A member of my wife's church emailed a couple of weeks ago about a co-worker who had an old panel truck in a garage in the inner city and wanted to sell it. I figured I'd take a look at it. Turned out the panel was parked in the garage 20+ years ago and now the owner's father estate was being settled and an auction being held today to sell it off. The panel was in the garage and the owner wanted it gone. The first time I looked at the owner's brother-in-law told me he didn't know what it was worth but had seen comparable trucks on the net sell for between $15K-25K. I looked at the truck and it was not a diamond in the rough, it was just plain rough. I figured it was a decent $500 parts truck. I wasn't in a hurry to get the truck and didn't really want it but if I could get it for a decent price I'd grab it. I got an email last week from my original contact telling me the seller hadn't had anyone else look a the truck and the seller would take $600 for it. I waited until Friday night to call the seller and ask what his lowest price. His reply was $500 for everything. My son and I went to get it yesterday. I knew there was a hood for a '51-52 included along with an extra truck V8 and tranny. After we pulled the panel out of the garage I saw another flattie and transmission with OD out of car. I asked about that engine and the seller said to take it.

The panels body is pretty rough with a lot of mud and patches but it pretty complete. All four doors are in pretty nice shape though, little or no rust. The engine is a flat 6 and I was able to connect a battery to it and turn it over.

(See the post down below for pictures)

 

Where are the pictures?

 

They're showing up for me. If you can't load them let me know and I'll post them another way.

 

No pics here

 

That's wierd, must be some FTE thing, I see them fine, even after refreshing the page. Anyways, here they are again, I hope this works:

 

That is a beautiful truck! Congrats to you!

 

Good score. You did well. Is it just me, but aren't all of your trucks red?

 

Nice score! Love that custom grill!

 

Cool old truck! You got a pretty good deal....

I just bought 2 F-2 parts trucks....guy was gonna haul them to the crusher. This old stuff is disappearing fast around here...

 

Well, my F-2 is red, my panel some kind of aweful dark tomato metallic. If I ever get the time I'm going to make it red to match my F-2. This panel started off yellow, then green and then a couple of coats of red.

The funny thing is I got this truck out of an neighborhood I used to frequent with my dad when he owned his auto repair business back in the '70s. Every time I look at that ugly grill I get the strong feeling I've seen it before, many, many years ago.

 

As you've stated, Bob, that's an "Ilya" find!

 

Come on Ilya, if it was a true "Ilya" find it would have been rust free and the guy would have delivered to my door step. You Sunny CA boys find all the good stuff. Once in a while we Rust Belters find a bargain here and there but have to get exited over rusty iron, it's all that's left around here. As long as it's in one piece and has the possibility of rolling we're thrilled.

 

Not true. The last Panel I picked up was a rusted hulk of metal. However, it cost me $200 and $50 in gas to get it.

 

You have over $500 in the extras - Just an Old Dog, Thats what you are

 

Hey, once in a while even I have hit it lucky. Maybe I'll go buy a lottery ticket, I know I won't match all six numbers but I'd be happy as heck to match 4 or 5

One more thing, I actually didn't have the whole $500 to put on this thing but it was a deadline type of deal so I offered my kid a deal, lend me $150 until the end of the week and I'd give him $175 or go in on the deal. He decided to go in for $200 so now it's a 2/3 deal. I think he made the right choice. I think I might have injected him with more of the disease we call "Old Truck Fever". First you let them drive your truck, then you get them into working on them and then you infect them financially