Close-up

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, The Ribble Group Inc., Kaukauna, Wis., restored a 1950s truck to resemble one of the company's original service vehicles.

The Ribble Group purchased the truck for $2,800 from a body shop in Washington state. The truck was shipped, and the company received it in late January 2007. The Ribble Group stripped the truck down to the frame and started to catalog the missing parts. The frame was sandblasted and painted, and the front part of the frame was replaced with a more modern frame that allows power steering and power disc brakes. The brake and suspension work was completed around April 2007.

The truck did not have a motor or transmission so The Ribble Group installed a rebuilt 350 motor with a 700r4 automatic overdrive transmission. Because of the customization of the suspension, the company had to use a power steering pump and alternator from a 1982 pickup truck, drive shaft and radiator from a 1966 Chevelle and exhaust and headers from a 1979 Trans Am. The restored frame was delivered to Enneper Garage & Body Shop Inc. in Brillion, Wis., to be painted in late summer of 2007.

All of the body parts were stripped down to bare metal. The running boards and cab corners had significant rust, and new metal had to be installed. The truck was then primed, painted and ready to be reassembled at the end of January 2008. The Ribble Group put it together, ran the fuel lines, wired the truck and installed the custom seat.

The truck was finished as seen on March 7, 2008, just a few hours before it needed to be in the first home show of the year. Restoring the truck cost about $25,000.

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