1955 CHEVROLET PICKUP PANEL VAN RESTORATION PROCESS
This is the first in the series of entries regarding a 1955 Chevrolet pickup that is being restored at the shop. This is the kind of project that pushes the envelope and tests the skill of everybody on the place from the guys who do the welding, the sheetmetal work, the painting and the brainstorming on the best way to proceed with any classic car or truck restoration.
At the same time it's the kind of job that brings some excitement and a break from the usual broken windshields, cracked grills and wrinkled fenders that we work on. It's pretty cool to fix a shiny new paint job after a hail storm or an encounter with an unlucky deer. But to bring an old truck like this one from what you see in the pictures to vintage car show quality, is comparable to the feeling you get when you finally get one of those 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzles completed to the tenth power! We're going to share a little of that feeling of success with you, so stick around!
I took this picture of the 1955 Chevrolet pickup rear right hand fender to show the paint details. This truck has been used and has quite a lot of history. I will share the details with all of our subscribers along with the pictures of the 1955 Chevrolet pickup as we work our way through the restoration. The pics will carry you from the rear end to the front grill and from top to bottom.
Before anything else could be done, the paint on the truck had to be removed. Everybody had an opinion on the best and fastest way to do get the original vintage truck paint off so that the good sheet metal could be prepped for refinishing and the rusted pieces could be removed and replaced.
Any step can be a delicate process of elimination as to the determination of the best way to proceed and get the job done in a timely and professional manner
We are lucky to have a tech that has been involved in lots of restorations and is a master at custom painting, so he had some ideas on what to do when sanding the old paint off wasn't moving quickly enough. The method that eventually proved to be the most successful involved a chemical process and lots of hard physical work, but if there's one way that all vintage car work is similar it would be that it's SLOW and TEDIOUS!
I have a tip for you if you're shopping for somebody to restore YOUR 1955 Chevrolet pickup. If the guy says that he can whip the job out FAST look out or better yet, back up. Nine times out of ten, what you save in hours is going to cost you in lost original parts and the quality of the finished product. There's no glory in driving a poorly restored vintage car or truck. Remain involved in the process and be sure that you get the look that you want for that great old 1955 Chevrolet pickup!
Next in this series:
Pictures of the interior taken through the back doors of the van
Pictures of the front with the grill and hood removed
Closeup photos of the dashboard, steering wheel
Before and after pics of the Rebuilding of the radio mount and dash board of the truck
Click below to see more tips for restoring cars and trucks from other visitors to this page...
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