Crush is Alive and Well...

[the_evil_monk]

The Wednesday the week before Thanksgiving was a pretty rough day. I hopped in my '63 C20 that I bought back in July and went to pick up my kids after school.

Some background, I bought the truck for a couple of reasons... we were moving out into the country so we needed a truck, my stepdaughter was getting her license so we needed an extra vehicle for me to drive, and I wanted an old truck so I could teach the kids (all 4 of them) some basic shade tree mechanics...I never realized how quickly the truck would become a part of our family. She ran when we got her, had a 350 small block that someone had thrown in from God knows where...and an auto 3-speed tranny. All we did was clean her up, slap some new tires on her, and drive her around. We were in the middle of moving, so I never had the chance to really dig into her...eventually I did a tune up and oil change, but she always started and got us down the road.

Until that Wednesday. As I buzzed on down the highway, she suddenly started running rough and before I could even pull over, smoke was coming out from under the hood. I left her by the side of the highway and had her towed to a friend of a friend's shop that night because I didn't have time to get to it. They called the next morning, said the engine was essentially dead, and recommended scrapping the truck because a new engine would cost more than the truck was ever going to be worth.

I admit I was pretty bummed...but knew that was a risk when I bought Crush, especially at the price point I paid, so I thought I should see what parts I could salvage from her to at least help offset getting a replacement truck. I had been down to Tony's shop at 4-5-6 Chevy Trucks right after I bought Crush and bought a replacement steering wheel and window, so I emailed him to see if he was interested in buying another donor truck.

Tony called me that afternoon, and as I told him my intentions, he explained that they could get Crush back on the road for far less than I was going to have to spend on anything else, and he offered to see what kind of engine he could come up with to bring Crush back to life.

The kids were overjoyed when the conversation went from scrapping Crush to getting her back on the road, so I had the truck towed down to Tony's shop, and he came up with a 327 that he had pulled from a 66 project truck.

Short story long, he worked over Thanksgiving weekend, pulled the dead engine, undid all of the MacGyver work that the previous owner had done, made some recommendations that would greatly increase the reliability of the truck, and got the replacement engine put in and running. He kept in constant contact with me, and I knew where every dollar was going. When he was done, I had spent FAR less than the other shop had quoted (granted, they were quoting crate engine prices) and less than I could put into buying another used Chevy truck for our use.

I went down the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to pick Crush up at his shop and finally got to meet Tony in person. If you haven't had the opportunity to chat with him, I was greatly impressed with his knowledge of these trucks. He showed me all of the work he had done, all of the improvements, and then we talked about some additional things that I need to either do myself in the future or take back to him to do to keep Crush happy and on the road.

Granted, with enough time and money, I probably could have done it myself, but I don't have the time, and certainly not the tools and expertise to swap an engine...so I was thrilled with what he was able to do with my truck.

The best part was when I got to hop in the cab, fire Crush up and drive her home. I have been driving it for the last couple of weeks, and she has never run better.

Just wanted to thank Tony here in a public forum, and say that if you need some work done, parts, or just expertise, Tony is great to work with.

Now, I just need to start saving for the Phase 2 work!

[earl84]

That is awesome!! I have not met nor done any business with Tony, but everything said about him on this forum is positive, he must be a great guy. Glad it worked out well for you.

[gulfcoast66]

Great Story... Good Dude, Tony aka Lil Red....

[NEWFISHER]

Thanks for sharing! Glad you made this choice, but no pics?

[duallyjams]

Glad to hear and I'm sure everyone is happy to keep crush in the family, nothing worse then losing a family member during the holidays.
I have met Tony in person at his shop, he was going through some tough personal times and as a result he is not a member on this site any more.