Bit of a story with this one:
So about a year ago I was renting a woodworking shop in Waltham, MA. The door to enter it was right next to a pair of dumpsters, and an old garage that was being used as a general contractor's shop. Well, after about 2 months of being there... I realized that one of the dumpsters was actually an old truck (hard to tell, cause it was covered in junk). Upon further inspection, I realized it had "For Sale" painted on the side of it, and since I'm a nutjob who loves old crap like this, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
After inquiring around with the other tennants (the building had 3 other shops in it), I was finally able to ascertain that the truck was owned by the contractor, and that he had been trying to sell it a couple years back. He failed to sell it, I assume, because 1) he had no phone number or contact info on the truck, 2) he was never around. Finally one day I happened to come in and catch him while he was at his shop, and started talking about buying the truck. Apparently he had been the owner since 2003, when he bought it for $200 from a local welding shop which had a customer abandon it there after doing work to it. He then had it made road-worthy by his mechanic and used it for laying hot top and paving driveways until about 2009, when it was parked. He said he wanted $1000. That got me all giddy.
Unfortunately I didn't see him again, and before I could, I moved out of that shop, on to other work prospects. But I still couldn't get the truck out of my mind. After a few months I decided to try to get in contact again, which took me another couple of months (no wonder he couldn't sell it). The deal was that I would buy it for $800 if he cleaned it off and got it running for me (he insisted it was still in working order). I kept making arrangements to meet with him, but he kept flaking. Finally I got a little fed up and offered him $500 as-is, if I did all the clean up and moved it myself.... and he said yes! So, after a few days of cleaning it off and getting it towed to my house, I am now the proud owner of this 1959 Chevy Viking dump truck.
Heres how it looked after I cleaned it off a bit:
Amazingly enough, once I pushed it back far enough to get under the hood, all I did was pour some gas from a dixie up down the carb and it started right up! The battery wasn't even dead! Unfortunately I didn't have many options for moving it... so I convinced a friend to move it with his rollback truck. I have to admit it looked a little silly.
And here she is at her new home:
I thought it was going to have a stovebolt-6, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a 283 V8 under the hood
I figured a truck with this much character deserves a name, and I've settled on "Heavy Duty Judy". I thought my family was going to freak the heck out when they saw it, since they generally don't approve of my automotive tomfoolery. To my surprise, however, they loved it. Something about this truck gives it a certain vibe that makes people love it, same thing that happened to me. Now that I think about it, this is starting to sound like a Stephen King book....
So about a year ago I was renting a woodworking shop in Waltham, MA. The door to enter it was right next to a pair of dumpsters, and an old garage that was being used as a general contractor's shop. Well, after about 2 months of being there... I realized that one of the dumpsters was actually an old truck (hard to tell, cause it was covered in junk). Upon further inspection, I realized it had "For Sale" painted on the side of it, and since I'm a nutjob who loves old crap like this, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
After inquiring around with the other tennants (the building had 3 other shops in it), I was finally able to ascertain that the truck was owned by the contractor, and that he had been trying to sell it a couple years back. He failed to sell it, I assume, because 1) he had no phone number or contact info on the truck, 2) he was never around. Finally one day I happened to come in and catch him while he was at his shop, and started talking about buying the truck. Apparently he had been the owner since 2003, when he bought it for $200 from a local welding shop which had a customer abandon it there after doing work to it. He then had it made road-worthy by his mechanic and used it for laying hot top and paving driveways until about 2009, when it was parked. He said he wanted $1000. That got me all giddy.
Unfortunately I didn't see him again, and before I could, I moved out of that shop, on to other work prospects. But I still couldn't get the truck out of my mind. After a few months I decided to try to get in contact again, which took me another couple of months (no wonder he couldn't sell it). The deal was that I would buy it for $800 if he cleaned it off and got it running for me (he insisted it was still in working order). I kept making arrangements to meet with him, but he kept flaking. Finally I got a little fed up and offered him $500 as-is, if I did all the clean up and moved it myself.... and he said yes! So, after a few days of cleaning it off and getting it towed to my house, I am now the proud owner of this 1959 Chevy Viking dump truck.
Heres how it looked after I cleaned it off a bit:
Amazingly enough, once I pushed it back far enough to get under the hood, all I did was pour some gas from a dixie up down the carb and it started right up! The battery wasn't even dead! Unfortunately I didn't have many options for moving it... so I convinced a friend to move it with his rollback truck. I have to admit it looked a little silly.
And here she is at her new home:
I thought it was going to have a stovebolt-6, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a 283 V8 under the hood
I figured a truck with this much character deserves a name, and I've settled on "Heavy Duty Judy". I thought my family was going to freak the heck out when they saw it, since they generally don't approve of my automotive tomfoolery. To my surprise, however, they loved it. Something about this truck gives it a certain vibe that makes people love it, same thing that happened to me. Now that I think about it, this is starting to sound like a Stephen King book....