1954 Chevy 3100 1/2 Pickup

Year of the truck

Alex Harris

I always wanted a 47-54 Chevy / GMC pickup, but didn’t like them stock. After falling in love with the patina style look, I knew I needed to build one, Every other one of my cars, has to be clean all the time and I always worry about scratches, paint chips, dents, and I’m the guy who parks in the furthest parking spot available, so I wanted one car that I would have to be obsessed with the paint and worry about scratches and dings.

6 months I worked on the truck on weekends and holidays only, came home from work Friday night and worked until dark(April 9pm) skipping dinner Friday nights for 6 months so I could get as much time in. Saturdays were from 8am-9pm at night, only stopping for lunch, Sunday’s were 8am-5-6pm only stopping for lunch. This includes 100 plus degree weather to 20 degree weather (started Memorial Day May 28th 2018 - November 2018) November 4th was its first drive in over 20 years) This was done Outside in my driveway under a pop up 10’x20’ tent. My garage was too small to do this into, so I had no choice to do this in the driveway rain or shine and a little snow.

Literally no one has touched this truck but me, EVERYTHING was done by me.  I had absolutely no help with the truck except for my wife and father in law help me lift heavy things off/ on like the bed.  My wife helped me install the new windshield glass since it’s a two person Job using nylon rope, other than that, it was all me.

I never performed a full on complete restoration before, let alone by myself in the driveway. the truck was rusted in the usual spots. There were many challenges, like welding in the new TCI independent crossmember. So many challenges for me , it sometimes felt like climbing a mountain, only to get over than mountain to see another mountain. I ordered the sheet metal from classic industries. I cut out and welded both lower cowl panels, both inner and outer cab corners, front floor pans, the left over scraps , I used to patch the bed sides, and the front and rear fenders. I wanted to make the truck look like it was never rusted before and I accomplished that . The original owner literally brush painted a silver paint on the truck I guess to help it stop from rusting. What I did was sanded the silver down to make it appear as a faded repaint coming through to the original color(the blue is the original color) and kbs satin cleared the entire truck. Found it on eBay, when I contacted the seller he said it was going off in two days and it already hit the reserve, I didn’t want to bid on it until I saw it in person (was a state over from me Maryland) I couldn’t see it until the weekend, which means I couldn’t bid on it. I saw it ended and reached out to the seller and told him if the winner doesn’t come through, to let me know I will be interested. Two weeks went by and I went to look at a few more trucks, but they just weren’t the right ones. I was literally about to call about another truck and before I could enter the whole phone number in, I received a text from the truck from eBay and he said the winning bidder never contacted his, so he said he would offer it to me before he relisted it, so I told him I’ll be there the next day. Went and looked at it and bought it.

This was my first ALL hands on build, my father was always building and fixing cars since before I was born, so I grew up with watching , asking questions and helping my father fix the families and friends cars. Going to swap meets since i was in a baby stroller .

None

Would like to turbo charge it one day.

prior to me it was a one owner truck. The original owner bought it brand new and used the truck every single day on his Maryland farm up until the day he died at age 98 (1998). The truck then sat in his barn for the next 20 years untouched until his wife passed away in 2018, the kids didn’t want the truck so that’s when I bought it. They originally couldn’t find the title, so they contacted the state and the state sent a new title, then they found the original title, so I was able to use the new title to put into my name and still keep the original title from 1954 in the original envelope that it came in. I have and still use all the original keys that came with the truck new and they still work in the ignition, doors and glove box!

My wife (Rachel Casey and the woman in the pictures ) who was 110% on board with this from the start, to when I first told her that I wanted to buy another car and build it, I though she was going to say don’t you have enough? Instead when I told her she was excited, especially when I showed her kind of the idea I wanted to do(she’s a car chick, her everyday car is a 6 speed manual 333h 370Z and her weekend toy is a 2014 Mustang GT 5.0L 6 speed track pack) she was even more excited. She was there when I went to look at the other trucks and when I bought this one, she was there when I needed her help to lift the heavy bed off of the truck, she was there when I needed a refill of my drink In the heat, or to make or bring me lunch so I could eat. She was there for the first firing of the engine, down to the first ride of the truck, she went to every swap meet with me to buy parts for it. she was there for me to vent on how things aren’t going right with the truck and I wanted to give up, giving me the confidence that I can do it. You get the idea. And my father in law who at a drop of a dime after I made a deal on the truck, borrowed a trailer and drove over 1 hour each way to bring it to my house

I currently own all of these cars;

1988 GMC 2 door S-15 Jimmy, this was my first car that my father and I restored ,when I purchased it at the age of 14 in 1998. Currently has been redone from the ground up with a fuel injected Chevy 350 Tuned Port Injection from a IROC camaro and a manual 5 speed world class t5 trans , working heat and AC

2010 Chevy Camaro SS 6 speed manual trans(bought brand new, my first and only new car that I have ever purchased)

1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (painted to look like a 1984 Hurst/Olds. This car has a 400hp Chevy 350 bored .40 over with a 5 speed manual transmission world class T-5. Also build from the ground up by me, this was my second car, and purchased it at 17 years old in 1999. Car has working heat and ac

1997 Chevy S10 pickup single cab, step side bed. I lowered it, redid the interior and suspension and I installed a Vortec 350 V8 with a 5 speed manual nv3500 transmission, working heat and ac .

2002 Chevy2 door blazer 4x4 with a 4.3L and 5 speed manual transmission (my winter truck)

2015 Harley Davidson fxsb Breakout

GMC 2003

8

5.3L

ENGINE Make/year: 2003 GMC Yukon XL Stock cid: stock 5.3L Vortec LS iron block, aluminum heads, summit racing LS swap exhaust manifolds, custom motor mounts, GM muscle car oil pan, pcm tune and redone factory wiring harness, polyurethane engine and transmission mounts, Taylor 8mm spark plug wires

AIR and FUEL PCM: stock , reprogrammed Regulator: Corvette return style c5 Walboro external fuel pump Fuel tank: relocated new POL (performance online )19 gallon tank to rear frame  (removed stock interior tank) Intake manifold: Truck Other induction modifications ): custom air intake Headers: Summit racing LS swap manifolds Pipe size: 2.5” , I bought a do it yourself stainless steel exhaust kit and made my own exhaust and welded it up with flow,master fx mufflers, the exhaust side exits at the back of the cab on both sides. Champion 3 core aluminum radiator with billet overflow tank, computer controlled rainbow products electric fan cools it.

See above

Exedy

N/a

N/a

S-10 with Locker and rear disc breaks

3.42

Original frame, modified Front upper/lower control arms: TCI tubular control arms Front shocks/struts: Ride tech adjustable coil overs Steering box (manual/power) Power steering Rack & pinion Sway bar: TCI adjustable heim Other front suspension mods: TCI (Total Cost Involved) Front mustang II independent suspension (no more solid front axle ) with 2” drop spindles and big bore disc brakes and steel braided hoses

Removed the front solid axel for TCI mustang II front independent suspension , see above for all details

Me

5” front 7” rear

Ride tech adjustable coil overs

Jakes

2” drop

Coil overs

No

TCI parabolic rear leaf springs

Riddler 695 5x4.75 18x8

Riddler 695 5x4.75 18x9.5

18x8

18x9.5

225/45zr18

255/45zr18

Original blue color, that had gray brushed it, faded through

Original/Current color: Mariner blue, then it was brush painted long time ago with silver paint over the original blue and rust, I sanded a lot of the silver off to replicate a worn paint job exposing the original color and Patina and then kbs satin cleared the entire truck while it was torn apart. Bed wood—- composite decking wood with aluminum strips that I made out of flat stock

Me

Me

Original

Original

Original

Original/Current color: Mariner blue, then it was brush painted long time ago with silver paint over the original blue and rust, I sanded a lot of the silver off to replicate a worn paint job exposing the original color and Patina and then kbs satin cleared the entire truck while it was torn apart. Bed wood—- composite decking wood with aluminum strips that I made out of flat stock

Me

Original

Dakota Digital vhx

Volante

Retro sound

Bose

Me

Hurst short throw

TMI BLACK LEATHER/ suede

20

Composite wood bed

reclining bench seat (black leather/ suede inserts( TMI brand seat ) new black auto custom carpet, all new headliner , kick panels, doors panels, all new glass from auto city classics, sliding rear window, 32” tilt steering column , hurst short throw shifter, Dakota digital vhx gauges , volante leather steering wheel, retro sound radio, dyna matted the inside of the truck , custom made cup holders (used old ac Delco oil filters with a timing chain, clutch fork (mounted a screen on the clutch fork as a back up camera) Subaru WRX clutch/ brake pedal assembly, booster and master cylinder:

Me