Rusty Fifty One

Finally removed the old fender mounted turn signals. Ended up having to cut em off. Man oh man, were they crusty.

With the ol’ girl up and running sooner than I thought and the rest of the day now free, I finally got around to painting and installing a visor I picked up about a year ago. Not sure what brand it is but it’s a clamp-on type and adjustable in width. …I like it better than the typical Fulton visors you see everywhere.

As purchased.

After paint.
Top side is shot in Satin White then weathered to match the top with fine grit paper, gravel, and dirt, and the under side is Moss Green. All hardware is replaced with stainless.

Installed the new stainless emblem too!

Got it on just in time to hit the Saturday night Chuck-A-Burger cruise! Pulled in with the paint on the underside still tacky.

Changed the oil, installed a new accelerator return spring and smacked the side mirror off backing into my garage. Wah wahhhh. Hopefully this isn’t the beginning of 7yrs bad luck.
A fellow stovebolter told me that “he don’t think so, since it’s a rear view mirror.” It just means I might of had some bad luck in the past that’s coming to an end. …Let’s hope so.

On the upside, I’m taking this opportunity to add the passenger side mirror and arm while I’m doing the driver side.

Got bored over the weekend so a couple friends (Brett and Greg) came by and we went to work making Bessie a patina’ed two-tone.

Its hard to tell cause the photos came out so bright but we took a power sander and a ton of paper to the top after we painted it. I’ll be working on it a bit more each day over the next couple weeks.

Finally got out and started gutting the cab of superfluous wiring and whatnot, and decided to take a stab at fixing the speedometer after pulling the dead AM radio. It’s a frickin 60 year old, brittle, cloth covered rats nest under the dash.

Looks like theres more body rot than I first suspected … In addition to the inner and outer cowls, and the inner and outter cab corners, it looks like I’ll probably have replace /patch both sides of the floor and the and the cowl to cowl plates below the door hinges.
I’m torn at this point… not sure if I should gut it and begin a full restoration or just get it cleaned out and keep it running, replacing only what really needs replacing.
I’m leaning toward the latter just because I’d like to use it for a few years til I put it outta commission for up to several years while it’s undergoing a full restoration.

Thought this was kinda cool … its the date that’s stamped in the back of the speedometer.

There’s no VIN on the truck, didn’t have em back then unless your particular state issued a series, but the body number says my truck came from the St. Louis plant and rolled off the line in August of 1951.

Also took some BlueMagic chrome polish to the dash paint. I figured it was a mild enough abrasive/polish that it might just work to get the rust/oxidation/60yrs of dust off … it did.
I also bleached the last 60 years of ass grime outta the vinyl seat cover and fixed the speedometer. It works but the needle was dry and warped and the tip broke off, so I ordered a load of parts to refinish the gauges.

…and while I was ordering those parts, I came across a matching 1947-51 oil bath air cleaner that I’m going to gut so I can run a paper or oiled fiber filter (K&N) but keep the original look. There’s nothing wrong with the one I have now but I think oil vapor gets sucked into the engine and causes it to smoke when it idles.