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Posted by Chriscase on Saturday, January 03, 2009 at 21:00:12 :
Seems like a few guys are currently resuscitating some old iron. I though I might share my own story, from 1976.
It was the second WC in the family. My brother Leon had found a former Radio/Panel a year or so earlier, I'm sure I've told about that one.
But I had mentioned to our friend Bob that I sure wanted a Command Car. He was working as a soil tester in Imperial Valley at the time, and knew there was one available in Brawley, 100 miles east from San Diego. At Rebic's Auction lot. So I went running on out there to see what I could find.
No front axle, no wheels or tires. A diagonal mud line across the engine- judging from the compost in the back, I figured the truck had been left sinking into the mud for years. The recoveror had only dug down deep enough to get to the shackle pins. Pulled the pins, and left the front end buried for posterity.
So here it sat, in Rebics yard. Top bows intact, canvas rags flapping in the desert breeze. 22 bullet holes in the windshield, but none anywhere else. And painted on the nose, "Radiator aloe(sp)$100, whole truck $200".
Mean time, Rebic has his Tuesday auction going. So I scribble a note "$100" for his assistant. Junior hands it to Rebic between chickens, and Rebic shakes his head NO... Scribbles another figure on it, and hands it back to his assistant. I read it, shake my head NO, and scribble $125. After the gavel falls on a hog, Rebic shakes his head again, and scribbles. We agree now on $140.
I had brought along the spare and one wheel from Leon's panel truck, which we put on the back axle, and Rebic forked it onto the trailer backwards. So I haul it over the grade on a rented trailer. To unload, we hi-lift jacked the front bumper onto the top of an oil drum, and slowly drove the trailer out from under. Worked fine, until the rear wheels got to the ramp on the trailer, and rolled down the last five feet. The drum fell over, the crossmember crushed it, letting the front end down as gently as any proud mother ever laid down a newborn babe. Luck-eeee!.
We find an ambulance chassis in the junk yard for $600, mostly for the front axle and six wheels and tires on it, but the add-on power steering was an additional bonus.
I've never been sure whether the radiator mentioned in the ad on the nose was supposed to be the one mounted, or the old IH unit in the back, buried in the compost. But neither was any good, I sold them for $40 scrap. Paid for the trailer rental.
So, I've got wheels, tires, axles, and power steering. Brakes too. No radiator though. No hood or air cleaner. Otherwise, ready to roll for a test run. Hmm, why not? So I fill the upper hose with water, and jam it into the lower hose, and clamp them together, one inside the other. A couple milk crates for seats, and awaaaay we GO!
Runs fine, shifts OK for a crash box, brakes, steering OK too.
We pull into the driveway, and shut her down. I see a tendril of gas fumes come up from the carb, and I'm thinking "Gee, that's another thing air cleaners do. In addition to filtering the air, they act as flame arrestors, so you can't get explosions from gas fumes".
Just then, as I've got gas explosions on my mind, the heat soak in the block caused a steam explosion! POW! as my hose came unstuck.
Funny how the next day I noticed the first gray hairs in my head. First of many actually. Hmm, I don't recall any before I started messing about in Power Wagons.
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