Reminiscing~

I remember the day I found my 1948 KB-1, November 2012. It was from Craigslist. I was looking for a retirement project and I always wanted an old pickup resto-mod. I really like original restorations, but in this case, I wanted something I could drive anytime, anywhere. Anywhere didn't work out since leg room and back angle inside keeps this old man within a couple hours of home.
The truck didn't look too bad from the first inspection..sitting in weeds and undercarriage hidden. After getting it home and taking it apart I discovered that it was much worse than I ever expected for a $1700. initial purchase price. The frame was rusted through and rusted thin in all the wrong places. Part of the original engine was in the bed that had no bottom and someone had put a small block 305ci in it. All no good. All four fenders were fairly solid except for the rear 4" portions that I had to replace. The doors, bad on the bottoms, of course. The cab was so rusted on all four lower corners that I had to buy another cab from Minnesota that had been stored upside down...so the bottom corners were good!
I was planning on repairing and replacing metal on the bed but it was too shot to work with for my quality build. I built the bed and new tailgate from scratch.
Stress cracks...omg you would not believe how many cracks were in the areas of the rear cab corners and door openings. The cab mounts were rusted through and that is probably were all the flex came from.
Anyway, lots of new metal, welding, shaping and banging later, I had a solid cab to work with.
So much work in the 6 years following doing body work, painting, wiring, installing a completely restored chassis from a 1996 Dodge Dakota, and then the 327ci small block Chevy build ground up, rebuilding the AX15 5 speed transmission and installing TracLoc in the 8.25 Chrysler rear end, on and on as you all know.
All new glass, rebuild window and door mechanisms and then the windshield and rubber...ugh.
Radio system, AC install, heat, carpet, vinyl headliner, seat belts and anchoring points, got the seat from a third row Chrysler Town & Country, then had it upholstered like I wanted..the only part I did not do myself..
What a trip, and here it sits in my conditioned garage. It is part of the family now and will be with me until I pass it on.
Was it worth it? Would I do it again?
The answer to those questions are yes, I would do it again....speaking of the past again. But, I would inspect the project much closer than I originally did. I spent so many hours that could have been saved if I had shopped for a better one with less metal damage from rust.
You can't tell a book from it's cover...so true.

Great to hear the summary, Bob. And those are words of wisdom gained from experience about checking closely for rust! I've heard other say the same thing. And it's great that you persevered to the end. So many projects are never completed.

Dean

I like your truck. You do really good work. Your experience is good advice to that person who finds that gem and goes blind.
I wish I had stayed with my first choice of Old IHC trucks. I got distracted by a non-IHC and I have not had as much enjoyment from this adventure. For me there will never be another distraction like the last one. One advantage, for me was, the 1940 body was totally rust and collision free. I owned the albatross since 1984.
Drive On.

I like your truck. You do really good work. Your experience is good advice to that person who finds that gem and goes blind.
I wish I had stayed with my first choice of Old IHC trucks. I got distracted by a non-IHC and I have not had as much enjoyment from this adventure. For me there will never be another distraction like the last one. One advantage, for me was, the 1940 body was totally rust and collision free. I owned the albatross since 1984.
Drive On.

It's hard to imagine what it would have been like if my truck was totally rust and collision free! I would guess half the time or more was repair.
I know you do good work too from your posts and it is important to enjoy what you are doing unless it is for money...then all rationality goes out the window.

Money or lack of it was never a deciding point. I am able to mostly rationalize building a specialty vehicle as hobby time and entertainment. There is little or no hope of getting 50 cents on every dollar spent back and this is allowing nothing for the serval thousand hours of my time and machine tools to make "those special pieces".
The Ford was totally paid out of my 37+ years of not smoking fund.
I have been following your build and it has kept me interested in getting back to my L110 Shorty/Cummins/4X4 build.