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1959 Chevy Apache

Oh my goodness~ I have the Mustang looking and running good, and I’m also taking it to local classic car gatherings, like the Nifty50ee’s, but I wanted another project, even though I swore I wouldn’t do another project!~  ha ha! While at the Classic car events, I became interested in the early model Chevy trucks! They’re really cool!  You can read my blogs by clicking this link: 59 Chevy Apache Blog Posts.

However, I did not want to paint another vehicle! That is a crazy amount of work! The main reason is ROOM TO WORK! But if I had the room to paint another car, I would not hesitate to tackle the job! My two car garage has become very SMALL!

Moving right along, I began searching for the truck! The long search took me probably 2 -3 days to find a truck on Craigslist! ha ha! The nicest lady had this ’59 Chevy Apache! Her name is Cathy. However, for her, a family crisis developed and she had to part with the Apache. I contact her now and then to show progress, though slow, it is progress. Besides, these type of projects are considered long-term, or a few years.

This truck has the most fabulous paint job, but underlying issues I didn’t pay much attention to, will need some extensive work!!

For starters, the old truck had this 230 6 cylinder engine with a 4 speed granny. This particular engine was alien to this truck as this engine was not designed to go in this truck! However, it was there, so I spent a week or so getting this engine to run, and I did! I drove, cautiously, down the street, and eventually pulled that engine out with intentions to install another engine.

Then inside the cab, the floor was in poor condition. This is not uncommon! But it was covered by some other metal that fooled me into thinking the floor was OK, not!

The cab interior, will be plenty of work! A new steering column will be going in, repair the dash. If you look at where a radio was, somewhere in time, some smart soul decided to destroy the dash to install an aftermarket radio! argh! Fortunately radio patch panels are made to repair this, but not without a bit of work! But in due time, the inside of the Apache should look very nice!!

In search of an engine and transmission

All I can remember is a man informing me of a car that I’d be interested in to get the engine and transmission out of it for my Apache!  He gave me the number of a man out in Alvin, Tx.,  Sylvester is his name! He has a large shop where he restores all makes of cars, but mainly Mustang ; )  He has a ’72 Impala with a 350 engine that supposedly had 40 k original miles (yeah sure).

After a couple of days of torment, I finally got the ugly engine and transmission out of the rodent infested engine compartment! Kidding, no rodents!  Gee, what was I thinking!  The engine looked horrible! Best thing to do at this time; get it torn down and call Herb! I claim Herb to be the finest engine builder around these parts! And since he ships engines all over, perhaps the finest engine builder in the nation!

This is the same engine that came out of that ’72 Impala! Sweet!  My friend Herb re-built it! Need an engine, Call Herb! Need the number, contact me!

This engine built by Herb, a super man! in Spring, Tx. He also built my engine in my ’67 Mustang.

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