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So, I've been getting lots of folks who are members of this forum but also members of a facebook group who are contacting me with questions about progress, details, etc on my Carryall. I mention that I fairly frequently post details in the WC53 Carryall thread in the WWII subforum but the common response is "I don't keep up with every update and its sometimes hard to differentiate between your project and the many others."
That being the case, and with no intention of stepping on anyone's toes, I would like to detail out and archive what I have done, where I am at, and where I am going as I finish this project. I am hoping folks like Dan and Kevin can chime in here as well to nudge me along with all of their wonderful skills and ideas as well. I have been keeping track of this project on a few other forums, however none of them have quite the following or understanding of whats going on quite like the members here do. I've also been either kicked off of, or shunned from other forums so I just let the thread die (except for WWII Dodge, I used to go in there and poke the bear to get the grouches fired up, mainly one guy in particular, and then leave).
So I am actually lucky enough to know the majority of the story behind the truck. It was originally stationed in San Diego, and was DRMO'd in 1946 with 126 miles on it. An Orange grove farmer in California bought it and owned it until his passing in 2000. He used the truck to travel to a small bar in town and accordingly the "truck knew its way too and from the bar better than he did himself!". In 2000, the truck was purchased by Chris Davis. I spoke with him a few years ago about the truck and was able to contact the family he purchased it from before his restoration.
Chris sold the truck in, I believe, 2001. At that point it went to Arizona where it was only owned for about 6 months before being sold to Lee, who I bought it from.
Lee moved the truck to Louisiana, pulled the original-ish drivetrain. He claims the motor was not original and that the transmission had some issues. He sold the original axles and put a set of 8 lug axles with 4.88 gears and ARB air lockers under the stock springs. He installed a mechanical 4bt and a 4L80E auto. He put the truck back together with a metal rear floor and had started to drive it to debug it and it was struck in the rear on the highway. It took him over a year to work out the details on the insurance and at that point felt as though he couldn't bear to work on the truck any further. At this point, I found him through a Youtube video and his posts back in the day on this forum and we worked a deal. I retrieved the truck from Louisiana, but just as a bare shell, and missing all front components except the hood as he was planning on building a WC56 next. He also kept his entire drivetrain, axles included, so I brought a set of stock axles with me to set the truck on since the springs and all were still the same. The 3 day trip with my wife and two friends was worth it as I now have the truck at my place in SE Virginia; all in all, the truck has had quite the displacement in the past 16 years.
I've done a fair amount to the truck so the next series of posts will be kind of a spitball, speedy update of what all has happened. If you have questions, I can go back and revisit for clarification. Unfortunately I do not have many of my parts or templates saved. That has been the most common question: How did you build XYZ? Can you send or sell me your template, drawing, dimensions?"
So as I bought the truck... Its been too long. May 2012.
That being the case, and with no intention of stepping on anyone's toes, I would like to detail out and archive what I have done, where I am at, and where I am going as I finish this project. I am hoping folks like Dan and Kevin can chime in here as well to nudge me along with all of their wonderful skills and ideas as well. I have been keeping track of this project on a few other forums, however none of them have quite the following or understanding of whats going on quite like the members here do. I've also been either kicked off of, or shunned from other forums so I just let the thread die (except for WWII Dodge, I used to go in there and poke the bear to get the grouches fired up, mainly one guy in particular, and then leave).
So I am actually lucky enough to know the majority of the story behind the truck. It was originally stationed in San Diego, and was DRMO'd in 1946 with 126 miles on it. An Orange grove farmer in California bought it and owned it until his passing in 2000. He used the truck to travel to a small bar in town and accordingly the "truck knew its way too and from the bar better than he did himself!". In 2000, the truck was purchased by Chris Davis. I spoke with him a few years ago about the truck and was able to contact the family he purchased it from before his restoration.
Chris sold the truck in, I believe, 2001. At that point it went to Arizona where it was only owned for about 6 months before being sold to Lee, who I bought it from.
Lee moved the truck to Louisiana, pulled the original-ish drivetrain. He claims the motor was not original and that the transmission had some issues. He sold the original axles and put a set of 8 lug axles with 4.88 gears and ARB air lockers under the stock springs. He installed a mechanical 4bt and a 4L80E auto. He put the truck back together with a metal rear floor and had started to drive it to debug it and it was struck in the rear on the highway. It took him over a year to work out the details on the insurance and at that point felt as though he couldn't bear to work on the truck any further. At this point, I found him through a Youtube video and his posts back in the day on this forum and we worked a deal. I retrieved the truck from Louisiana, but just as a bare shell, and missing all front components except the hood as he was planning on building a WC56 next. He also kept his entire drivetrain, axles included, so I brought a set of stock axles with me to set the truck on since the springs and all were still the same. The 3 day trip with my wife and two friends was worth it as I now have the truck at my place in SE Virginia; all in all, the truck has had quite the displacement in the past 16 years.
I've done a fair amount to the truck so the next series of posts will be kind of a spitball, speedy update of what all has happened. If you have questions, I can go back and revisit for clarification. Unfortunately I do not have many of my parts or templates saved. That has been the most common question: How did you build XYZ? Can you send or sell me your template, drawing, dimensions?"
So as I bought the truck... Its been too long. May 2012.
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