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I purchased my 1955 Chevy truck while I was in college. I had grown up
with an older brother who was always into cars and I had plenty of
opportunity to help work on them. I also helped my uncle build and show
his 1978 Malibu (which is now in my possession). Up until that point my only vehicle
had been the 1978 Ford Thunderbird I had been given to use by my folks.
Finding something more fitting was on my mind.
After looking
through the bulletin boards I spotted an ad for an old Chevy truck for
the sum of $500. A trip over to look at it revealed a truck that had
been abused in it's life. It had a well worn 327 V-8 mated to the
original 3-speed on the column. The fender wells on the bed had been cut
out at some point, I assume to put on a set up mud grip tires. The bed
floor was rotted out and some of the glass was busted. Maybe $500 was a
bit too much for it, but all I know was I fell in love with the 1955
body style and in my mind knew what it could one day look like.
Now she was mine, the first things I did were remove the bed and find
a slightly better one from a salvage yard. I cleaned and repainted the
engine and added chrome valve covers and some more sparkly odds and ins.
The interior had all the years of crap swept out and the sheet metal
received a good cleaning. She rattled & smoked when she ran and wasn't
much on the eyes, but she was mine.
Being in classes full-time and only having a part time job at the
college didn't leave much money for the project. I'd drive it every once
in a while, but the Thunderbird was still my main form of
transportation. My first major project was buying my friends dad's truck
when he lost interest in it. It was a 1959 Chevy, with a 1970 Camaro
front clip installed and a 1978 Trans-Am rear suspension. It was a small
back windows (my '55 was a large back window). It didn't have an
engine but did come with a Turbo 400 transmission. Seeing as I liked the
'55 looks better, I set about to merge the two trucks together using the
best parts of each.
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