Richard George’s 1937 Chevrolet 1/2 Ton
Customer: Richard George
Vehicle: 1937 Chevrolet 1/2 Ton
Owned it for 10 years, finished the restoration and have been driving it for 1 year bought it from a gentleman in Carrolton, Mo. who owned a fairly large “junk yard” although I’m not sure “junk” would be the correct label as there were certainly no junk cars only dreams waiting to happen with nothing newer than 1960. He explained the only reason he was selling the truck was because he preferred cars and it was then I noticed that this 37 was indeed the only pick up there amongst a lot of tri 5s, Buicks, olds, and other beauties. It sat in the back yard with a tarp over it for 4 years until funds where available to get started which gave me plenty of time to envision a finished product and come up with a plan, I took it apart nut and bolt down to the frame, then hauled the frame to a local sandblaster, after that it went to Hot Rod Express in Blue Springs, Mo. who specialize in car restorations with many years of experience, the owners Mike Winfrey, Rick Hunter and Lori Burns are well known in the Kansas City hot rod world, car shows, swap meets and car enthusiasts.
One interesting find was when we glass bead blasted the doors we found under the first layer of paint the words “City of Hamilton, Mo” so I guess it was a utility truck in Hamilton at one time, which is located near Carrolton where I bought it. After 5 years of hard work from all the guys down at Hot Rod Express the finished product was even better than what I had envisioned, the drive train is a 1973 L82 SBC 4 bolt main that came out of a 73′ corvette, we rebuilt with new flat top pistons, Z28 cam, eldelbrock intake and dominator carb with a Tremec 5 speed transmission going to a 9 in. ford rear end, eaton positrac locker with 3:73 gears, traction bars were badly needed and the people at Calvert Racing fabricated a set of their patented caltrac traction bars for us which gave it the traction it needed without sacrificing a smooth ride. Not sure what else to add except the enjoyment we get from driving and showing the truck was well worth the wait.
I was lucky in the fact that the truck was very complete and all there but the hardest parts to find ending up impossible to find were the hood ornament and windshield hand crank, which we were able to polish the originals and be happy with, everything else was available though The Filling Station.
We had previously owned a 1933 chevy truck 1 and a half ton dually flat bed that was pictured in an earlier edition of The Filling Station catalog, 2006 I believe, maybe 2005 regretfully it was sold at Mecum auctions back in 2010 to help fund the ’37.
I would love to find and restore a 1959 chevy Apache shortbed fleetside someday if I can figure out a way to avoid a divorce in the process, once I get that hashed out I’m sure the people down at The Filling Station will be my go to guys for all my parts needs, thanks!
I think my advice to people thinking about restoring a vehicle these days would be plan your project well, check availability of parts to be needed and if it can be fabricated if needed.
Don’t get in a hurry, take your time and keep good records of everthing you do to finish a project so that you don’t have go back and make changes or correct mistakes which cause frustrations.
You may find as I did the journey to a “finished project” may be the best part of your dream coming to life, thanks again to everybody at The Filling Station for help in bringing My dream to life Rick and Michelle George
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