Ha joshf08 congrates on getting your truck. Have no fear you'll get all the help you need the people here on FTE are good folks with a wealth of nohow. Welcome to the board

 

there you go josh start with fixing the steering

 

Welcome to the board Josh!

My advice would be get the truck where it is safe to drive and then drive it for awhile. This will give you time to try and decide what you would like the finished truck to look like; restoration, stocker, slightly modified, stocker with safety mods, full blown darkside custom, or what. It will also give you great memories that will help carry you through the rough times. Yes, you will hit the rough times, we all do, your truck will be torn down to a huge unmanagable pile of parts with no end in site and one day you will be laying on your back spitting out rusty dust and blinking wildly to get it out from your eyes and you will wonder "what in the world am I doing? why am I spending so much time on this useless pile of junk?) Thats when the memories of driving your truck around town, or taking a gal out in it, or running your buddies around in the coolest old truck at your school, or some other memory is very helpful.

Most of all, enjoy the truck. It will be fun for you and your dad
Bobby

 

Josh

Make the "Olde Girl" safe to drive 1st & drive her for a tick, so you get to know her, as she'll start talking to you & help you decide what will make you both happy.
Then write a Plan of Attack on what & how you wish to do to her.
I'm doing just what you are wishing to do, as I'm keeping the "Wee Beastie" Stock inside & out, but I put a Built 300 I-6 w/ a Built C-4 in place of the original 223 I-6 w/ Merc-o-Matic.

 

Hey Josh, welcome to the board! I got the "Ol' Girl" when I was 17 myself! First vehicle I've ever owned. My Dad and Grandad and I restored it when I was in HS/College (of course a LOT of friends and relatives helped out)--one of the best times of my life, and now that my grand dad is gone, those memories are awfully valuable to me, every time I get her out on the road. On top of that, I met my wife when she was asking people on my college campus "Who owns that pretty truck!" No Joke! Really happened that way!

Good luck! You've got a WORLD of possibilities out there, and a WORLD of help and knowledge in here!

I drove mine for a few months before I started tearing her down, that helped a bunch, but I also wish I would have spent some more time planning before I dug in--now I've got things I want to go back and change.

My rule of thumb now is: Create Master Plan, then Plan Specific Area, Do Specific Area, Plan next area, do next, plan next, etc. Since you're starting out in the fall, I'd say get a rough master plan, then plan your drive train and chasis, and do that by the time it warms back up--she doesn't have to be complete, just driveable. Spend the summer driving her around, hanging out, having fun, and planning. By next fall you'll have a good plan, and can save up some money to get some real work done on her.

Most of all--HAVE FUN, and make her yours!

 

Josh, I started out like you. My 1st car was a 1969 Cougar that was wrecked. My dad and I put a new front clip on it, got it running and driving, and I promply traded it for a '56 Chev Belair that came home in 3 trips. I was in WAYYYY over my head with that one. I had big dreams and no cash...... these DONT go together well.
Heres the advice I wish someone had given to me.
1) Make it safe. Get it steering and stopping safely.
2) Get it running. As soon as you do this, go back to number 1!
3) Chrome is expensive.
4) Never pass up a chance to help another rodder on their project. You never know what you'll learn!
5) Have fun.

Keep it simple, have fun!