1950 Chevrolet Truck: Resurrecting a Rockin’ Chevy
L.A. musician Mike DeTemple once rocked with the best bands around. Now, 25 years later, he plans to roll again in his old group’s vintage Chevy.
Back in 1971, Mike DeTemple was a working musician living in Los Angeles when he traded a series of guitar lessons for a 1950 Chevrolet half-ton truck. For years it was his only means of transportation, which he later used to take his kids to school in the 1980s as the rocker transitioned into a suburban dad.
Now, DeTemple’s daughter, Annie, and her husband, Johnny, who are also musicians, have rescued the vintage Chevy pickup truck from a 25-year exile to a field in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to resurrect it as a cool occasional cruiser.
These days DeTemple, who is pictured in the main photo above strumming a mandolin, still resides in his hometown of Los Angeles, where he builds custom instruments as the owner of DeTemple Guitars. And the Chevy pickup truck, of course, still has a special place in his heart. The vintage vehicle also holds special sentimental value for Annie, whose stickers from kindergarten are still on the back window.
The 1950 Chevy truck ended up being put out to pasture — literally — at a ranch, where it sat untouched under the New Mexico sun for decades, until recently.
DeTemple drove the truck until the early 1990s, but by then it had seen better days and was no longer suited for a man with a wife and kids and a house in the suburbs. So, the 1950 Chevy truck ended up being put out to pasture — literally — at a New Mexico ranch owned by DeTemple’s brother-in-law. It sat untouched under the New Mexico sun for decades, until recently.
Recently, when auto enthusiasts Annie and Johnny learned that the truck was still sitting out in the desert, they became determined to rescue the abandoned Chevy and bring it back to life.
The first order of business involved using a heavy-duty leaf blower and a hose to remove a frightening amount of spiders, bugs, and dirt from under the hood and inside the cab. Next up was replacing a couple of 40-year-old tires as well as the brake pedal and parking brake. Luckily, the clutch was good and the motor had compression.
WWII may have ended in 1945 but the 1950 Chevy is still pretty much a prewar truck. The gas tank is behind the seat, the battery is under the passenger floor, the brake and clutch pedals work through the floor (with the master cylinder under the driver’s feet), and the starter has a foot-operated switch instead of a solenoid. This truck actually has six pedals if you count the starter, e-brake, and high beam dimmer along with the usual clutch, brake, and gas.
DeTemple says the 261-cubic inch Stovebolt motor was blown out in the late 1970s and swapped in was a similar-sized inline six-cylinder engine from a two-ton truck. Fortunately, the dry New Mexico desert had been kind to the Chevrolet truck’s motor and it was able to be rotated fairly easily once the plugs were taken out and some oil squirted in the cylinders.
Next, they took apart the carburetor to see what kind of goo was left in the bottom of it. Luckily, there is enough room for a whole second motor under the hood, so getting to everything is quite easy. In the process of removing it, the fuel and breather lines fell apart, even though they were made out of some odd, military-grade, braided material with AN fittings on the end.
What was in the bottom of the carb looked like old dried-out shoe polish and smelled worse. But after a good soak in some Gumout and gasoline, it softened up and could be scrubbed clean.
With that done, and a fuel fitting, filter, and some rubber lines bought from the local NAPA, the fuel system was taken care of. A battery of recent vintage was lifted from another project car and hooked to both the truck and a charger. The motor was topped up with fresh oil and the radiator was filled with Prestone and water, and it was ready to run…almost.
Somewhere along the line, the coil wire to the distributor had gone missing. Not only that, but all the plug wires had been pulled from the distributor cap, and one of the two spring clips that holds it down was awol as well. Amazingly enough, the two lost pieces were close enough to VW parts that Johnny’s stash provided replacements.
The firing order is easily discovered but on a truck this old there is no timing mark and tab at the front that can be easily referenced (it’s on the flywheel in the bell housing). The approximate TDC was found with a wire in the plug hole, and from there it was easy.
With the motor cranking, it only needed fuel and spark to run now. The spark plug wires were readjusted based on a better guess of where TDC was and put back on. Thankfully, there was no fuel in the tank, so this is when a gallon of gas and a bottle of Gumout Fuel System Cleaner were added, but nothing was pumping into the clear fuel filter. Emulating Wayne Carini and the guys on Chasing Classic Cars, a few ounces of gas were dribbled into the carb and the starter was tried again.
Once that was done, and there were no clouds of smoke or rod knocks, it was time to call it a successful day of wrenching. These Stovebolt motors are hard to kill. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning. There is still lots to do on upcoming weekends, and we’re looking forward to further bringing back to life a vintage 1950 Chevrolet truck, perhaps as a near-daily driver again? Stay tuned to Chevrolet Forum for updates on the rockin’ relic.