Hello - advice - new truck

[Ben5959]

Hey guys, great to meet you all, found this site over the last month and have been impressed by the kick ass community yall have here.

I just purchased my first classic truck/project (Xmas present to myself). I've always admired the late 50's - 66 body style ( my dad has a 57) and just recently bought my own 66. It is almost all original and in great condition. Needs a bit of work, but not much. I'll be putting a new bed in, new starter, and also having the choke/idle looked at. When I drive her I can't fully let out the choke or she stalls out (any advice on what that could be?)

She is a beauty, no rust and perfectly straight. Original motor with 96k miles (needs a little cleaning up), she's been in a garage for about 20 years until I moved her her to Texas from Washington.

I think I got a pretty good deal on her on account on how original she is,(except for the mirrors). I'd love to know your thoughts on what yall think she could be worth. I plan on keeping her around for a long time, but am curious if I got taken on the price.

Anyways, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself as a new 64-66 enthusiast!

Pics forthcoming

-ben

[Ben5959]

More pics

[Ben5959]

More

[Ben5959]

And some more

[Ben5959]

Couple more

[Ben5959]

Original 327

[62 Barnfind]

Welcome! From what I can see from the pics you have a good one. As far as the choke, it probably has some crap in it from setting. A good cleaning or rebuild kit should fix the problem. You can do the bed yourself by going to GMC Paul's website http://www.gmcpaulstruckparts.com/47...dWood_Info.htm.
He has all the specs to cut it yourself. I did mine and I saved a lot of money. Good luck and nice find!

[DPowers]

Nice truck- welcome

[Monte's62]

Ben that's a really nice truck, I mean really nice. I think on a truck like this you can't really pay to much. It's worth what you're willing to pay and what you think it's worth. If you decide to sell it, it may take a little while, but you will find someone willing to pay what you paid or more. Is the bed rotten or just aged? If it is not rotten I would leave it original. Man, what a great looking truck.

[Ben5959]

Originally Posted by Monte's62

Ben that's a really nice truck, I mean really nice. I think on a truck like this you can't really pay to much. It's worth what you're willing to pay and what you think it's worth. If you decide to sell it, it may take a little while, but you will find someone willing to pay what you paid or more. Is the bed rotten or just aged? If it is not rotten I would leave it original. Man, what a great looking truck.

Thanks guys,

The bed is not rotten, just aged and a bit wet. They had it covered in mdf and it has been sitting in the Seattle rain for about three weeks. I took it all off two days ago and am letting it air out.

I was thinking that I would get some heat on it, see if I can dry it out and then sand, stain, and seal it. Thoughts?

Is there Any way to tell if the bed is the original bed? The lady who sold it to me had no idea that there was even wood under the MDF.

It was her fathers truck. I've also got a new chrome rear bumper coming for it as well as the trip piece that is missing from the dash.

[Maddoxdb]

Bed looks to be original. It would be black from the factory. Super nice looking truck either way!!

[oem4me]

Nice, straight clean truck for sure! A repaint at that quality would be thousands, so factor that into what you paid. Bummer on the wrong mirrors, that is unless you like them. Holes left behind from old mirrors can spoil an otherwise perfect door. Sometimes you can get away with not fixing the holes by pulling the mirrors and plugging the holes with a plain headed threaded rivet painted body color. They dissappear to the eye at about ten feet.
The bed deck would have been black from the factory. What you have is probably original and does not look that bad. Cleaned up and repainted, it might look nice again. If you pull it to put in oak, don't ruin it or sand it. Save it and sell it. Many here may be interested, including myself.
Your carb issue may be solved with a basic cleaning. If the truck has been sitting for many years there's likely coagulated junk in the float bowl, so it's due anyway.
keep us posted and drown us with pics. Nobody here will ever complain about too many pics.
Congrats, and welcome!

[sodly]

Originally Posted by Ben5959

Is there Any way to tell if the bed is the original bed? The lady who sold it to me had no idea that there was even wood under the MDF.

Original bed wood should have a code stamped into it.

[padresag]

truck looks good. don't apply heat to the boards. just let it dry out in that texas air
ron

[Ben5959]

Originally Posted by oem4me

Nice, straight clean truck for sure! A repaint at that quality would be thousands, so factor that into what you paid. Bummer on the wrong mirrors, that is unless you like them. Holes left behind from old mirrors can spoil an otherwise perfect door. Sometimes you can get away with not fixing the holes by pulling the mirrors and plugging the holes with a plain headed threaded rivet painted body color. They dissappear to the eye at about ten feet.
The bed deck would have been black from the factory. What you have is probably original and does not look that bad. Cleaned up and repainted, it might look nice again. If you pull it to put in oak, don't ruin it or sand it. Save it and sell it. Many here may be interested, including myself.
Your carb issue may be solved with a basic cleaning. If the truck has been sitting for many years there's likely coagulated junk in the float bowl, so it's due anyway.
keep us posted and drown us with pics. Nobody here will ever complain about too many pics.
Congrats, and welcome!

Thanks I think you've convinced me to keep the original boards. should I powerwash and repaint black, rather than sand? What about the bed rails, go back black on those as well, or were those chrome originally? I'd love it to look as stock as possible.

Originally Posted by padresag

truck looks good. don't apply heat to the boards. just let it dry out in that texas air
ron

Noted, I'll keep it garaged out of the rain and let it dry out. I'll keep the heat off. Thanks!

[oem4me]

Originally Posted by Ben5959

Thanks I think you've convinced me to keep the original boards. should I powerwash and repaint black, rather than sand? What about the bed rails, go back black on those as well, or were those chrome originally? I'd love it to look as stock as possible.

No, If you are going to revive and repaint, then a fair sanding is in order. I suggested not sanding IF you were going to sell them. Some of us are actually looking for authentically weathered bed wood to match our authentically weathered trucks. Also, don't power wash with extremely high pressure as this could tear into the wood fiber too deeply.
The bed strips are black like the wood. below are some pics of beds with actual factory applied paint so you can see the correct level of gloss on each.

[Ben5959]

Originally Posted by oem4me

No, If you are going to revive and repaint, then a fair sanding is in order. I suggested not sanding IF you were going to sell them. Some of us are actually looking for authentically weathered bed wood to match our authentically weathered trucks. Also, don't power wash with extremely high pressure as this could tear into the wood fiber too deeply.
The bed strips are black like the wood. below are some pics of beds with actual factory applied paint so you can see the correct level of gloss on each.

Thanks oem4me, I'll make the bed shine and send yall some pics. Appreciate the help.

[TJ's Chevy]

Welcome aboard! Nice to see one with a 327!

[Mathew21]

Welcome, Beautiful truck. Another vote for keeping the bed wood just the way it is. But it's your truck do whatever makes you happy.

[Ben5959]

Put a new starter and rewired to the ignition switch today. Something screwed up and fried the wire to the ignition.

Going to purchase a carb rebuild kit and get this choke/idle thing figured out. Any advice on a good rebuild kit for a noob?

Thanks guys!

[TJ's Chevy]

I got mine from Napa.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

Congrats on an awesome looking original truck. It's a good thing it was kept in a garage in Seattle. If it wasn't it would have been covered in moss and had a bit of rust.

[Ben5959]

hey guys, truck update.

Unsatisfied with the stock am radio. I decided to take my sound system to the next level. I put in two Undercover II subs and tweeter combos that i mounted to wood covered in trunk liner material, and placed those under the seat bench. they don't move around on account of hardware under the seats. I also created a mounting box for an amp that sits between the gas tank and the passenger side wall, and then ran the power wire through the existing hole in the firewall from the AM antenna to the battery. the amp is bluetooth, so it connects to my iPhone without any wires.

All in all, i didn't have to drill any holes in the truck and its not a bad upgrade for around 400 bucks. The whole thing is not visible at all and doesn't take away from the stock look of the truck.. except they hear me coming a bit earlier now.......it was a fun project to get comfortable with tinkering with the truck.

Next on the list is a carb rebuild. I found a kit for a rochester 4 jet on ebay, i was told that its a pretty rare carb. should be fun. Love to know any tips on the rebuild if you got em. Ill be scouring youtube and google I'm sure for advice.

thanks guys.

also here are some pics of a valentines day shoot my wife (a photographer) did with our kids and the truck.