Chapter 15: Mystery Chrome

A VERY customized '57 from Nevada. The most hot-rodded Task Force Panel Delivery I've ever seen.

3 June 2000 Mmmmmuh. The Good Guys Summer Hotrod something-or-other is beckoning again. Must go to the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Must stalk the aisles in the swapmeet, look for truck stuff. Must get sunburn.

So there I was, drinking a swilly beer to ward off the heat, looking at all the cool stuff. I drove out in the Cherokee, although I could have easily driven the Beast. I didn't want to have to deal with people asking if it's for sale, and I had a feeling I'd need the Cherokee's AC. The usual cast of vendors were there, like Earl Hindman, Grumpy from Grumpy's truck parts, and Dave Gaitan (Whose 1955 GMC Suburban Carryall is STILL for sale. It's marked down to 10K. BUY IT!!!).

The stock turn signal assembly.

I ended up blowing my entire wad there as usual, but I picked up a few extremely cool items. An original factory turn signal set, checked out and working, was the most exciting item (and the most expensive). This is going to make the interior of the truck really, really stock-looking and much easier to drive. I'm stoked.

The 55 Panel Delivery owned by the guy I didn't meet, who was at the swapmeet selling model kits and didn't want the gas filler door scratch guard his wife bought him.

I was admiring an extremely nice red '55 Panel Delivery parked in the swap meet area. It was owned by a guy who was selling old model kits. I didn't actually meet the guy, as he was out looking at stuff, but I did talk to his wife. She had bought her temporarily absent husband a chrome trim item I had never seen before-- a scratch guard for the gas filler door. What a nice thing to do! I tried to buy it off her, no way. About 30 minutes later I was buying my usual heap of rubber and trim parts at Grumpy's (He actually seemed a bit more cheery than grumpy that day) when the wife of the red panel found me and sold me the scratch guard. Her husband didn't want it.

The gas filler door scratch guard, sold to me by the wife of the guy etc. etc. etc.

What a strange piece of chrome it is! It'll look real neat on the Beast when all the bodywork and paint is done, but like I said, I had never seen this item in any catalogue of repro or NOS parts, nor is it mentioned in any of the literature. It's styled a bit like the side spear to a 1958 truck, so it may be a 58-59 trim item. Still, pretty weird. Anybody out there ever seen one of these things before?

4 June 2000 Got the turn signal assembly into the truck. As is always the case, it took a lot longer that I thought and required new tools (this time, a steering wheel puller). Nonetheless, it went right in and worked just as advertised, automatically canceling and everything. It also solved a problem with the old turn signals, where they would just not work sometimes: It was the faulty cheap aftermarket clamp-on turn signal assembly I was using. The night before I pulled my new turn signal assembly completely apart so I could understand how it worked and greased the working parts.

After I was done, I noticed the engine left a good-sized puddle of oil in the driveway. Something has to be done.

What the leak looked like. Click on the image for a labeled, animated view.

9 June 2000 So I did something. Looking under the hood at the motor as it was running, oil could clearly be seen oozing out of the top of the front mounting plate, just behind the timing gear. This nightmarish scenario will only be resolved by tearing out the radiator, fanbelt, harmonic balancer, and maybe even the camshaft to get to the front mounting plate gasket.

I thought I'd try something before going through that hell. I loosened one of the mounting plate bolts, cleaned up the leaky area as well as possible, squeezed a bead of orange silicone sealant across the seam, worked it into the seam with a stick, and laid another bead of sealant over it. I waited a few hours then cranked it over. No leaks whatsoever! For the first time since it was rebuilt, the engine is operating as good as new.

The front stabilizer assembly, rendered in fun colors. From the factory assembly manual.

10 June 2000 Cleaning up any remaining oil drips under of the engine compartment, I noted something alarming (does it never end?). a strange-looking arm that attached to the frame and the right front shock absorber was sticking out at an odd angle of a bushing attached to the leaf spring mount. First, I had to find out what this thing was. I looked in the repair manual-- nothing. I checked out factory assembly manual and-- Eureka! it's part of the front stabilizer. Apparently, the lower link assembly pin had worked loose from the link arm. I also discovered the front u-bolt nuts had come loose as well, which may have created the sideways movement that drew the pin from the bushing. It's also incredibly dangerously unsafe.

Additionally, The bed plywood got cleaned up as well as possible. Not entirely bad shape, huh?

I also pried up one of the bed strips, revealing the bed plywood in it's original 1956 condition (the dark stripes).

Purchasing the right-size deep socket, I tightened the u-bolts, I also drew out the link assembly pin and replaced it with a new nut, washer and bolt set. Not the optimal solution, but much safer than just putting the old, worn pin back in. I greased all the front suspension joints and road-tested it. Much, much better. No squeaks or rattles from the front; good, tight steering.

I had no idea the Beast even had a front stabilizer (called a sway bar on newer cars). According to the assembly manual, it was standard only on 1/2 ton open-chassis models, panels, suburbans, and stake trucks. Bonus.

13 June 2000 Some bad news. Reel.com, this website's major corporate sponsor, has gone under. This unfortunate and completely unforeseen development casts some serious doubts on this Summer's rebuilding plans proceeding on schedule. Of course, it may also free me (or force me) to do a lot of the remaining body and mechanical work myself. Yikes.

22 June 2000 Freshly returned from Southern California, where I spent equal time relaxing and hanging out with friends and doing research for the Beast. Tracked down the showrooms for the Truck Shop in Orange (CLOSED!), Golden State Pickup Parts in Anaheim (CLOSED!), and Brothers in far-off Corona (Open. I bought a few items there, more for the symbolic victory) I also checked in with my cousin Nacho in Lemon Grove near San Diego, for a little barbecue and in-depth inquiry into body work and paint in TJ.

Upon return to San Francisco I plunged into some repairs on the truck. Why so much and so quickly I don't know. I pulled the gas tank out again, to straighten out the filler pipe and get to the bed strip bolts above it. The next night I finished the job, pulled out the instrument cluster for cleaning and renovation (I got replacement decals at Brothers for the instruments. The white dots and lines on the displays had darkened to brown over the years).

This Month's Special Guest! I get email. Not a lot, because as of now this site isn't registered anywhere and only linked through chevytrucks.org (and indirectly to the homepage of old pal Dan Krause). Nonetheless ,the people I hear from are invariably interesting, friendly, inquisitive and Task Force Panel Delivery owners.

One of these correspondents is Stanley Foster, who lives in Los Angeles. He's rebuilding a 1959 Panel Delivery, but the level and scope of his project versus mine is like comparing brain surgery to a haircut. Stanley is doing things to his Panel Delivery I can only envy-- the sort of frame-off, extremely thorough job I would love to attempt if I had the skill, the will, the tools, the space, and I didn't rent.

Here are some pictures he sent over. Depicted is what apparently is an operation involving sheet metal from a donor pickup cab being welded above the windshield

The whole front part of the panel body, tilted.	Detail of welds above windshield area.	Side view of panel body with missing section.	The finished repair.

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