Slowly but, without a doubt, surely my '53 Chevy 3100 is coming around. While the '75 is down for paint, which for obvious reasons hasn't been kind on the wallet, I've had ample time to devote to the five-window. The problem is the aforementioned pocket draining hasn't made it too easy to do everything I want with that free time. Fortunately, the next area to be addressed-the rear-didn't take a large sum of cash to accomplish. The simple addition of a pair of '47-53 taillights with a shiny new '54 bumper and license plate bracket/light literally gave new life to the truck's backside. It took but a few hours to accomplish, and best of all, left some change to buy lunch and a few cold ones!
Obviously, there's plenty left to address on the '53. While plans are being made for the upcoming Keisler TKO five-speed swap, the new Classic Performance Products suspension and brakes, and the Horkey's bed wood kit, all of which require a bit of "careful penny pinching," Brothers has made it possible to keep busy and actually accomplish some things that make an immediate visual impact-which in some cases, can be just as important as mechanical upgrades. For each and every external accessory upgrade, I just hop in the truck and head over to Brothers. Unless the items I'm after are out of stock (which hasn't happened in the past), I can head home or to the shop and install or swap out with the old parts-like the previous installment on the grille, visor, and front bumper. Short of body and paint, the ol' truck is starting to look better each month.
Before moving on to the photo documentation of the day's work, some of you might be asking why a '54 bumper was used with standard '47-53 taillights. For one, the truck had a '54 rear bumper on it when purchased, as well as one '54 taillight. Not caring much for the later light styles led to the choice of the correct units for the '53. But the decision to stick with the "wrong" bumper is a different story. As you will see in the end, the need for a location to mount a club plaque played a major part in the decision. Hanging in the rear window wasn't an option (too small an area to sacrifice), so having the stock '53 bracket integrated with the taillight mount offered the perfect solution for a plaque location. If the Chevy were a restoration project, it would have never been an issue...it's not!
Despite the fact that the...
Despite the fact that the front end was addressed first, the rear was by far in more dire need of attention. Along with a shoddy-looking bumper, there were a couple "technical" issues to tend to.
Technically speaking, the...
Technically speaking, the single taillight's "On/Off" switch was beyond, uh, impractical? Two spade connectors linking the single '47 Chevy sedan delivery light (which replaced the dilapidated '54 unit previously mounted) would never pass a safety point inspection-at least not an official one.
The righting of wrong started...
The righting of wrong started with the acquisition of a set of '47-53 taillights/brackets from Brothers. Plated and powdercoated to show finishes, the parts will easily make the remainder of the rear end pale in comparison.
Adding the second (right-side)...
Adding the second (right-side) taillight posed no problem, as the correct-era bed already had mounting holes for the impending bracket. From the factory, having a "pair" of taillights was an option; in today's world, it's a must, especially when dealing with younger officers of the law.
When first contemplating how...
When first contemplating how to address the mismatched situation, the left-side bracket was simply going to be relieved of the license plate mount. The need for a location to mount a cast-aluminum club plaque dictated otherwise.
Having a newer Tahoe, not...
Having a newer Tahoe, not to mention a stash of old Volkswagen tools, came in handy when installing the taillights-the fasteners required a 10mm wrench.
While at a recent swap meet,...
While at a recent swap meet, I snagged a few lengths of stainless flex sheathing that was used to shroud the external taillight wiring.