August 2004: In August the
Carryall received the "Peoples Choice" award. This was out of about 35
vintage trucks, 40 muscle cars, 25 vintage cars, a handful of foreign boom
boxes that dance, and a few custom bikes. A couple thousand folks showed
up for the show. I was hoping for best custom truck because I never
thought I'd get the people choice and was shocked when they called out the
WC-53. I even got interviewed by the local rock station, they wanted me
to tell the history of the thing.
June 2004: The Carryall received a "Best 4x4" award and a "Best Custom Truck"
award.
1956 C3-PW6-126: The truck was originally owned by the Department of Interior, Alaska
Railroad. This was before the State was a State. Then it was sold at a GSA auction and
put to work for a gold miner. He had it for a number of years and ran it into
the ground and I bought it to restore then later rebuild. The truck was originally
12 volt, which has proved difficult to find certain guages. It has a sync trans
and a third generation bed. I restored the truck to original in 1994 and then
in 1996 it became my daily driver until I got my Cummins in 2001. I had the
engine rebuilt and put a GM corp 10 under the front with heavy duty 3/4 ton
spindles, rotors, and calipers. The GM Corp 10 literally bolts right on to the
springs, with just a bit of grinding to the axle housing to make the u-bolt
bracket fit on the right side. I put a GM 14 bolt rear end under the back. I'm
running 4.11 gears with 16 inch rims and 315/75R/16 radial tires. The gear ratio,
radial tires, and disc brakes were an incredible improvement. I'm still running
the original engine, tranny, and t-case. I can do 60 mph without the engine
screaming, and it will still climb steep hills. 4.56 gears would have been better
and is what I would do if I was to do it again. The truck will still move a
mountain of snow. The snow plow is a Meyer set up. The frame bracket bolts on
with eight very large bolts then the plow mount is the tube style that slides
right into the frame mount. This set up is nice for summer. The plow mount unbolts
and slides out in about 10 minutes.