1959 GMC "250" 1 Ton Dually. Modernized hauler, updated chassis, Must Look!

1959 GMC Other Description

1959 1 Ton Flatbed. Modernized Hauler and Updated Chassis! Nice! GMC “250”

This is one of the most Classic, Cool, and Tough Trucks around! 3000 miles on odometer since rebuild! You will be proud to drive and work with this one. Classy enough to put on a Suit and show up for a meeting. (that ain’t me, jeans and steel toes here.) Started with a rust free truck off a farm in Oregon, original truck had low miles, complete, and rust free! Body was very nicely fabricated and mounted onto a 1975 Chevy 1-ton HD frame and running gear. (they had two chassis options that year, this is the heavier of the two). Everything about the 1959 GMC fits this frame so nicely you will think it was the factory setup! (Im a pretty awesome fabricator, had to give myself a pat on the back for this one;) And now the nicest part….This truck drives like a dream!

Well a 1975 Chassis is a HUGE upgrade for a truck like this. You now have nice heavy duty Independent Front Suspension, heavy duty disc brakes and power steering. Brakes are Hydro-boost. (The Hydro-boost was nicely mounted to the firewall and properly triangulated with the steering column and dash brace…no flexing of dash when you hit the brakes! For those not familiar with Hydro-boost; they are a power brake assist ran off the power steering system. I am a huge fan of these brake units they come standard equipment with 1 Ton trucks). The great part of a full frame swap is all the Factory GM engineering for the suspension, engine mounts, drive line angle, rear suspension, etc is all left in tact. Truck has dual fuel tanks on the frame rails, 40 gallons total capacity. An additional factory 1959 fuel fill was added to the passenger side of the cab. Original 59 fills are plumbed to the tanks on the frame. So it appears you are filling a factory fuel tank behind the seat…just another detail I thought would be nice. Also has electric fuel tank control on the dashboard. Nice frame mounted tow receiver, wired for the 7pin “RV” (seems to be the most common, that is what most trailers and U-haul use) electric hook up, and also a nice electric trailer brake controller mounted under the dash.

This is a Turn Key, very smooth running and driving truck. Probably the nicest and smoothest 454 I have ever built too! Truck sounds awesome, has tons of power, and idles so smooth at 500 RPM. 454 is from 1975 and had 30,000 factory miles on it when I took it apart. (This is not the engine that came with donor truck for the chassis) A family friend had been holding onto this engine since the 70’s. He pulled it out of a brand new wrecked truck in the late 70’s and literally sat under his bench since then. Since it had been sitting so long I took the entire engine apart for a freshen up. Everything was measured and cleaned, crank and bores are standard with no wear or ridge (once again engine only had 30K on it) Rear of engine is stamped HI-PO but not sure if that means anything. Installed new rings and and bearings just because I had it all apart. Comp cams “Towing” cam was installed with matching valve springs, all new valves and lifters, and roller rockers. This cam is slightly more aggressive than a “RV” cam; has lots of mid range power and low end torque, and a nice idle. GM performance valve covers, Edelbrock performer intake and 750 electric choke carb. Brane new HEI distributer and wires. Modern pulleys and accessories were adapted to the front of the engine…YES no more V-belts! Accessories are off a 1997 Chevy 454, serpentine belt drive now, 120 Amp Heavy duty alternator, and even the factory A/C compressor! Transmission was a Solid TH400 that was degreased, re-sealed and put to work. It operates and shifts very nicely.

Truck only has 3000 miles since rebuild and its hard for me to believe since I have had so much fun with it so far. I have already hauled numerous trailers boats and cars. We took a 1000 mile trip down to bend Oregon to pick up a old Step Van. This truck had no problem pulling that big trailer and 6000 pound Van! Let me tell you this is the Coolest truck on the road, especially when you are passing someone fully loaded with a trailer! Gets looks, smiles, waves and high fives every where it goes!

1959 GMC 1 Ton Body, Cab, and Interior:

Factory and functional GM spotlight….this is so cool and fun!…just remember not everyone thinks it’s funny all the time (maybe i shouldn’t have spotted the state patrol? oh well all in good fun!)

Duel fuel fill, additional “59” fill added to passenger side, nice storage behind seat with no gas tank there.

All the chrome is original and in nice but not perfect shape. I love the amount of resources used to build the trim on these old trucks! The GMC emblem on the hood must weigh 10 pounds! Factory turn signal bezels in the grille were replaced with “engine turned” aluminum they look pretty trick!

Factory gauge panel was re made with “Engine Turned” aluminum, full set of Marshall gauges installed. Gauges are nice. Only Gauge I had problem with was the calibration of the oil pressure…it doesn't read right. There was a mechanical Oil pressure gauge hooked to the engine for the entire break in and it has proper oil pressure. I re installed the mechanical gauge once the electric started goofing up and reconfirmed twice oil pressure was good. (Im an engine guy, wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing that) Gauge panel has LED turn signal and HI-beam indicator.

Original 1959 COOL Parking brake lever was retained and modified to work with new chassis parking brake. This parking brake was originally mounted to the 4 speed transmission that came with the truck. Obviously the original trans is gone, so I engineered some real trick brackets to get this to work. (was a fun challenging project) The original lever was just so cool had to make it work…and it works well!

Factory seat was professionally rebuilt and covered in nice quality lemans black Leather. This truck smells so good and leatherly like on the inside! (yes leatherly) Hey Ill take that smell over the original gas smell any day! Seat is two toned with cream vinyl up top and cream piping to match the body. We added some extra soft foam to the front edge of the cushion it really added a bunch on the comfort level! Leather sun visor and custom two tone leather headliner.

Body was a very rust free and solid start. Cab corners were replaced. hood and doors are solid, floorboards solid, interior steps and door hinge pockets all rust free. (If you know these series of trucks, its very hard to find rust free steps and hinge pockets) All the body panels fit very nicely except for the drivers door….AH of course the drivers door! it doesn’t fit horrible its only been slammed a million times sine 1959! The door fitment on these old GM trucks were even a little shabby from the factory. Also the factory 1959 GM door latches were a little shabby as well, a “bear claw” upgrade would definitely be nice. Doors rattle slightly even with all new seals.

Inner fenders on engine side were painted and pinstriped with a little 50’s style accent.

Truck was taken completely apart for the fabrication and mounting on the chassis. body and cab were painted in pieces with all the glass out etc. It has a very nice a paint job on it, but this truck was built and has been used for the purpose of being a work truck! I built this truck to hop in it with your work boots, hook up the trailer, load up the bed and USE IT! It is so much fun I really hate to Sell it. Too many projects ! So there are some very minor paint dings here and there.

Stereo: Not complete: Factory speaker housing above the windshield has two very high quality tweeters installed inside it. I have two matching 6” component speakers and crossovers that are not mounted yet. I did not want to drill the doors. I was going to make some trick fiberglass speaker pods for the kick panels just never got to finish it. Also was going to mount a nice navigation head unit in the glove box for cross country hauling and NAV but never got that far either. Brand new Component speakers are included with sale. there is NO head unit or Stereo.

Doors were completely disassembled all new seals and window track installed, vent window rebuild and re sealed. all new rubbers and seals were used on the truck .

Has an American Auto Wire “Highway 15” wire harness nicely installed and loomed, all connections soldered. There is room left for some additional circuits, stereo, A/C etc.

Engine and Running Gear:

1975 Chassis: The chassis came from a nice running and driving donor truck. it stops well, and goes down the road so nice! I have built and driven cars and trucks with Camaro clips, with mustang two kits, I even build a truck with AMC Pacer front suspension once….this truck drives so nice compared to all those previously mentioned!

All new steel brake line was plumbed front to rear, new master cylinder, new front brake hoses, front brake pads.

Fuel tanks removed, cleaned and flushed. Driver tank sender replaced, needs passenger tank sender replaced. (gauge on passenger tank reads 1/4 more full than it is….i have figured it out and just haven’t messed with it)

Frame was cleaned, de-greased, and a rubberized undercoat sprayed on it after the fabrications were made to mount the body.

Front and rear suspension. This is all still original 1975 equipment. The donor truck had approx. 140K miles on it and still drives really nice. I don’t hear any clunking, squeaking or anything, handles and steers nicely. Driveline is also original 1975 equipment, the u joints looked like they had been replaced at one point in its life, i just inspected and felt the joints and put it to work.

1975 “HI-PO” 454. 30,000 original miles, taken apart and inspected. 3000 miles on it now after freshen up.

New bearings, rings, timing set, COMP Cams NICE! I will make sure you get cam tag and numbers because you will want to recommend this cam to your friends after you drive it! New lifters, valves, matched springs, roller tip rockers.

New exhaust manifolds, dual exhaust and mufflers, sounds awesome, pipes were tucked up tight.

New Edelbrock performer intake and 750 carb. Nice canister fuel filter mounted on inner fender

Rebuilt factory radiator and new flex fan. All new hoses, belt, etc.

new 120Amp alternator, water pump, power steering pump

New power steering pump and hoses

Transmission is a TH400 that was cleaned, de greased and re sealed. Has a Lokar Midnight series shifter.

Future Upgrades:

As you can probably tell by now I am the one who built this truck, and I love it! The truck is totally turn key and completely functional. But here is my list of what I was going to continue on with.

Front Suspension and rear leaf springs. Like I mentioned it is original 1975 equipment and all though it doesn't need it yet i was gearing up to take apart and rebuild front end. also take a look at rear leaf springs, etc…

Transmission. The TH400 this truck runs and operates great and is perfectly geared for around town. It can do 65 or 70 on the freeway no problem its just revved up a little higher. I believe 70mph is about 3000 RPM. I was going to eventually upgrade the truck with a 700R4 overdrive trans.

Vintage Air heat and A/C unit. The factory GMC heater is installed and Heat/Defrost work just fine. The A/C compressor is already mounted on the engine, I was going to get the Vintage Air factory fit unit. Living in Seattle this really only important for about a week so it was low on the priority list. But I did intend on driving this thing cross country so A/C was in mind.

Steering Column: The steering column from the 1975 donor was cleaned up, painted cream and put to work. It is kind of ugly because it has the ignition on the column (the actual ignition switch is on the dash board) Also the steering column comes pretty close to the exhaust manifold. It clears just fine, but it could be upgraded and made nicer with a new column and linkage.

Bear Claw latches. Factory 1959 latches weren't very good to start, they do close and have a positive latch (i am not worried about flying out) they just rattle some.

Stereo…maybe you just like the sounds of the 454?

Bed wood/boxes. I found this really cool aluminum material i was going to purchase for the bed just never got there. but here is something that you can get creative with! I was going outfit this truck with a bunch of nice diamond plate boxes….never got there either. The bed just has some construction grade 3/4 ply for now…it works!

You will be so happy to own this truck ! Wish I had more room to keep it, but living in the city and with all my projects, I have to say good bye! Let me know if you have any questions or need more pictures. I am going to put the truck up on the lift tonight or tomorrow and take some pictures from underneath. Thanks and Happy Bidding!