If you recall in last month's "State of the Magazine Address," I vaguely alluded to my latest project, which I've dubbed the "Dirty Thirty(Nine)." Well, here she is, in all her, well, dirty glory.
For the most part, the '39 JC-series Chevy pickup is pictured as-purchased (it did come with a set of early slotted mags with bigs 'n' littles, but other than that and a bed full of extra parts, this is what I hauled home). It all started one fateful day while I was perusing Craigslist, parts hunting for another project of mine. Bitten by the Craigsbug, I just started punching in random search titles, and before long, I was gazing online at this little beauty. And as it turned out, the truck wasn't but 45 minutes from my house, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to just take a look. Well, as luck would have it, the '39 was pretty solid, had a slew of additional parts as already mentioned, and most importantly, the price was right. All I had to do was round up a trailer, which I did that very afternoon, and now I've got myself yet another project to worry about...I mean, work on.
Like yet another hole in the head, I didn't really need another cumbersome vehicle taking up space in the backyard; then again, I did have a little bit of extra room, despite what the old lady says. But in all seriousness, it's a '39 Chevy-I've always wanted a Streamline-era truck, and now I had the chance to own one. Furthermore, the truck was currently titled, plus it still had the original 1939 Worlds Fair license plates (restored, no less). No matter how hard I tried to talk myself out of it, every time I came up with an excuse, something new popped up that made it even harder to refuse.
Even though I had to tow Dirty home, it didn't take much to get her roadworthy-that same afternoon, with a bit of brake fluid, a new water pump, a fresh set of plugs with wires, cap, and rotor, she was a raring to go. I won't go so far as to say it was a nice, smooth ride around the block, but it was a fairly successful one. Still, with no intentions of keeping the stock drivetrain intact, that maiden voyage was more for legitimizing the purchase for those who still weren't sold on the idea, if you know what I mean. But that brings me to my future plans for the truck.
As it currently stands, I've got a nice little rebuilt 235 waiting in the wings to replace the overly tired 216. The four-speed transmission will be swapped out for a freshened-up '57 Powerglide (courtesy of my co-worker John Barkley's '57 Chevy 210 project), which I'm in the midst of trying to figure out "how" to operate shifter-wise-got burned on eBay by a nice gentleman in Texas on a '50 Chevy automatic steering column, so it looks like I'm back to modifying a manual-shift column instead, as I haven't turned up any aftermarket floor shifters for the cast-iron 'Glide. Much like the '53 3100, I want to keep the old-timey feel to the drivetrain, but with some appropriate modern additions to make it easier-and safer-to drive in SoCal conditions.
But before any of that goes into action, I've gotta get the chassis dialed in. Unfortunately, "dialed in" for this project means updated, not restored. For that, Total Cost Involved will be handling the front and rear suspension duties-coilover IFS for sure, and either a parallel leaf setup or a four-link out back. I may only be 40, but I'm getting too old for a bouncy I-beam...sorry, guys! I want a nice, smooth ride, with disc brakes and rack-and-pinion steering to ease and please.
Beyond that and some cleaning up of the interior (including a dash rebuild with Bowtie Bits), right now I'm leaning toward leaving the exterior pretty much as-is-hence the "Dirty" moniker. Besides, I don't know about you guys, but I haven't seen much in the way of reproduction sheetmetal available for late-'30s or early-'40s Chevy trucks lately. As long as I can turn the Dirty Thirty(Nine) into a nice cruiser, I'll be quite content-at least for a little while...or until the next project comes rolling in!
For as old as the truck is, the interior is actually in great shape. The previous-previous owner scratch-wired the truck himself-doing a pretty good job of it, too, I might add-as well as recovering the stock bench seat. Along with completely restoring the dash, I'll probably just repaint the interior panels and replace some glass for now. | 
Everyone, this is my latest, Dirty Thirty(Nine). Luckily, I still had the '38 Chevy passenger-car wheels and tires that were on the '53 pickup when I first got it, so the old slotted mags were swapped out long before the camera was brought out! |
To be honest, the engine wasn't this clean when I first got it, but it did run. I only degunked the passenger side anyway, as I knew it wouldn't be long before I was pulling the old 216 and four-speed out. | 
Out back, however, once all the extra goodies were unloaded, I was surprised to find the bed wood not only still intact, but in fairly decent shape. While I've been toying around with doing an exotic-type wood floor with Bruce Horkey, for the time being, I may just leave the bed be. |
And I have located lower door patches, so hopefully I won't have much difficulty getting the doors back into shape...hopefully. | 
Rust is one thing I don't care much for-but on a vehicle of this age, it's to be expected. Fortunately, there are lower cowl patch panels available, so this didn't worry me at all. |
While I didn't find it odd that the '39 was once equipped with a side-mount spare tire, I did find it odd that it's not a factory option on this truck-this setup is all handmade! I think I'll keep it, though, of course with a bit of cleaning up. | 
Why am I showing a picture of the ID plate? Well, as you may or may not know, early Chevrolets can tend to be somewhat of a pain when it comes to registering, for various reasons, so it's a good idea to verify that the title matches the ID and/or the engine number, which this one did. |
Just before wrapping this issue up, I found time to pull the engine and transmission. Turned out there was no major damage to the frame, fortunately, so TCI shouldn't have any trouble installing an IFS in the near future. | |