t’s been a good 11 years—almost to the day as I write this—since I’ve had my own set of “vintage” wheels on the road. I’ve been messing with Harleys constantly the entire time, but all along every car/truck has been in a suspended state of re-animation, as it were.

It was September of 2013 when I traded off my 1953 Chevy Bel Air (the “blue car” as it was often referred to) for an in-progress, chopped 1947 Fleetline. That car was going to rival my chopped 1953, at least in my mind, as the renderings that Eric Black did clearly illustrated. Years went by, good progress was made (up to a point), and then the project stalled and eventually hit the wall progress-wise. Soon enough, it became a dust-collecting fixture, and by November of 2020 a deal was made to trade her off for a (supposedly) running/driving 1948 Chevy 3100—a chopped three-window!

Well, not taking into consideration a possible “chop curse,” the excitement of that truck quickly waned when I realized how much work had to be done in order to actually fulfill the “driving” aspect as mentioned above. So, she sat. (To be continued …)

In December of 2018, while the Fleetline sat and I was still a humble servant of MotorTrend, I picked up a 1969 Fleetside C10 project—again, under the impression it was close to being a daily driver (an assumption that led me to acquire the truck for my son, who would be getting his driver’s license soon after and I, again, assumed this would be a great first vehicle for him). Well, after having the truck flat-bedded to my house—by the seller, who said he was doing me a favor instead of driving it home—I quickly became aware of just how far away the 1969 was from being anywhere near driveable. Six years later, after practically replacing everything attached to the frame besides the 454 big-block, we’re about ready to take her from TMI Products straight over to FiTech and finally—FINALLY—get this old beast on the road. My son will be close to legal drinking age by the time he gets behind the wheel and drives it, but I guess better late than never?! (And the drinking and driving references have absolutely nothing to do with each other!)

While the 1969 was slowly picking up steam, the 1948 continued to sit in my garage—until November of last year, just after SEMA, when I’d struck up a deal with Paul at Old Anvil Speed Shop to help rectify the antiquated air-ride system as well as give him a canvas in which to fit his new All Access VIP articulating bed floor kit. Well, as of this past week, not only did he and the Old Anvil Speed Shop crew facilitate the Air Lift 3h/3p programmable ride control and install their Bedwood-equipped bed floor kit, they fabbed up a complete stainless exhaust, installed a dual-battery setup, redid the fuel delivery (both of which you’ve seen in past issues), and upgraded the brakes with a Wilwood manual/remote fill master, ultimately making the ol’ truck what it’s supposed to be: driveable! She’s at the ITGM Tech Center now awaiting a few miscellaneous things before I bring her back home and—for the first time in over a decade—finally have a set of four wheels of my own to cruise!

I’d say patience is a virtue, which it truly is, but at this very moment I’m more apt say gratitude is just as righteous!

Until next month …