I always love to see the comments from Steve Ley and Mike Klepp. Always on
target, and always at the heart of the subject.... and the heart of the
purpose of this list. Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth. Who knows
what's "stock?" My guess is that if you checked the trucks of the members
on this list, you'd find that 90% (or more??) of them are not truly stock.
In other words, they're not completely .....every nut and bolt....like they
rolled off the assembly line. My '47-2 sure isn't. But I sure call it
stock, because it looks that way to anybody who checks it out. How can we
argue with anyone who wants to add seat belts? And how can we argue with
anyone who wants to swap a 216 for a 235 (as my PO did)? And if we add a
dual master cylinder, wouldn't we all say that only makes sense for safety's
sake? We do all this stuff to our trucks, and we still say we want trucks
that are "stock." Goodness only knows where the line is. I love the term
"spiritually stock", which I believe Rob (or someone else??) first put out.
I consider my truck spiritually stock, even though LOTS of my ol' truck
ain't anywhere near how it looked in its original state. So, if someone
wants to swap a V-8 for a 216, we cringe. But if they swapped a 216 for a
235, we'd say, "That's OK, been there, done that." I've struggled with this
issue for a long time....what's stock, spiritually stock, and what's
modified? WHEW!, who knows?? Is "copperhead" a good color? Definitely NOT
stock, but it sure looks great on that truck (to me). Is swapping a 216 for
a 350 V-8 acceptable? GAWD, I hope not! But what's the difference in doing
this and putting in a 235 or a 261? Just a matter of two cylinders. I'm
not sure any of us could clearly define where the line is between stock and
modified. Haven't we all...or almost all...modified our trucks? Even if
you've done a total frame-off restoration and kept everything perfect,
you've probably put better hardware and paint on it than it originally came
with. Bottom line, save the old iron. How you do it is completely up to
you. Just save an ol' truck from rusting away or going to the crusher.
That's all that matters. The rest we'll sort out along the way.....and have
great fun doing it.
Tom Caperton
'47-2nd Series ... in Whiteville, NC
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Ley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <old-chevy-truck@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: [old-chevy-truck] Re: stock truck only
> When I was 17 years old, in 1958, my dad made me a wrecker driver for his
> Chevrolet Dealership after I got my first speeding ticket. I did that
> until about 1963, then I was a cop for three years and after that, I drove
> an ambulance for 12 years.
>
> It was exciting work, but, looking back, the years that I did those things
> were a time that most of the important safety devices came into general
> use. Things like door locks where the lock and the striker plates
> interlocked so the doors didn't fly open in a crash, seat belts and then
> shoulder belts, Padded dashes, dashes that were engineered to collapse at
> a
> controlled rate, Knobs that were soft and steering columns that collapsed
> within themselves.
>
> In the beginning, we saw people thrown out of cars in relatively minor
> collisions, absolutely horrendous facial injuries from dashes that were
> almost weapons, chest injuries from 55 and 56 Chevrolet pointed steering
> hubs and many more similar injuries. As the industry began to look at
> safety, it was noticeable at how the injuries decreased both in numbers
> and
> severity.
>
> Our old trucks were what they were, but my opinion based on what I saw in
> accidents involving them, is that a person would be foolish not to install
> seat and shoulder belts in them if you're going to drive them on the
> street. In the 23 years I was associated with emergency work, I never
> took
> a seat belt off a dead person.
>
> Another thought occurred to me about the modification of our trucks.
> While
> my truck will be absolutely original, I haven't forgotten that GM put V8's
> into their trucks from 1955 until 1959 using the same chassis that we have
> in the AD's. Looking back, it probably points out the fact that they
> might
> have been stretching the envelope, but that's how it was done then. It's
> a
> fact that people changed engines around on a regular basis in those days,
> so probably you would have seen AD's with V8's. I'm not sure that
> somebody
> should be shot for sacrilege if they do it, but it's not for me!
>
> Steve Ley
> 51 Chevrolet Canopy Express
>
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: K M Lehmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: <old-chevy-truck@yahoogroups.com>
>> Date: 10/14/2005 8:15:24 AM
>> Subject: Re: [old-chevy-truck] Re: stock truck only
>>
>> Maybe those old vehicles were safe as they were, to most it was a
> challenge
>> to maintain a 55 or 60 mph speed limit. So the majority of the traffic
>> was
>> under the same conditions. Today it's a different story, not unusual to
> see
>> an 1800 pound Honda coming toward you at 70 mph on a 2 lane hiway and you
>> notice the wind is blowing so you just crossyour fingers.You can look at
>> seat belts as convenience as you can survive a crash in your old truck,
> but
>> with belts you will have a lot less places to heal. Some times we don't
> how
>> we exceed the limits of the older vehicles by updating. Like Ad54 said
> only
>> a dumbass uses things incorrectly, but sometimes that dummy is in the
> other
>> vehicle. On that stock 261 Ad mentioned, this is the same engine I set a
>> track record with in the1960's in a '52 Chev [car] that was less than 14
> sec
>> and right at 100mph. When you this potential to grandpa's truck you
>> should
>> consider some additional safety features.
>> Lee
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "vwnate1" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: <old-chevy-truck@yahoogroups.com>
>> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 6:27 AM
>> Subject: [old-chevy-truck] Re: stock truck only
>>
>>
>> >
>> > Well ;
>> >
>> > sort of ~ no seat belts and crappy bias ply tires come to mind .
>> >
>> > Does this mean it's unsafe for me to shoot my radial tires then ? .
>> >
>> > I live in sunny So. Cal. now so it's O.K. (I guess) but I really feel
>> > that heating and _defrosting_ are two serious safety items missing off
>> > most old trucks & cars .
>> >
>> > -Nate
>> > ChevyAd54 wrote:
>> > >
>> > > I feel safe with vacuum wipers come on safe we where safe then when
>> > > these cars and truck where built
>> > > its not the car or truck that killed its the dumb ass driver behind
>> > the
>> > > wheel just like the gun its not the gun that's the killer it's the
>> > dumb
>> > > ass that pulls the trigger
>> > > Come On
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Ole Chevy and GMC trucks rule!
>> >
>> > To unsubscribe, send an email (with no subject, no body, just the
> email),
>> to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> Ole Chevy and GMC trucks rule!
>>
>> To unsubscribe, send an email (with no subject, no body, just the email),
> to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> Ole Chevy and GMC trucks rule!
>
> To unsubscribe, send an email (with no subject, no body, just the email),
> to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Ole Chevy and GMC trucks rule!
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