I say , thats a large one ...

[Surfdaddy]

Makes things a bit more intersting knowing the history of the truck. Kind of motivatiing. I guess we take for granted that we can get parts and get them pretty quickly if we need to.

[Non_Sequitor]

As a bit of a history geek, I think that what you are finding out about your truck is simply amazing! I wish my truck had such an interesting journey as yours. Definately subscribing to this one.

[Ratty]

Thanks for the comments guys , much appreciated

The detective work has continued today , a bit more Googling turned up a report in The Cedar Mill News about a community farming project being run by a Mr Vahan Dinihanian and his family . I didn't think much of it but scrolled down the page scan reading and looking at the pic's . Imagine my amazement when I saw this one ;



Holy crap , thats my truck !!!

After calming down a bit and having a think I realised that the report was dated 2009 and my truck was imported to the UK in 2008 so it couldn't be that exact one , but there was obviously a family connection and the company obviously had more then one truck on its fleet . Needless to say i fired off an email to Mr Dinihanian and I'll keep you posted if I get a response .

Along side this in my excitement at putting the name Dinihanian to my truck last night I did a quick search for that name in the Portland area on Facebook and emailed a couple of people just on the off chance they might be connected but not really expecting a response . Well about an hour ago I recieved this message in my inbox (I've removed the name for privacy of the sender) ;

"Hey Ratty,
I am in fact of the same family of Dinihanian's. We're a small group almost all located in Portland Oregon. You say you are UK based? Are you having the truck shipped? How interesting. Haig is my great Uncle. My great Grandfather, Meger (M.E.) Dinihanian immigrated to the states and eventually made his way to Portland where he had three sons and three daughters and began M.E. Dinihanian and Sons Rug Co. Haig, Vahan and Meger Jr. owned and operated the family rug store until they retired in the mid nineties. That truck as well as two others were used throughout the decades to deliver rugs to clients. It's nice to hear that is will have a future. Out of curiosity how did you come to acquire the truck and what are you plans for it. Thanks for contacting me.

best, N"

Ain't the internet amazing ? This guy is either the son or nephew of the guy who has the matching truck to mine in the farm barn photo ! Obviously I've replied to him and he's going to see what records remain of the small fleet they ran , including any photo's . He's equally blown away to see photos of my truck in the UK .

This whole history thing has really got under my skin the last couple of days , hope you don't mind me sharing my excitement with you all !

Cheers , Ratty

[steverino66]

Originally Posted by Ratty

This whole history thing has really got under my skin the last couple of days , hope you don't mind me sharing my excitement with you all !

Cheers , Ratty

On the contrary - it's great fun watching your truck's story unfold!
Cool and unusual old panel - when I was a kid in southern CA in the 60s there were Helms Bakery trucks like that (not quite the length - brown and copper colors) that made the rounds of the neighborhoods with fresh bread and donuts

[rideblue00]

Thats neat about you finding out some history on the truck. Keep us updated and i hope he sends you some pictures.

[Captainfab]

The power of the internet is simply amazing. 20 years ago you likely wouldn't have found the previous owners at all let alone in just a couple of days. Very cool....be sure to keep us updated.

[Chevy Fleetside]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

The power of the internet is simply amazing. 20 years ago you likely wouldn't have found the previous owners at all let alone in just a couple of days. Very cool....be sure to keep us updated.

This could be a bad thing also..

[N2TRUX]

Awesome story and cool truck. Keep us updated please...

[ejn74]

Very neat truck with a great history!

[Heartbeat66]

Sometimes I sit in my truck and wonder who drove it and where they drove it. It is so cool you have some history on your truck, thats awesome. Are you going to restore the Rug company's paint scheme? That would be nice.

[Ratty]

Thanks guys , glad you're all enjoying it . I can't wait for a message back from the States !

Picked up the axle from my mate today and from my research (Thanks CaptainFab !) and a quick look (Without a tape measure) it looks a fairly straightforward swap . Unfortunately I'm off to drive some testosterone fueled steroid filled hair extentioned fake tanned nancy boys (WWE wrestlers ) around for a couple of days tomorrow (Sure they'll love the pink interior on my bus) so I won't have a chance to have a proper look 'til wednesday at the earliest . Ah well , we'll get there !

Heartbeat66 , restoring the bodywork to original is certainly an idea I've had now so much of its history is coming out , however if I'm honest bodywork is a long way down the list of priorities at the moment . I dunno , maybe if I gave some of the chrome a little polish up she might respond by not giving me more mechanical woes everytime I go near her , beginning to wonder if she was ever nicknamed Christine

More updates when I have them , and thanks again for all the interest and encouraging comments . Ratty

[Heartbeat66]

Can't wait to see more. I totally understand. My truck was in about the same condition as yours when I bought it and it looks exactly the same just lower, I am far from a auto body tech so that is also long down the road.

[63sbssbbw]

Very cool Ratty
T

[Ratty]

Well its been a while and thought it was about time I update things ;D

So let me back-track a bit , last time I reported in I was about to do the back axle swap done and was aiming to get the old girl properly on the road for the Hot Rod Drags near Stratford Upon Avon back in September. So we now have a running driving truck but with lots more to do. Actually at the time of the Drags I'd got the rear axle swap done and also managed to get the front discs and servo kit installed too, though not terribly well as it turns out.

We have another car workshop in our yard at work and the guy there helped me out with the rear axle swap which was a pretty simple job really. The spring plates needed moving about half an inch but everything else slipped in as if it was there from the start. The inside lip of the rear arches needed a bit of a trim to clear the tyres but who's to know right?

See I was heading off on a 6 week tour back in late June and the jolly helpful friend who runs a workshop in the same yard as me and helped out with the rear axle had offered to do the front end for me whilst I was away. You might remember the truck came to me with an '87 Burb front clip complete with discs and believe it or not this is pretty much a bolt in swap for the original, only needing some tie-rods and brakelines. So off I go on tour and leave him to it, the plan being to swap the clips complete, replacing bushes etc as needs be. Simple , or it would've been...

...what he actually did was just swap the hubs, which aren't a straight swap as the ball-joints are different, so he butchered them to get them in. As he figured (without asking) that that was job done he then let the local pikies take my unused '87 clip to the scrappies and weigh it in. Lovely.

So when I get back from tour I have a rolling driving truck done exactly how I didn't want it done with camber all over the shop. Oh, and as I discovered on the way to the Drags I also had a wheels stud that had been fitted to a knackered thread with PTFE and mastic. Double lovely.

The one bit he only half ****ed up was fitting the CCP brake servo kit that I got through Miles at Jackhammer here in the UK. Great bit of kit this is that along with a dual-circuit replumb and the conversion to discs has improved the braking immeasurably. If the guy hadn't misplaced a mounting bracket so welded his own gash creation to my previously original bulkhead that would've been even better, but it all works and I'm chuffed to bits with the actual kit.

Even with the above bodges she managed to pass an MOT so off I went to the Drags with fellow Jester Klunk running support vehicle for me, she seemed to sit nice at a TomTom proved 65-70mph even managing 90 on one mad bit of the M40! Here she is playing in the sunshine...


Pic by Klunk

Loads more little and not so little things came to my attention that weekend, dodgey lights, rattles and bangs, gradually worsening handbrake operation etc, but she got me there and back so not a bad maiden voyage of nearly 400 miles I guess, I was certainly smiling most of the weekend...


Pic by RDB



Didn't get a chance to do much to her before heading off to Norfolk for a few days and thence on to the wonderful Prescott for a weekend of Flathead Hillclimb Fun. Loads more things going wrong and not working, but sod it I'm still smiling! She managed to eat a fuel pump which was inconvenient but not unfixable (Thanks to Phil and Bondy, the real 4th Emergency Service), and so back down south for more work.

Now once bitten twice shy and though I was off on tour again for a month or two and I had a nice long list of jobs to do there was no way I was leaving the old girl with the cock-up king again. I had pretty much settled on leaving her alone whilst I was away and then bringing her back to Norfolk and let her have some quality time in my friend Ivor's talented hands to get her fully sorted, but then our cheif mechanic at work, a pretty skilled fella himself, offered to lend a hand so I left him with a list and off I went on the road again.

When I got back my new fella had done the grand total of **** all on her, so back to what I should've done all those months ago, get her up to Ivor! Happily this coincided with the Brass Monkey Run, about the only rod-run I can be sure to make these days, so thats what I did the other week...




Pics Liam Bates

So there we are, hopefully next time I report the truck will be pretty much as done as she's gonna get for the next year or two and I'll be able to use her as my daily which was always the plan from the outset. No I'm not doing a lot of it myself due to lack of workshop and the amount of time I spend away on the road working but hopefully she'll get there in the end.

Moral of the story so far is make use of people you trust on your projects, if I'd trailered her back up to Norfolk back in the summer then Ivor would've got the job done how it should've been done and for a better price and she'd already be my daily. Ah well, sometimes you need reminding of the hard-learned lessons I guess. The important thing is that I'm still madly in love with the old beast (Thats the truck, not Ivor!) even if shes tested my patience a few times.

Onwards and upwards

[hop sing]

Awesome rig ,just a suggestion u should bring back the orginal signage in a patina form make it look old but still be able to make out the lettering history is the foudation of life,also a idea i use to be a glorifed beer plumber in hawaii for a long time i auctually worked for the beverage company that carried all the european beers guiness ,bass ,harps ect i did all the long draw and draft beer lines in the state of hawaii ,to get to my point i use to have a refridge van that we use to take to concerts that had taps to draw beer out ur rig totally needs this i use to make jockey boxes with coolers if u need i got buckets of parts to to do the job i know ur faraway but i gladly give u the stuff if u want for free cheers! and aloha Hop Sing

[Ratty]

Beer on tap in the back of my truck? I see you've heard of my Club before then? The Jesters CC, the drinking club with a car problem

[Corts60]

Hey Ratty, sweet story on the truck! Looking forward to seeing what's next.

[Renaissance rug]

I know this is an old thread but it was cool to see one of the old vans
still kicking, across the pond none the less.

There were three one for each brother Meger, Vahan and Heig. The one below was Meger's 1964 he was the original owner he passed away last year the family still owns the van

[blown240]

What a great thread and Story! I love finding history on these old panels!

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice panel! Too bad the original 6 is gone. But sweet truck!

[bhc41051]

Will a vehicle that old need an MOT? Oh I see it did pass. Nice truck!

[Captainfab]

That is a very clean and straight '65 Panel.

Originally Posted by Renaissance rug

I know this is an old thread but it was cool to see one of the old vans
still kicking, across the pond none the less.

There were three one for each brother Meger, Vahan and Heig. The one below was Meger's 1964 he was the original owner he passed away last year the family still owns the van