What made you pick an AD 47-54

[TNACUSTOM]

I was just thinking that there are so many people into these trucks what brings you to these trucks. Mine is that my dad bought it when I was 11 he bought it just to get by until he fixed his truck. He said after his truck was fixed I could have it. And that is how I ended up with mine. I just pulled it out of the barn after 30 years and now I have started working on it. I don't know if it is a barn find if you put it in the and then pull it out 30 years later.

[Atommik]

When I was 16, my dad bought a 1950 chevy truck from one of his customers. My dad was the owner/operator of a service station. We worked on it together for a summer until I lost interest and he got too busy, so we sold it. As the years went by my interest in cars and trucks got stronger and when I was finally ready and able to buy something, an AD truck was my first choice. So roughly 32 years later, I bought my 1951 1/2 ton. I think of my dad often as I work on it and cruise around in it. I wish he could have seen it!

[ghettoluxury]

I have always liked the style and curves that the AD has. Also when I was younger, every time we walked into an Old Navy store I would tell my dad that I wanted one of those trucks. Of course he would just smile and give me that nod as he is not a car guy.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I DIDN'T!

I chose a Task Force 1955 because my Dad had a '59 Fleetside longbed when I was a kid that I helped him swap in a 283 and then later a 348. He had bought a brand new a black '55 Chevy two door hardtop Belair that he gave me when I turned 16 and was too STOOPID to know to keep it.

[youngrodder]

As funny as it sounds many years ago I came close to buying a 46-48 Ford coupe. The plans were to bag it because I loved the way the fat fenders looked tucking the rim and setting the body close to the ground. Then I saw a 47-54 truck lowered and the grill and front fenders looked very simular to the look of the Ford coupes. I have always been a truck man so it made perfect sense to build the truck. I liked the boidy style so much I decided a Suburban was next.

Marc

[oldman3]

Always liked the AD pickups for one reason or another. Back in the early 90's my son and I were going to do a father/son project on a 52 that we picked up. He lost interest in the AD and sold it and did a S-10 for his daily driver. To make a long story short after I retired in 96 I decided I wanted to do the AD based on a roadster drawing he did. He is now working on an AD for myself, in between doing other cars for people...Jim

[pvienneau]

Style - the fat round fenders and the rounded hood. They did it right in the 40's and early fiftys.

[mr48chev]

In 1973 my father in law told me about an old truck a guy in town had that ran and drove and he wanted 75.00 for it because he was moving out of town that week.
I went and looked at it, bought it and after driving it home and playing with it a bit I decided that since it was a 48 and could go to the Street Rod Nationals in Tulsa OK that year (I lived in McGregor, Texas then) I would fix it up and drive it to Tulsa because there was no possible way I would have my T bucket ready.

The truck had a 194 out of a Chevy II under the hood that ran pretty good but still had the closed drive trans that jumped out of second and closed rear along with six lug 16 inch wheels and rotten tires. I drove it the 14 miles to work for a few days until I blew one of the tires on the way home and then I would work on it before I drove it to work every day. A trip to the wrecking yard in Crawford Tx garnered 54 wagon hubs, drums and backing plate for the 5 lug swap on the front.

A coworker sold me the rear end out of a 61 Chevy that he was sending to the junk yard for 10.00 and I pulled it out.

the trans came from someone I don't remember.

Another coworker sold me 4 15x7 first generation Camaro Z28 rally wheels with rings and three hubcaps for 25.00 I got the 4th hubcap new from the Chev garage for 7.95 and they had it in stock.

A swap meet find produced the floor shift.

A guy in Waco sold me a truck load of goodies for 25.00 including chrome seat frame, running boards and two primo rear fenders. remember this was 1973. He had had a nice 53 with a stout V8 that he sold to some kid and the kid loaded the back of the bed with cement blocks and went out and tried to do a wheelie and bent the frame. The kid's dad threw a fit and told the guy who sold me the parts that the truck was junk and he wanted the kids money back. What I got was what was left from his parting the truck out.

I spent most mornings before work sanding and priming the panels of the truck before going to work on swing shift. when I had it ready for paint my buddy down the street painted it while I was at work and we had one of the original satin paint jobs as I didn't know that the paint needed to be cleared and the paint store owner forgot to tell me that I needed clear.

Bobby Richards of Waco did a supurb roll and pleat brown seat and did the cover for the bed. That was one day before we left for Tulsa.

My wife and I loaded our bags in the truck and off we went up I 35 to Oklahoma and the trip was not without issues. The fuel filter plugged up with gold paint several times and I had to pull the carb apart and clean paint out in a parts house parking lot somewhere close to Dallas. We burned the coil up crossing the Red River going into Oklahoma and coasted to a stop. Bob Davis a big F100 guy and an instructor at TSTI in Waco at the time (auto mechanics) stopped and we trouble shot the truck and he produced a spare ford coil that got me going and off we went. Close to Marietta my trans started smoking and we pulled in and stopped at a gas station there. Bob an I borrowed a jack and some blocks and pulled the trans complete with driveshaft welded to the tail shaft. after breaking the ujoint apart we went up the street to a wrecking yard where the owner had a matching three speed core that had bad gears but a good tail shaft. I paid him 15 bucks for the tail shaft, he handed us a tub of grease to use on the roller bearings and said lock the gate when we left as he was going home. we swapped tail shafts in the wrecking yard and off back to the gas station. less than an hour later with fresh gear oil in the trans and a new yoke on the driveshaft we were on the road. Our motel rooms had been canceled as we were late by then so we ended up in the Will Rogers Hotel in Claremore OK and then we got a room in a motel about a mile from the fairgrounds in Tulsa the next day. The room was three doors down from the pool and my wife loved it.

The truck received good vibes at Tulsa except from the guy working the back gate who was ready to fight me as he said it wasn't a 48 even though it was registered and I finally pulled out my Texas vehicle registration and showed him it was a 48. Highlight of the weekend was coming back to the truck and finding a teenage kid getting his photo taken standing beside it because he had one at home he was working on.

The trip home on Sunday was without problems except my wife got the bottoms of her feet sunburned because she was laying on the seat with her head on my lap and her feet out the window.

The truck has been registered at something like 300 events since then.

That is how I got my truck an how it became a custom/hot rod truck rather than just a dump hauler that had to sit in the back alley.

[Bone$]

For me when i see these trucks they just scream PERSONALITY.. I love the idea of having something that you dont see that often. In my town and area there is a bunch of 56 and older trucks driving around. The only time i see a 47-54 is in a car show. It drives me crazy to build something and never drive it so when i had some free cash i started looking for something i can drive anywhere but have that badass old school look.

[msaintg]

my wife always loved the look of the old trucks... always wanted one. I was turning 50 and wanted to hedge my bets against a mid life crisis thing and looking for a new project (other than working on the house some more), so I decided to build a truck for her. she couldn't decide which one she liked the best, so I bought the first one that caught my eye that had a cool grill. So now I am back to working on house projects and she has a truck she can brag about.

[mikec4193]

I like this thread

I was maybe 8-10 years old and a older fellow named "Howard Knapp" used to drive by the house I lived in and park at the neigbors house and we would drive by or he would drive by and I just loved the looks and the sounds of that old truck...dark green...lots of dings and dents...I bet it leaked in a couple of places too...

I have a 1951 coming to my house pretty soon...I will be calling it "Howard Knapp"...it is old and smelly and I cant wait to get to work on it and make it driveable old and smelly 1951 Chevy pickup....

Thanks for posting it on here...

MikeC

[Dan in Pasadena]

Whew, that's a novel!

[_Ogre]

i didn't

[mobileortho]

Those curves man!!

[47 Fasttoys]

I think my truck found me, we eyeballed each other in 2009 or 2010 while I was traveling through Southern Colorado to visit my son. Fast forward to 2012, on vacation again. Truck is setting in the same place, it's calling me, I hear in the back of my mind "save me....please" about that same time my wife says "you know, you should check on that thing to see if it's for sale" Mind you, it was sitting on a back lot, on a back country road which I have traveled on only 2 times in my life. During the purchase I learned it had arrived on the lot around 2 weeks before the first time I saw it, and the owner (who was going to rebuild it) passed away 2 months before the second visit in 2012. It was just meant to be.
Rob

[whitedog76]

My Grandpa had one in the 80's. As a kid, I thought is was the coolest thing there was.

The truck was a worker too, he used it to haul scrap steel.

Here's some of the story.

http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/wey...is%201954.html

[crossfire84]

$500 and had to go to North Dakota to get it!

[Clay54]

It was a 1954 chevy pickup on a car lot in Robstown, Texas and they were asking $500,00. I had just gotten back from 4 years with U S Army in Germany in 1964 and was needing a second vehicle. It had everything I would ever want in a truck. A V8, 4 speed automatic; yes, I said V8 - it was a '49 Cadillac. AC, power steering, power brakes, 5 hole wheels, visor over windshield, little visors on each door and many more options. I now plan to do a frame swap just as soon as I can get my stuff together. Clay

[xaircav]

Ever since I saw Tuesday Weld drive one in " I walk the line" I wanted one. The truck that is. But I'll take a Tuesday Weld too. (You young guys are thinking "WTF is he talking about") Google her.

[Angryman117]

Always liked the looks of AD 5 window pickups!

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by xaircav

Ever since I saw Tuesday Weld drive one in " I walk the line" I wanted one. The truck that is. But I'll take a Tuesday Weld too. (You young guys are thinking "WTF is he talking about") Google her.

I don't remember seeing the truck in the movie but she was hotter than a two dollar pistol in those days.

Having learned to drive in a 54 Chevy pickup when I was 12 years old probably had a lot to do with my buying the outside of it being 75.00 and me needing another vehicle. 75 in 1973 dollars is probably 800 in todays dollars as far how much car or truck you could buy with it though.

[Donaldo]

Wifey likes them, and I can't believe what she lets me do to it ! 1st car was a 47 chev sedan delivery, 2nd was a 50 1/2T panel, surfboard and fishing poles fit in perfect. Now 44 years later I get to build one. And, she just knows how much I like them.

[TNACUSTOM]

I love all the stories keep them coming. In the last two years I've painted two of these trucks and the first one was ok but the color wasn't what I would of done but always like seeing them done. The second was almost exactly like I would built. So it got me fired up on mine. I had to get it out of the old barn because my mom sold the place and when I got it home I just couldn't seeing it outside so it in the shop now I have a hard time working on other peoples cars when its siting there.

[Old Crow]

My wife had a '56 Bel Aire that I put together for her. We moved to Flagstaff, and that '56 was not the best car in the weather. Her dad gave her a '73 Satellite, so she put the Bel Aire up for sale.
Some guy came by and offered her a running pickup as a trade. She went and looked at it, made the trade and drove our first '54 Chevy truck(3 window)home. She walked into the house and threw me the keys!
Since that truck, we've had a '52 GMC 3 window, and another '54 Chevy(this one a 5 window).
About 6 months ago she was looking for another old car and ended up buying our present '54 Chev...this one a panel truck. We like all the AD trucks, but like the '54's the best.

[RedneckRodder]

Having a father that was rarely around, yet had still somehow managed to instill his love for classic cars in me, I was always buying hot rod magazines and wanting one of my own. My mother never really cared for my projects in the driveway, but our neighbors were very helpful with my endeavors. Easily 2 of the greatest influences in my young life, Tony and Chris helped me finish a '47 Willy's CJ2A that someone else had given up on. They'd lone me tools, taught me to weld and made sure I heard about it when I did something wrong or unsafe. They also taught me a lot of the other stuff a young man should know, and never withheld the barley pops from me, which I truly appreciated. After that I was hooked. Much to my mother's dismay, and my wife's now, I continued to drag home rusty "junk" that needed someone to love it.

I hadn't had a project since before I joined the Navy when I felt the most recent itch. It had been almost 7 years since I sold the Willys before leaving for bootcamp, and my wife had her doubts. She'd never seen me with one of my projects, and I convinced her I needed another one. I had only lived in Washington for 2 years, and really more like 5 months when you subtract the time I was forward deployed, so I had no idea where to find my next project. I decided to do something that would be easy, a model that had replacement parts readily available, and was nice to look at. This way I could build a rod quickly and have something to enjoy while I look for, and built my dream truck ('33-'36 International 1/2 ton). Well, its been 2 1/2 years since I started, and it turns out things go really slow when you have to acquire your own tools to get a job done. It sure would be nice to have Tony and Chris around the corner now, but I'm getting there, and so is the truck. I've changed my mind more times than I care to admit, and I'm sure I'm not done yet, but I'm having fun. The only real downside I see is that now I have to buy my own beer.