How to Restore a Classic Truck
The Art of Classic Truck Restoration
Do you want something you can drive next week, or do you want to spend a year researching and locating parts? That's part of the fun for me -- the hunt, the find, watching it come alive. Completing a classic truck is like putting a puzzle together.
— Stan Miller, operations manager for Precision Restorations in St. Louis, Missouri
The first question Jon Hantsbarger of Precision Restorations in St. Louis, Missouri, asks his clients is why they want to restore their vintage truck. Is it for a return on investment or for sentimental reasons?
Some people restore classic trucks as a calculated business decision. They purchase the raw body, invest money into the upgrade and sell the final product for a profit. These people closely monitor every cent spent to ensure they end up in the black.
That's not the case when it comes to the sentimental restorers. They are typically willing to spend more money because of the emotional attachment, and their specifications for the job may include some unique requests. "Somebody brought in a '57 GMC pickup," said Hantsbarger, "and he wanted me to leave the dent in the tailgate where he sat with his Grandpa."
As client service manager for Precision Restorations, Hantsbarger needs to know what's motivating his customers, because restoring vintage vehicles is an expensive endeavor.
Precision Restorations' customer demographic skews older, typically between the ages of 40 and 60. The majority are males who are financially independent, either CEOs or business owners, says Hantsbarger.
Truck restoration is the more affordable endeavor when it comes to large vehicles, costing between $10,000 and $25,000, compared to car restoration, which can range from $20,000 to $35,000 depending on the condition and make of the vehicle.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Chevrolet offered a variety of car models, from the Camaro to the Chevelle, Corvette and Impala. Trucks, however, were considered nothing more than service vehicles, something to drag wood or haul hay. Classic trucks are more abundant than cars and can be found nearly everywhere -- rusted and neglected in barns, garages, side lots and fields.
"They built so many trucks compared to regular passenger cars, that they're everywhere," said Steve Flanders, CEO of Brothers Trucks, a vintage parts supplier in Corona, California. "That's part of what keeps the price down." The most popular years for trucks in the restoration industry are between 1949 and 1959, when the bodies were more bubble-shaped compared to the later, boxier models.
Because trucks don't have to be restored to their original factory forms to increase their value, owners can feel free to be creative. To that end, many choose to hot-rod their vehicles, adding outlandish elements that car owners would never consider. "When you buy a '69 SS Camaro, you wouldn't dare bastardize it by putting stupid giant wheels on it and some crazy custom paint job, because it's worth way more stock," Flanders said. "However, if you buy a '69 truck, it's probably worth less if you restore it back to stock than if you put in a full-on custom air-bag suspension and giant disc brakes, lower it to the ground and do all that street mod stuff. You actually make it better than it was to begin with."
Stan Miller, operations manager for Precision Restorations, is restoring a 1939 Chevy pickup truck for himself, and he has chosen to "rat-rod" the vehicle.
"Back in the '40s and '50s, the kids didn't have a lot of money, so they used whatever parts they could find, whether it be a tractor seat or coffee can for an air filter. They used whatever they could to make something work," Miller said. "It's just an array of old parts you'd find in a junkyard. You put a pile of parts together and it's a running automobile. That's a rat-rod-style truck."
The people who restore vintage trucks do it because they love the work. Even more so, they love their clients' reactions when they see the end result. "You get to see them and how excited they are at the end of the build -- the gleam in their eye that they finally made it, looking at every detail," said Miller. "That's the real value for me, to see that customer and the joy that [truck] will bring to him and his family."
But restoration takes plenty of time and patience. "Do you want something you can drive next week, or do you want to spend a year researching and locating parts?" said Miller. "That's part of the fun for me -- the hunt, the find, watching it come alive. Completing a classic truck is like putting a puzzle together."
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
