1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey guys, Barry suggested that I start a thread for my truck project. I hope I am doing this right, and at the right place. If someone sees that I am screwing up. please let me know.
This truck is a 1960 GMC 1002 Wideside,1/2 ton pickup truck. Purchased new in 1959 by my friend, Mr. Grover Sasaman. He bought it for a delivery truck for his new business, Harley Davidson Sales of Macon Georgia. I have video of him and his son Greg getting on a DC-3 to fly to Pontiac, Michigan to get the truck. He drove straight to Milwaukee Wisconson, picked up a couple of crated bikes and drove south. He told me there was a foot of snow in the bed.
Mr. Grover loves the sound of a Harley-Davidson. In the late 1960's ,he swapped a 396 Chevy and auto trans, into the truck. It does sound like a Harley. I wish I could find a good 305 V-6 to put back in, one day. The auto tranny would have to remain.
I hope you enjoy looking at my ole truck. And feel free to offer insights, ideas, even criticisms if you have them. It all helps further the craft. Thanks, Greg Mead


That's Mr. Grover Sasaman on the left, Harley the Truck in the middle, yours truly on the right. Out in front of Mr. Grovers Harley -Davidson dealership in Macon, Georgia, in 2013.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Here is my truck in the phone book back in 1963.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

I took an old picture that Mr.Grover gave me, and tried to ad color to it. This is the truck, circa 1960. It is by far the earliest picture of the truck, and my personal favorite. How about those Buick hubcaps. He also added a Buick pedestal mount clock to the dash. I removed it because it got in my field of vision a lot. I have the correct factory clock in the cluster now. Tach too.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Gary Sasaman looks on as his dad, Grover Sasaman, autographs my truck glove box. I called Gary and told him to have his dad near the front door when I drove up with the truck. He walked out with the biggest smile you ever saw. He really liked what I had done with the old truck. He and the crew put over a million miles on the truck before I got it. When I rebuilt the speedo, I found a hidden 100,000 miles counter. You had to take it out to even know it is on there. It had yielded to mechanical stresses at 875,000 miles. Mr. Grover said it quit working years ago, and that he figured the truck had at least a million miles on it. I totally believe him after having been thru it. It was worn slam out. But now she is poised to tag on the Next Million Miles in style.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

I went by the old Harley Shop on Second Street in Macon the day I got her back on the road. The cobblestones are covered and the dealership has moved, but I gotta tell ya, the old girl still looks right at home out front of the shop. When I was a kid, I thought that was the prettiest truck I ever saw. I still do. But I never dreamed that one day I would come to own and restore and drive it. Being a farm raised country boy, I have a special place in my heart for all the old trucks we used to see out and about. They are really sharp. Some of them even have a story or two to tell us. This is one of them.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Love it!

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Wow! This is a beautiful GMC and an amazing story! The historical aspect and personal stories about these trucks are so valuable besides the money, materials and labor it took to make them what they are. You sure can post your before and build pics and story too!

Thanks for posting!---DAC

P.S., My Dad's family were all Georgia folks!

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Nice Truck and a Great Story about its life, those are the things that make going to Truck Show so much fun, telling folks the story of the truck.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Congrats! A beautiful truck and job both.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Great looking truck! Got any working pics of her where you were doing the resto?

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Fetch, I have thousands of pictures. I bought a digital camera when I started, so I could get pics as we pulled here apart, so I had a clue as to how to get her back together. I wish I had more than the one pic of the before truck. She was pretty far gone. Had it not been for the history of this truck, and my memories of it, I would have never bothered with the truck.
Here are a few pics during the work. Not a lot of rust, but some. She slept inside the Harley shop at night for years. Now I keep her inside the garage, heated and cooled.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Outstanding thread, Greg! Keep up the good work! Any idea how many engines it's had in its million miles? Surely the 396 didn't last that long. What's under the hood now?

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hay man that's a really nice truck. How well does that 396 run??? When you pull it out to drop in the 305 V6 let me know how much you want for that 396 un less someone out there has a 351 GMC V6 they will sell me right cheap.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

The bed wood is Bald Cypress. I went to the wood yard of a local swamp and picked from there select stack. I also made some stake rails to match the floor. "One Time" stain was used. It stinks until fully catalyzed, but does a wonderful job. The 396 is the third motor for the truck. The first 396 was on its last leg when I got the truck. I found this 1971 Camaro 396 in a wrecked 1978 Chevy truck. It was wrapped around a telephone pole. But the motor was just built. I stored it for years till the time came to drop it in. It is still very tight. A friend donated the cast valve covers, and we painted them to match the motor and air cleaner. Sanderson headers and the air cleaner are two of the few new parts. Most of the engine is junk yard finds.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Here is the frame hung from a boom. We used that on a lot of the heavy lifting. I took pictures of all the stamped markings on the frame while I had access and clean metal to work with. Even found a painted production code on the frame rails, completely hidden under the crud of 50 years.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Very nice pics! Keep 'em coming. I'm always a fan of the original stuff but the history and story here are priceless.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Fetch, I grew up comparing other trucks to this one, and always thinking they just could not compare. Never dreamed I would one day own what everybody called "Grovers Truck".
Mr. Grover Sasaman is a living legend around here. He went to the Harley School in 1939. Mr. Harley asked him to start a southern dealership, and he did. During WWII, he built a short take-off field for Jimmy Doolittle and his Tokyo Raiders. They practiced take offs from a carrier deck on the one Mr. Grover built. After that, he went into the US Marine Corps, and served till the end of the war. I am honored to know him and blessed to be the curator and caretaker of this fine old truck. Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Here are some examples of the 1960 Harley-Davidson Tank Badges. They used this for the badging on the truck. In fact, the trucks color scheme was chosen to go with the current trend of Two-Tone paint schemes from Harley-Davidson. I am grappling with the idea of adding the artwork back to the truck. I may wind up going with the new vinyl cling on product. That way, I have the option to peel it off without going back to the paint booth. Any thought or suggestions? No cussin, purists. It had this very badging on it since 1959, when Mr. Grover took it to our local sign shop, and had them paint it on. I like the truck in its current bone stock paint. But I grew up with the badging, and like it too.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

For comparison.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

I had the pleasure of stopping in and seeing Greg's truck on my way home from the Moultrie Georgia swap meet last weekend, and I tell you what - the pictures do not do it justice - the truck looks amazing. Even in this club you just never see a real custom cab 1960-61 GMC anywhere....never see any at shows, for sale online etc, and even fewer with the correct two-tone paint scheme. Cant wait to see it with the Harley Dealership logo back on it the way it was originally.

A buddy of mine has a real, custom cab 1960 GMC w/ short wideside bed, big window, factory PS & PB, Hydramatic, hood jet and very straight GMC specific stainless trim....I have been patiently waiting for him to decide to sell it, and we are getting close now (evil laugh) it will yet be mine

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

I think it would be a fun idea to be able to letter it up like then when desired to bring back the look of the time back then. I was a a sign painter for a few decades but haven't been full time since 2001. At that time static clings were pretty much a product that could only be used on the inside of glass, and pieces that large were not prone to be re-used many times. Probably the tech on it has improved greatly since then. There were pressure sensitive light-tack vinyls that could be easily removed but it was only a one time deal.

Back then I did several multi-piece hand-painted logos on magnetic sheeting. It's a great product and when taken care of, it could last for many years. About all you need to store it when not in use is a piece of sheet metal big enough to hold the pieces without overlapping itself.

I gotta say again (and again, probably) that your history and story with this super-nice GMC is a great read!

DAC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey DAC, I like the magnet idea. I have heard that putting it on and off would scratch the paint. But if I made sure the truck and back sides were clean, I don't see the harm potential being too risky. The tacky vinyl looks great, but I do not like the tacky, long term on the paint. I may be wrong, but I trust that less than the magnets. I think clean, flat storage is the key to the magnets. Some sort of sealable container. Maybe art/hobby stores have something for that purpose. I will check. I wonder how they get the color on the magnets. Ink, or paint? I would love to match the1960 Harley colors . I know Mr. Grover would have made sure they had the current Harley paint. He may have ordered the paint and took it to Mr. Rosson's Sign Company. I am leaning toward magnets. But I am open to other options. Again, thanks for the ideas and help, Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hello, Greg. Yes scratching can occur but as you say keep the contacting surfaces clean and away from shop tools like grinding equipment so no metallic dust can stick to the backside. It's not a bad idea to wax the back of magnetics either just like you do the vehicle surface. Make sure the flat surface you stick them to for storage is as clean as your truck, then just put a garbage bag over them and put them in a closet out of your shop 'till you need 'em again. The back of the magnetic and your truck must be completely dry when applied.

NONE of these products are good long-term on paint. all of them block natural light causing the surrounding paint to age at a different rate and even normal washings and waxing can leave a different sheen, ghost or texture to the painted surface below once exposed again. When it comes to lettering and graphics long-term it still should always be stressed that a re-paint will probably be needed when removed.

Nowadays I would think they will take your directional artwork, make a digital image then print it to vinyl decal material to the size you tell them. Then it would be applied to the appropriate size magnetic sheet and cut into pieces to your specs.

Now, old school like I know better would be drawing a pattern for the arrow without the lettering, and one for the lettering within it. Then I could use both sides of the arrow pattern for the directions without reversing the lettering. Then I would transfer my drawings to the magnetic. Then it is a matter of matching colors and brush-painting. After drying cut by-hand into the needed pieces.

The full vehicle wraps nowadays may be an alternative without uneven paint changes but for this classic truck, that would be some pretty big money, I bet! They ain't cheap anyways.

Hope this helps some---DAC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

There's a dude it Californa has A Nice Runing One Complete. I ship Throught Fastanal and its Always under 200.00

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

You Did A Great Job Love That Color I'm Doing the Same Color on My 1966 GMC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Are you doing the two tone or solid color? Here are a few pictures of me with the original owner. He was showing me the motor mounts that he made to shoehorn the rat where the V6 had been. The rat weighs 200 pounds LESS than the factory 305 V6. First time I ever saw a swap to a big block get a weight reduction too. I may try to get a v6 one day, but I will keep the 396 for posterities sake. It has been in the truck since the late 1960's,so everyone around here expects to see it when you pop the hood. Macon Georgia is a mid sized southern city. I get folks all the time saying they remember the truck. It is hard to get gas without drawing a crowd. But I don't mind, I do the same thing myself. I find it impossible not to be drawn to a big bright shiny object that rumbles and rolls. I know I am 47,but there is still a kid in there. Probably always will. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Here are the other pictures. Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

At 47 you are a kid Greg!---LOL! Great pics and it is very cool the old gent that originally owned it still gets enjoyment from this historic GMC!

DAC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey DAC, Mr. Grover was front and center at the Harley Davidson School in 1939. He is a natural born engineer. He built an aircraft carrier sized takeoff pad for Gen. Jimmy Doolittle(Col. then),to practice launching his B-25 Mitchell Bombers. These tests proved that it could barely be done under ideal conditions, but it could be done. Daring! The Tokyo Raid was made possible in part to the work of Mr. Grover and the other engineers and ground pounders. He is a true living legend around here and I am glad to know him and call him a friend. At 90,I would not want to pi$% him off, because he is still very healthy and he even rides his Harley side car rig to the shop, every day. His generation was made out of some tough mettle. They kept us free. We can not thank them enough.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Here are the primary documents that would have been with each new 1960 GMC 1000 Series truck when it left the dealership. I have each of these for my truck, except for the Owner Protection Policy. I have been looking for one of these for over a decade, and have not been able to source one. I have a 1963 OPP, but not the one I need. Has anyone ever seen a 1960 GMC Gasoline Engines OPP? I also do not have the build sheet, unless it is still hiding under the recovered seat. I wonder why they put them there instead of in the glove box. My truck was picked up at the Pontiac Plant in late 1959 by the original owner. So it never had a dealers window sticker, if they even used them back then. Any documents I may not know about, please let me know.
Thanks, Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hi Greg, I was getting frustrated with my memory since you started talking about this type of literature for 1960. I could dimly remember a pamplet that I looked at many, many times from 1960 to 1964 or 5. It is the "operating" manual you posted above. It had been driving me nuts trying to picture it in my head again and thanks to you posting that great cover art, I will sleep better now! It was in the glove box of the 1960 Suburban in my avatar, and I loved looking at it! Wish I could help with the protection policy.

Thanks, DAC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey DAC, Glad that made your day. I have been offline with a dead modem for the past few days. I will keep looking for the 1960 OPP, so I can make my day. I think the 1960 and 1961 GMCs were the only years for the "Comic Book" manuals. They may well be the only comic style books in all of automobilia. I have never heard of such a novel idea for a manual from any other maker. Even among GM brands, there are no other comic type manuals that I am aware of, I mean of which I am aware. Thanks, Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

So the Comic book style operator guides started in 1955 and ran through 1961. I have been steadily collecting each one of them (since I also collect 50's GMC's) and so far I have all of them except the elusive 56 & 57 ones. Here are some pics of the cool cover art found on the 55-59 ones. I will have to dig up my 61 copy and snap a shot of it for ya'll

PS - at first glance, its easy to assume the 59 & 59 copies are identical - but look at each trucks front bumper! That's right - 1959 marked the end of the iconic "bumper bombs" GMC was famous for in the mid-to-late fifties. So the cover art was altered to eliminate the bombs for 59, otherwise the contents of these two books is the exact same.

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

I think the whole site was down for a couple days, was sure glad to be able to get back on! I'm going to print that cover and hang it on the wall if it's OK with you! That manual may be completely responsible for my GMC addiction so the marketing of the comic style pamplets had the desired affect for the GMC company!

I have a few 50's GMC dealer brochures that have the hand-drawn artwork and specs for larger trucks(not the comic style) and a 1967 one done in that manner also. I love that artwork too.

Thanks for posting yours too Steve! Amazing literature!

DAC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey DAC, Go for it. I want to get the cover and a few other pieces made into large prints to hang in the garage. I had the picture from 1960 of my truck blown up to poster size, at WalMart for 18 bucks. They use Fuji Film Paper, just like your normal prints. They do 18x24 for 12 bucks. That's a great size for the cover art prints. I wish you could get back to Jawja for the meet. I got creek kin in Early County (Damascus). The Alabama side town of Sheffield was founded by my moms ancestors. See if you can make it to the meet. Later, Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

This is a great idea Greg - I may steal this idea and do one for my garage - there are a lot of 1960 GMC brochures and the operators guide that have great art but only in 8 1/2 x 11" and it has never donned on me to have any of that stuff blown up to bigger sizes.....this gives me a reason to go through my 1960 literature collection now and re-examine each one to see what would look cool as a bigger print....seems like I have an extra of one of the comic book operators guides so will look for that too

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey Steve, WalMart Photo Department is the way to go around here. They do great prints on photopaper, at reasonable rates. The big poster I showed you of my truck in my garage was done there, for 18 bucks. The 18x 20 and 18x24 are 12 bucks each. This is the perfect size for this old material. The originals are of a limited DPI so to speak. Tag on 50 years of paper fatigue and the quality is even poorer. But a good clean example should do fine at 16x20 or 16x24. I even did a 16x20 of the wiring diagram, so I can SEE the dang thing. There are other great art potential hiding within the pages of the Service manuals too. I would upload some here now, but for whatever reason I am unable to get pictures to load on this site at this time.
The best original image yields the best print. So get your flatbed scanner glass cleaned, and scan your originals at as high a resolution as it will allow you. Anything above 300DPI will do for smaller prints. For posters, you really need 600DPI or higher to get a decent poster print. Given the option, use Fuji kiosks to input your prints. The other kiosks do not yield colors as well as the Fuji Kiosks. Hope this helps, Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Thanks Greg, your pics are easily large enough right from this site to print a pretty big pic! I will probably do an 8x10 though as darn-near every wall in the shop has some kind of stuff hanging on it--LOL!

Jawja!!!!-----I deeeeclayyyaaa!!!!! I spent many summers in Crawfordville as a kid and miss those days tremendously! Don't know if W.H. Crawford that started C'Ville in the 1820's is any kind of relative. Family wasn't aware of any connection either.

Me and the kids in 2003.

DAC

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Hey DAC, What a great picture. Macon has the AH Stephens Magnet School. Crawfordville has the AH Stephens Academy. We got a Stephens County in Georgia after the "Recent Unpleasantness" ,I do Declare. I bet every town in Georgia had an AHS school in the late 1800's. Truly a great Son of Georgia. I have included the 1961 GMC Operator Manual Front Cover. Inside cover will not load. Aggravating. This apparently is the final comic book Operator Manual ever produced by GMC. When you remember where that 1960 Owner Protection Policy booklet is, please let me know, haha. Greg Mead

Re: 1960 Harley-Davidson of Macon Delivery Truck
 

Thanks, Greg, for the pic compliment and another scan of that cool manual! If I could find that protection policy I hope it is in that Suburban!! I would be keepin' it then!

Crawfordville is also home of "Liberty Hall" that was the home and is now part of A.H. Stephens State Park as you probably know. There is also the "Museum of the Confederacy" which opened in 1952. My aunt Laura Lee was stricken with polio in the early '30's and spent a lot of time at Warm Springs. Obviously she returned home mostly paralized but her expertise of the War got her the job of the first curator of that Museum when it opened, and she stayed in that position for around 35 years. When she passed in 1993 that was the last of our family in Crawfordville.

This pic is Laura in 1958 working at the museum and I'm the little shirtless kid in the background..

DAC