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CK5
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Geronimo: 1959 Chevy Apache
- Thread starter muddermilitia
- Start date
1959 Chevy Apache long bed Fleetside with some modern stuff inside. Built for long trips
So after the 6 month search, I found this truck in Minnesota, just north of Minneapolis. My brother and I drove 12 hours round trip for a $1000 truck... It did come with a title though. And the bed isn't in too bad of shape. The rest of it, well, you will see.
I basically bought this for the bed and the title. I was having a really hard time finding a fleetside that wasn't a shortbed
I basically bought this for the bed and the title. I was having a really hard time finding a fleetside that wasn't a shortbed
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The truck did come with a hood, which is in super nice shape. It also came with a 55.5-57 2 ton truck front clip. I won't be using that. But I'm either going to sell it, or make a desk out of it lol.
Now the rest of the truck is extremely rough. I'm not sure how much of it I can save but I already have a friend that wants to buy the remainder of the truck and use it for yard art. Have water inside the cab and flowing out the side window into a pond.
Now the rest of the truck is extremely rough. I'm not sure how much of it I can save but I already have a friend that wants to buy the remainder of the truck and use it for yard art. Have water inside the cab and flowing out the side window into a pond.
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So I spent the remainder of this year scouring Craigslist, facebook marketplace, and swap meets for apache parts.
I managed to get my hands on a complete set of glass, almost all the cab patch panels, a grill, grill surround, front bed wall, 2 bed floor cross members, pair of headlight bezels, 2nd set of vent Windows, an exterior windshield sun visor, a set of vintage roof rack brackets, 2 steering wheels, a pair of mint front and rear bumpers, and some other stuff I am sure I'm forgetting
The big haul came in August. I located a nearly rust free western cab with doors and a title with it. This originally came from Washington state and I went to Indiana for it (only 4hr round trip this time)
The cab has almost no rust and few dents. Just 2 little spots of rust on the firewall. I have patch panels to take care of it. The doors are banged up and have some rust on the bottoms. But they are definitely saveable. The cab is a 1956 but will still work for my truck.
I managed to get my hands on a complete set of glass, almost all the cab patch panels, a grill, grill surround, front bed wall, 2 bed floor cross members, pair of headlight bezels, 2nd set of vent Windows, an exterior windshield sun visor, a set of vintage roof rack brackets, 2 steering wheels, a pair of mint front and rear bumpers, and some other stuff I am sure I'm forgetting
The big haul came in August. I located a nearly rust free western cab with doors and a title with it. This originally came from Washington state and I went to Indiana for it (only 4hr round trip this time)
The cab has almost no rust and few dents. Just 2 little spots of rust on the firewall. I have patch panels to take care of it. The doors are banged up and have some rust on the bottoms. But they are definitely saveable. The cab is a 1956 but will still work for my truck.
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That's a great cab!
I'm in the process of buying a house right now. So the project is on hold for a month or so. But I plan on starting on the chassis this winter. I'm going to clean it up, rebuild the suspension and steering. Lower it with dropped spindles, springs and rear shackles & hangers. I'm going to keep the 1/2 ton rear springs for now but I think those will probably get swapped with 3/4 ton springs once I'm ready for the camper.
EZ Chassis Swaps makes a bolt on body swap kit to put a 55.5-59 chevy truck body on to a 73-87 chassis. I will be using most of their kit.
EZ Chassis Swaps makes a bolt on body swap kit to put a 55.5-59 chevy truck body on to a 73-87 chassis. I will be using most of their kit.
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The cab cost me about as much as all the other stuff I've bought so far, but it was totally worth it and will save me lots of time and labor in the future
This is worth a lot of money in my eyes.
Up until last month, there was almost nothing available for the fleetside beds from the aftermarket companies. But somebody just released a complete fleetside shortbed for $2500 (I dont think that includes the floor). Bedsides are available for $1000 ea. So I'm sure Long bed parts won't be too far away for when I need them.
The next thing I'm searching for is front fenders. I'm willing to spend the money for some mint ones but having no luck locally. They are available brand new GM certified for $450 ea. I may just do that when my tax return comes back
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Cool project.
Is the wheelbase correct on the C10 frame or do you need to shorten/modify it?
what year fenders do you need?
Is the wheelbase correct on the C10 frame or do you need to shorten/modify it?
what year fenders do you need?
The C10 frame is a little longer. Also from what I've read, the front track width is a little wide for the 59 body. The drop spindles I'm going to use shorten the total track with by 1.5 inches. I'm going to run 15x7 wheels hopefully. The wheels I want are also offered in a 15x6. But another option is custom control arms. Michigan Metal Works makes custom C10 control arms for the big wheel/air bagged guys and they are offered for air bag or coil over setup. I e-mailed them and asked if they could make a set for standard coil springs and they said they can. These arms pulls the wheels in 1" per side.
I'm going to start with the spindles and see where that gets me. I'm not going to slam this since I plan on driving the hell out of it. Plus I don't want to modify the bed floor.
The fenders I'm looking for are 1958-1959. I think the Chevy ones may be different from GMC, but don't quote me on that
I'm going to start with the spindles and see where that gets me. I'm not going to slam this since I plan on driving the hell out of it. Plus I don't want to modify the bed floor.
The fenders I'm looking for are 1958-1959. I think the Chevy ones may be different from GMC, but don't quote me on that
I’m watchin... you are bringing back some memories! My dad bought a 56 fleetside when I was 8 or 9 (1990-91?) and his intentions were to build it and it was going to be my truck. That didn’t work out... Shortly after he bought it he suffered a pretty severe back injury while working for Burlington Northern. It was caused by someone else not paying attention and led to him having 3 disks in his lower back fused and an early retirement. Sadly things got tough and the truck had to be sold. He sold it to a “friend” with an agreement to buy it back after a few months when he received his settlement money. The guy immediately chopped the frame to make a pickup trailer and scrapped the rest. I remember the heated conversation between him and my dad when we went to go pick it up and I remember how crushed I was. Sorry for the hijack... Looking forward to this build!
Will be watching. We restored a 59 Apache fleetside shortbox at work two years ago. Still got some goodies we didn't use. I'm pretty sure we got the original chrome grille from ours. Decent driver quality but we went full frame off and had to get it all perfect so a new one was bought. Ours was a big back window double deluxe so it had all the chrome trim, including the bedside trim.
Brothers has long box bedsides too just so you know. Hopped on their website a couple of weeks ago and saw that. Pissed me right off as 58/59 bedsides weren't available when we did ours. All we could get was the gate, front bed wall and the lower inside sheetmetal. We had rust, crappy previous repairs and dents. Our body guy had close to 250 hours per side to fix all the damage.
Love this bodystyle of truck.
Brothers has long box bedsides too just so you know. Hopped on their website a couple of weeks ago and saw that. Pissed me right off as 58/59 bedsides weren't available when we did ours. All we could get was the gate, front bed wall and the lower inside sheetmetal. We had rust, crappy previous repairs and dents. Our body guy had close to 250 hours per side to fix all the damage.
Love this bodystyle of truck.
The bedside trim is very hard to find and when you do, they are very expensive. I saw somebody selling them for $1,000 per side!
Just checked Brothers website. They only have fleetside bedsides for the 6ft short bed.
Subscribed to this for a very cool and different build.
I have a bunch of pics saved for reference. These 1st 2 trucks I found for sale. Both of them were swapped onto 73-87 chassis
Next is a truck I found that has the same roof rack I will be using.
These are the wheels in going to run. But I will use thin white walls instead of wide whites. They are more period correct for the look I'm going for.
I'd like to eventually have it painted with a candy emerald green, with some fade. Lacework in the roof and possibly some cream or maybe metalflake gold accents or scallops.
I have a whole bunch of camper pics too. Several of these are on newer trucks, but would still look good on mine. I don't want the camper to be too big and bulky and take away from the overall look of the truck. So I don't want a cab overhang or one that hangs off the back of the bed.
This one is for sale on Michigan Craigslist for $800, but it's absolutely perfect condition
I found a guy in California that has 4 of these that I could have for $400 total. But I just don't have a good way to get them to Illinois without costing me a bunch
The last 2 pics are of an Alaskan camper. Its about the same height as the roof of the truck, but then the pop up operates by 4 hydraulic rams controlled by 1 hand pump. This particular 1 is for sale in Indiana for $400. But I can't really justify buying one this early in the build
Next is a truck I found that has the same roof rack I will be using.
These are the wheels in going to run. But I will use thin white walls instead of wide whites. They are more period correct for the look I'm going for.
I'd like to eventually have it painted with a candy emerald green, with some fade. Lacework in the roof and possibly some cream or maybe metalflake gold accents or scallops.
I have a whole bunch of camper pics too. Several of these are on newer trucks, but would still look good on mine. I don't want the camper to be too big and bulky and take away from the overall look of the truck. So I don't want a cab overhang or one that hangs off the back of the bed.
This one is for sale on Michigan Craigslist for $800, but it's absolutely perfect condition
I found a guy in California that has 4 of these that I could have for $400 total. But I just don't have a good way to get them to Illinois without costing me a bunch
The last 2 pics are of an Alaskan camper. Its about the same height as the roof of the truck, but then the pop up operates by 4 hydraulic rams controlled by 1 hand pump. This particular 1 is for sale in Indiana for $400. But I can't really justify buying one this early in the build
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I found a place online that you can get the bedside trim for our truck. Our timeline for the restoration got accelerated big time by our owner's son wanting the truck in his wedding. Start to finish 7 months. But that meant I didn't have a whole lot of time to farm out getting the trim straightened by a pro. Had to order the new stuff. Over 2 grand in 8 parts.
I'd go for the Alaskan camper if I were you. They don't pop up (pun totally intended) for sale every day. $400 is a steal even if you have to put some work into it. Plus you get the best of both worlds, low profile for cruising and popped up you can camp without crawling around in the bed.
Oh and just for inspiration. I know you aren't going the full blown original resto route, but here's a pic of our finished 59 sitting in the showroom for Christmas.
I love that truck, but I hated the sight of it for a while when we were in the thick of it. Didn't mind burning up the boss's personal credit card ordering parts though. Pretty nice not to be limited by funds like in my own personal build.
I love that truck, but I hated the sight of it for a while when we were in the thick of it. Didn't mind burning up the boss's personal credit card ordering parts though. Pretty nice not to be limited by funds like in my own personal build.
