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Project "Johnny Cash"

It's hard to find rust free trucks anywhere in the Midwest. Especially when they're 40+ years old. Over the past 2 years every time we traveled down south i searched for a truck to bring back home for body parts. I was surprised to find mostly every square body i found was rusted, Florida actually had some of the worst trucks. And any of the good one where either 2wd, or auto trans which makes a difference on the cab.

Buying a truck from out west is the best way to get a rust free truck. And i am looking into pricing out a cab just to weigh out my options. I only payed $2k for this truck so its about what I expected it to be. Clean trucks In Ohio scare me sometimes because they might be nice and original OR they been hacked, filled and painted to look nice from the outside. That's why when I buy projects I try to find ones that are unmolested. I'd rather fix the rust because I know I will do it correctly.

There is a guy around me that buys California squares and parts them out. I'm goin to contact him about some body parts and go from there. But chances are I'm going to be fixing this cab because its less than $300 in patch panels. Im already thinking about shaving the firewall and converting to a vintage air. The cab rust might be the opening to the rabbit hole that leads to some cab modifications to match the chassis. And here I though I would leave the body stock.... what was I thinking 🤔 😅
 
If there is particular rigs any of you are looking for, let me know. I’m not great at hunting them down but it’s not unusual to see some around if you aren’t in a panic to buy. But you need to let me know the specific spots to look for where rusting begins because we just don’t see it so I dont know where to look on different models. Most rusted rig I ever owned was my 69 camaro. It had the landau top so it collected water at the rear window. Each bottom corner had rust that could be covered by a quarter on passenger side and a nickel on the driver side.

There are some folks that think whatever they have is the first Duesenberg model J. but others are more realistic.
 
It sucks dealing with the rust all the time. It sucks up a lot of my time and it’s not cheap either. However, there is a part of me that feels good knowing I am helping to keep these vehicles on the road rather than having them get parted or scrapped.

I was surprised to see that rust on the weatherstrip flange. I thought your cab was more solid than that, but it’s more solid than most up here.
 
The number one thing I hate about living in Ohio... rust. I like getting all 4 seasons. Im close to Lake Erie. ALOT to do in my part of the state for camping and outside adventures. But man the salted roads just kill anything nice up here. Im with Nate, it would be nice to have a rust free truck. But it also good keep one more on the road. They aren't rolling anymore square bodies out of Detroit so this is what I have to work with.
 
Too bad you're about 6 hrs from me . I've got a CC body that I'm going to trash and I think it's got good door frames on it . I'd have to check to be sure .
 
EWC said:
Too bad you're about 6 hrs from me . I've got a CC body that I'm going to trash and I think it's got good door frames on it . I'd have to check to be sure .
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I will gladly pay you for them if your willing to cut them out. Let me know, I was going to try and track down a damaged cab to cut them off of. If it too much of a hassle to ship i will make that drive.
 
Let me get a better look at them . There is not much left , body sitting on the chassis but it does roll . This is a cab and chassis truck so it has the shorter 14 bolt rear . 91 6.2/4L80E but that is swapped into my 86 . No wiring , fenders , bed just the cab and doors . It's pretty much picked over . I've been to Erie and that was about 6 hrs as I'm down by Wash DC . Non AC truck as well .
 
n8in8or said:
The Great Lakes have a lot to offer, I just wish part of it wasn’t rust.
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I would love to move over to northern Wisconsin and occupy a place on a lake with a boat dock, leave the boat in the water all season and pull it once the cold sets in then get ready for the ice fishing season.
One draw back, My nice rust free K3500 would probably last about one season. LOL
There are a few square body trucks in this area, some at quite reasonable prices. I seen one complete running unit that needed a transmission, the guy wanted 800 for it.
 
Well guys, I made a big decision and have been itching to share it with you all. I wanted to wait till I dragged it home though. I had some time to think it over and after looking at the numbers I came to a decision on the body for my truck. The cab was going to take ALOT of work to make it right and live up to the standards I have for this build. EWC offered me a free crew cab I could cut the door opening out of. Which was very awesome of him by the way. And they do make all the patch panels for the cab. But even after I fix that I need doors, fenders, inner fenders, core support, bed sides...ect. I refuse to use aftermarket body panels because of they never fit right. And the fenders and doors I have are already aftermarket so no point in patching them. I called around to a few places that have clean body panels for these trucks to get an idea what I was looking at. The time and money I would have into fixing this cab and gettin the rest of the panels I needed was not worth it. I could buy a complete clean truck for the same price and do a fraction on the body work to make it right.... so thats what I did!

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I picked up a CLEAN 1980 c15 long bed 2wd automatic truck that came from California. Its an original 5.7 diesel truck, that unfortunately was swapped out for a SBC. Both the engine and trans are bad so I got it for a killer price! It was repainted once, but I found no bondo, serious dents, or most importantly rust. This will be a perfect body to swap onto my chassis. Plus its going good save me SOOO much time. I'm really pleased with my decision.
 
Yeah, any of you guys or gals out there looking for rust free stuff - Cali Nevada Arizona is worth the trip.

I love those old style Diesel emblems. Nice and square to fit the truck. Back when the only round things were tires and headlights!
 
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