I would never had sold my Dad's and my 56 in 1977.
I would have bought every 56 that was for sell under 2000 bucks.....on and on...you see where this is going-haha!!! Bill

 

I would buy one all done.

 

I would have softened up my suspension! I love my truck, but, I sure do take a whipping. been thinking of selling her????

 

I too would have focused on DRIVING, rather than frame off. If I had focused on the engine I could be driving my old beat up truck, instead of having it in a thousand pieces and saying.. well as long as I've come this far.....

 

I would have bought a running project and finish it as I had fun driving like Homemade is doing.Thanks Garry for letting me drive your truck this past weekend.

 

Nothing....not a damn thing!

I'm always happy with what I do, or I don't do it. I may gripe a little, but that's to be expected.

R

 

I would have built the garage sooner so it would have been ready to use when I got the truck. Then I wouldn't have had to store/work on it outside for a year which slowed down progress immensely.

 

I think the main regret most have is doing the full frame off rotissere big dollar and long time restorations. I have seen soo many that gave up,or sold them for next to nothing and had great intentions.
It is better to keep them and drive them and have the memories than tear them all down and have to look at it 1/4 done in the garage.
I love the fancy trucks but I am really in love with the every day drivers , and will always.
That being said--these 2 56s will get done in the next year,and be on the road. Hope so...if I can keep the pace.....Bill

 

I would not change anything as far as what I am doing to the truck itself (other than budget).

I would change when I bought it though, if I could go back in time. I waited a lot of years and let medical bills and other situations stop me. I finally just decided to just buy one...forget the bills. Thanks to Donald (Tacson) I have what I wanted since I was 14.

Now...I pay a little to each medical bill every month and do not worry about it. Doctors have way more money than I do...they can live with a few dollars less each month from me. They will get paid off...eventually. I always have paid my bills.

That way...every month I can siphon a little off the top to go toward the truck. Believe me...there is a lot less stress on me that way.

Plus...I try to keep mine drivable most of the time. I have one slightly rough (totally coated with epoxy) fender right now and I am going to Miami, OK Saturday in it.

As far as the chevy VS ford thing...I try to stay out of it. I have friends with chevy and dodge drivetrains in theirs (used what they had-on a tight budget). At least the trucks are not being crushed and are still on the roads.

Me...I want mine to be ford...but that is a personal decision in my case, plus it is the original drivetrain (which is getting rare now).

 

Actually, I think if the truck had IT'S choice, it would rather be crushed, than live out it's "Golden Years" with a Chummy engine....



Unless, of course, it's a '48/50, then it has no conscience, anyway...(Hi, Bob!!!)

(runnin', duckin', and dodgin' bullets!!)

R

 

Ditto on the Drive it while ya fix it. My frame off is going on 8 years or so and is gettin real old. It's almost street legal so I can get it registered and all but thats with putting it back together with the patina it came with. Probably explains why I now like the patina look!!! What a thing that hindsight is.

 

Bill (and of course, others)...

Why do you figure that is? I'm not so sure that it's a feature of the old trucks, as it is the person themselves. I've watched your progress, you are like me, always getting SOMEthing done. I try to do something every day, no matter how big, or how small. And I would say out of the last 3 months, probably 2, maybe 3 days passed without progress. Now, there are days that the only progress is looking something up in the manual, so I know the next steps I'm going to take, but it's usually more, and often a LOT more. And I don't make my family suffer for the work on the truck - still manage to get everything else that I need to get done, done.

I think a lot of those folks are just getting OUR trucks, ready for US!! Sure, there's a lot of stuff the PO did, that really hurt me at the time, but all it has done is prevented me from being able to take any "shortcuts". I don't mind being the PO someday with my truck - I just want to make sure the FO (Future Owner) can only say, "The PO, HE did that....ain't it great?!?".

I've had it since September, and work really slowed down over winter, pretty cold in the shop last year, but I still plugged away at something. I'm still hoping to be able to drive it in the July 4th parade next year - granted, I may have to do it without interior, gauges, or lights, but that's ok, as long as it looks good on the outside. But who knows, it might be done by then...that's a year away...

Can't wait!

Oh yeah, ordering the front end parts tomorrow morning! All new but the springs...hopefully, mine will be alright, until I can afford some new ones (after glass and interior...)

R
See my bodywork HERE

 

concentrate on soft ride! older i get those stock suspended trucks are not for me. being thrifty is smart becuse lots of the aftermarket "bolt on" parts don't! in my world "wheels" are usually the only true bolt on part.

 

Just noticed something today that really fits this thread.
If I could go back I would do a more thorough job of cutting out any contaminated metal from the drip rail shave I did, been more patient with getting a paint job on it and would have been more steadfast on where the truck was painted (what type of booth).
Today (one year after paint) I have notice "blisters" showing up on cab above the windshield, also on the cab above the driver's door (both areas were where the drip rail was cut out and welded up) and a little on the bed rolls. I have to try to remember she is 54 years old......but its sad after all the effort and $.
Ed

 

I think that a lot of us on here can relate to the financial concerns of building an old truck. The reason that I started with the truck that I did was the initial price. If I could do it again, the first thing I would do is find a running, driving truck to begin with. From there it would be drive it until it told me what it wanted to be.
I am still trying to talk an older gentleman here into selling me an unmolested 54 F100 that was restored in the late 80's and only driven about 10K miles before being parked, that would be my dream truck for a build.