1953 Chevrolet Pickup - Backside Beautification

Unlike an OE application, though, the sheathing was run through the rear stake pocket on the bed, which required drilling a hole.

Rubber grommets were used to secure the sheathing in place, as well as make the routing look decent.

Due to the previous owner's non-standard wiring techniques, the loom from the ignition and brake light switch had to be redone to power up the taillights "properly," not to mention give the truck actual "stop"lights!

The '53 will eventually be completely rewired with a kit from American AutoWire; in the meantime, scratch wiring will suffice. I also like to use non-insulated connectors with heat shrink when possible, but the old-school method works for now.

Now you can see how the extra license plate mount is utilized. Worked perfectly, as the back window didn't need to be cluttered up.

Probably a poorly chromed repop, the truck's rear bumper was in sad shape. Thanks to Brothers show-chrome offerings, that was soon to be a past issue.

As mentioned, this is by no means a "restoration" project, hence the reuse of a '54 bumper. Without exaggeration, the new bumper is flawless-no orange peel, foggy chrome, or wavy metal; just a solid bumper that shines like a mirror.

With the bumper mounted, all that remained was to install the new '54-1st Series '55 license bracket. Previously, the license plate was mounted with sheetmetal screws...no light, either.

Much better-and more policeman friendly! Having been cited for insufficiently lit license plates and insufficient taillights (one) in the past was a heavy factor in this portion of the project. (Yes, I do realize the plate is incorrect for the year of the truck...let's just call it a prop!)

To give the running light some juice, I simply jumped a wire off the taillight lead. The future harness will have its own lead; for the time being, this will work just fine.

In a day's time, which included running over to Brothers to pick the parts up, the back of the truck was breathing new life. As you can see by the rest of the bed, there's still a long ways to go, but for the time and effort spent, you can't beat the improvement. Thanks Brothers...we'll be seeing you again soon!