Nope. Never going to clean out that far.
I got a three stall, one of which is a dedicated pool hall/bar.
The other is dedicated to my Chevelle.

Gator Pop's home is right next to the Chevelle (more on that later).

I've always had fast and stupid stuff. Comes from the company I keep and the family around me when I was younger.

 

So my thought is as follows:

I love the decades of neglect to make this patina.
I loved the interior, just needs a few things in there (a lot).

But something didn't sit right with me.
The shoes.
Nice shoes no doubt. Chrome slots sitting on 14" rubber, big in back, skinnier in the front.

But it was too chrome shiny IMO.

The guys at the shop loved the truck.
Even the younger "fart pipe" stancers were curious as hell as to what could be producing that sound.


Now, keep in mind, this truck is a bit rowdy. It has a tendency to make people jump when it barks at start up. Fun times at the local tire shop.


Just too chrome shiny for me.

So I researched, dug a little deeper, and came up with what I would call a suitable rim choice considering all the patina.
Look away, this isn't for the purest.


you've been warned....


last chance...



Polished bronze. Yeah, I think so.
New problem. They have to make them for my off set.
In the middle of a pandemic.
Lead times are a little longer than usual.
so I guess its time for a transmission while I wait for the rims to show up.

 

Be nice if there was company that made deep stamped steel wheel with tri-oval slots that look like period heavy duty rims that all modern slotted mags are patterned from.

Nice truck. Patina looks just neglected enough. Damn shame it's gota' chevy init'... sorry, it's one of my things. Carry on.

 

Yeah,
the SBC is another story, for another day.

On the plus side, I didn't do it.

 

Pretty sure they made a side draft Cleveland mani soooo you could re-use the Webbers...

 

So to understand the truck, you must know its roots. But again, that's a story for another day.

The transmission is today.

The transmission in the truck, when I bought it, was a muncie 4 speed. It didn't like going into first, and would randomly pop out on when in 3rd.

Not a problem. It came with a spare muncie 4 speed.

The problem was the gearing. The rear end was super steep in the gear department, so much so that this hi compression motor was screaming at 55 in 4th gear.
Definitely not a highway cruiser. More of a back alley bruiser.

So I could have changed the gearing, but that won't fix the 1st and 3rd gear issues.
I could upgrade to a 5 speed.

But who would take on this already way over redneck engineered truck?
I already found a t5, but obviously some custom vodoo would need to be performed to make this work right.
I had to look no further than my 72 chevelle.
I wonder if that shop is still open? The one that built my 700r4 15 plus years ago, that stuffed it with kevlar bandings, tuned it and modded it even further to be strong enough to handle 900hp. That built the custom 1 gear ratio.

Yup, they were still open.
They didn't remember me, but they remembered the chevelle's transmission.
"hell yes" was the answer when I called inquiring if they could work on Gator Pops.

 

The "good to go tranny" I got from some rando in exchange for a 40's dodge fender was not indeed, "good to go".

Needed a complete rebuild, and none of the extra parts that came with this toll road "meet you there" deal worked for my set-up.
Fortunately, Gator Pops found favor from the trans magician. He actually quite liked my all steel, neglected, derelict hot rod. And money.

Trans was rebuilt, clutch kits sourced, as was the bellhousing. Floor needed to be modified to fit the slight angled shifter mech. Then the stick shift arm needed to be "tweaked" so the curvature wouldn't bust my knee like a collector for the mob every time I shifted from 1st to 2nd.

Several weeks (felt like the whole summer) and a few pounds of copper later, and it was done.

Just in time for fall.

But let me tell you what, that extra gear was worth every copper piece.
This thing scoots. Like scarily fast. And then can cruise comfortably (as comfortable as an 80 year old truck with blown out shocks from the 60"s) at highway ish speeds without worrying if a rod was going to knock out the cylinder wall.

 

Well, there ain't much to be shared except some third party info from the PO.

Gator Pops was known to terrorize Woodward (Detroit for those not in the know) back in the 60's. It had been hand pinstriped by some local artist. And it was used in the area to make ***** to the wall runs from stop light to stop light.

It had been built after some dude's Uncle sold it to his nephew, who then sourced the following junk yard dog recipe for a can of whoop *** (Not to be confused with Twisted Teas):

1. one hi po, high compression 60's Chevy 327 (of unknown origins; Ill figure that one out later)
2. Aluminum heads
3. side draft Weber's sourced from who knows what (I'll figure that one out later)
4. Muncie 4 speed of unknown origins (I'll never figure that out, as apparently bow tie dudes are willing to pay a mint for these, and I had two of them to help offset the cost of the T5 install).
5. Chevy Impala rear end of unknown origin, with super high 4.88 gearing (I believe to be true, but need to squeeze my Fat **** under the little truck to count the rotations)

The guy I bought Pops from had just finished putting it back together. Needed a fuel tank, sending unit, and 12v wiring harness done proper to run again. He was using it as a shop truck if I understood him correctly.

And now it's in my hands, doing pick up truck stuff until the snow flies.

 

Wow, what a history. I said it before, I'll say it again, the stories that truck could tell if it could speak would be amazing.

 

So I am at my "second" garage, where Gator Pop's is hibernating. Woke him up for some hi test drinking.

Thinking and dreaming about what to do about several things:

1. cup holders
2. Making the interior nice
3. and a nice wood and steel (Bronzed maybe) bed.

questions to you all:

1. where to find said cup holders. I have seen some on a few rod shops websites, but they are always out of stock.
2. recommendations for a company that has wood and metal slat kits for the beds of this year truck?

 

Given the general patina of Gator Pops, I thought I would play off the truck's "story" and try something different with the wood for the bed area.

My first thought was a a type of tiger wood.
Loved the looks of it, thought maybe it would be different than most of the wood beds I've seen.



Not this Tiger Wood(s)...




Then I thought, maybe something way more different.

Lichtenberg scored wood.

Maybe Lichtenberg scored tiger wood?

Here's the method for those that don't know.


No worries, apparently no OSHA needed when performing this "art".

I don't know. right now it's 17 degrees out, got plenty of time to plan out the next steps.

 

Hey, that was a very cool video. I think that would really look good in that truck, I love the patina.

By the way, I like those bronze rims too, they suit the truck.


Cheers, 🍻

 

That video is fantastic. Never seen the process done before.
Agreed on the rims. Was so uncertain until the day they went on.

 

So as Gator Pops sleeps. I have been busy amassing various things for my various DD's and projects.

One thing I just found, and literally have no need for (I think), but am just glad to have, is a Ford book for 1939's.

As described by the nicest dude I have ever had the pleasure of first time talking to:
" An original 1939 ford service data handbook, copyright 1939. It covers all ford vehicles built that year. Very good condition for being 80 years old."

As a guy who collects (inadvertently) a variety of shop manuals and tech books, even if I don't need it, it's pretty cool (in my opinion) to have.

 

I too like old Ford literature, nice find.