This is about as close to one of those proverbial “barn finds” as I believe I’ll get. This 1957 Chevrolet 3100 had been in storage for the past 25 years. Currently, it does not run. It has a 350 engine and a 350 turbo transmission with a shift kit. The body, glass, and trim pieces are all original. The wood bed was in rough shape. I've spent some time cleaning t up and getting the 25 years worth of dust and crap off. All in all, the truck is sound. There was a small amount of rusting through around the lower door hinge on the passenger side and the passenger side door itself, but not too bad. One of the cross supports for the bed and the support for the driver side step side were rusted and will need to be replaced. Just going to take my time and try not to rush anything.

The guy I bought it from, his dad bought the truck in the early 1980s (from the original owner) with the intent of driving it and restoring it a little at a time. He drove it for a couple of years and then parked it… with plans to work on it when he got around to it. Well, he never got around to it and it has moved between his two sons in recent years. Both had the same intentions of getting around to redoing the truck, but never have. The son that had it at this time decided he would probably never get around to it and was just trying to see if anyone might be interested in buying it. Bottom line… yes I was.

I have a lot of work to do, but the body is solid. All in all, it appears to primarily only have surface rust on the undercarriage, suspension, and chrome (which is all original). A little more rust here and there, but not rusted through like so many you see. The window moldings are cracked and leaking, but what do you expect as they are the ones it came with when it first rolled off the assembly line.

And that is not scrapes or scarring down the side... It's the reflection of a ladder.

 

I pulled all of the nails out of the bed and yanked up the old planks. I figured I would be looking straight down at the rear-end and cross supports for the wooden planks. Instead I found sheet metal that extended the entire width and length of the bed. I guess they put it in so the woden planks did not rot out from underneath. I need to replace the sheet metal as it does have a hole in it at one of the bolts holding it in place. This is also the where two of the planks met and buckled up some. The piece of sheet metal worked as the rest were weathered on top and looked good underneath.



I pulled the old wood bed out, tongue and grove for a house, that someone put in years ago.

Then I proceeded to cut out the sheet metal that someone welded in on top of the old wooden bed.


Now I'm down to the orginal wooden bed. I'm surprised there's as much of it left as there is. But then again, the truck has been sitting in storage for nearly 25 years.

 

This is after I got the original bed and rails removed. Now I have to wait until my back heals up some more (car accident the end of last summer), so I can see about blowing the truck the rest of the way apart and start working to get it back on the road.

 

cool!

 

Thanks. I've just got to get my back healed up so I can start back blowing it apart in order to rebuild.

 

Oh man nice find! I would love to own 50's pickup one day. Looks like the metal is in good shape!

 

Looks like a Fast and Loud project here. lol

Hell of a find. Wife and I were considering an old school truck to restore like this one. Man I need to hit the lottery.

Looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

My thoughts exactly when I saw the pictures too!

 

This is awesome. I have a 65 International dually sitting in the garage that my family bought new for their farm. It is in rough shape, but I am planning on restoring that over the next 2 years. Your project is in far better shape than mine.

 

pics or gtfo

nice chevy

 

Cool.... I ran across a 1948 International Pickup not too long ago and almost bought it, but it had more rust than I wanted to deal with.

As far as Fast and Loud... I've thought the same thing since the series started.

I'll post more pics as I go along.

 

that is a great find. are you trying to keep it original or are you going to swap in a big block?

 

Well, it does not have the original engine. The original engine was replaced a long time ago with a Chevy 350. I'm the 3rd owner. The guy I bought it from purchased it from the original owner, drove it for a few years, parked it, started to work on it some, but lost interest.

I'm planning to have it look pretty much stock, but changing the color, rechroming everything, lowering it slightly and upgrading the brakes to discs on all 4 corners. I've looked into some of the crate engines and may go that route. I have considered pulling the engine, boring it out to a 383, but haven't decided.

 

Nice truck,I had a 50th anniversary gold/white c10 327 powerglide,Ended up selling it and to this day I regret selling it,anyway LMC has tons of part and oem parts for your truck.

 

Love the project. I love old stuff. I keep telling myself I will allow myself an older project vehicle once I finish all the crap I am working on now.

Can't wait to see the finished result

 

I've got catalogs from about half a dozen companies that have OEM parts.

As soon as I can get my back straightened back out from my accident, I'm going to get back to tearing the truck apart. Planning to blow it completely apart and trash all the wiring. It still has most if the original wiring, with some splices. Looking to install all new wiring, thus riding it of any gremlins that may be lurking within.