of scrap metal cluttering my driveway, but not enough to make it worth my time to drop off at the recyclers....

Option?...Craig's List "Free" section

By day two of posting my ad, I had a guy call who was willing to take my treasures away...

For all of you who have ever posted something with a price tag marked "FREE", you know what kind of people scerry in for the big "Treasure SCORE"!

Here in my drive way, was an adult version of "Napoleon Dynamite". Great! How was this scraggly, computer geek, goof ball going to load these 50lb minimum, hunks of steel?

As he strapped on his flower print gardening "WORK" gloves, I noticed his 250 lb girl friend sipping down an AM PM big gulp in one hand, and smoking a cigarette / talking on the phone in the other...

I suddenly knew that this guy's girl friend was eating him out of house and home.

With my garage door open, "Napoleon Dynamite" asked if I had good welding "Skills" (ACTUAL WORDS USED).

I replied with a, "Well, I get by".

He asked if I could weld on a catalytic converter to his truck exhaust?....

Hmmm...I thought, besides the fact that I could get in trouble..."Sorry, but NO", I replied.

I helped my 6'4", 105 lb new friend, load up his merchandise, and with a final back fire from his white dodge compact pickup, he was gone.

Here is a suggestion to everyone who gives away something, which is to be pickup at their home...Keep your garage door shut, and have what ever it is your giving away, ready at the end of the drive way.

Front Cross member... What would be the easiest option for a suspension setup, and axles? It didn't take long for me to decide on a 1973-1988 full-size, 1 ton, Chevy 4X4 axle setup (Dana 70 rear, and a dana 60 front). Plenty strong enough to set just about any amount of weight on, and worthy of "Crash's" spirit.

Measurements were taken, and my cross member began to emerge out of a piece of 4"x4" 1/4" thick steel box tubing. The frame rails were boxed, and the new cross member was notched to slide into the front frame rails.

After searching for a good set of leaf springs, I discovered that "Ford" (I know, you don't have to say anything) made heavier duty 1 ton springs, and still had a decent ride quality. So a set of 6" Ford 1 ton leaf springs were bolted to their new home...

[OYMC]

More Photos

[OYMC]

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has posted their positive feed back to my "Thread".

It is really refreshing when people can just appreciate a guy's work and idea's rather than critique them to the point of complete dis-assembly...

Thank you again everyone!

The photos below are of me at 16 years old. This was my first car / truck, a 1955 1st series Chevy 1/2 ton Pickup. With the help from a few local hot rodders, I installed a Camaro front clip, rear end, and my Grandmother surprised me with a 400 small block crate motor!
This will probably be my next Thread / story once I wrap this one up!



OYMC

[mr48chev]

That is looking great and somehow I believe that the previous owner is looking down with a big grin after seeing that his old work truck is going to have a new life as a serious working truck in a different form.
That looks like a first class plan you have going on the truck an it looks like it will be quite a rig when it is done. Now If we could just get you to put the photos in stacked vertically instead of horizontally so they would be a bit easier to look at.
I like the little 54 you built too.

[britnjc]

they are stacked vertically on my PC

[sighlurr]

Originally Posted by britnjc

they are stacked vertically on my PC