New 66 GMC ratrod project

[bozzhogg]

How much do you want for the 351 V6. I'll try to scrape up the cash if you don't want too much for it. Ross

[fletch]

Ross, if u end up with the big engine, I will take your 305 off your hands.

[Andice]

I was a member of the Kaiser-Frazer Owner's Club for many years. I owned a Henry J. The older, usually better off Frazer owners would not bother to acknowledge a younger, usually new-to-the-hobby Henry J owner. The Kaiser owners were a little more friendly but the belief was that the Henry J hastened the demise of the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation so there was no love lost for the Henry J or it's present day owners. I just wanted to own a car that was unique and I tried to do all that I could to perpetuate the make and model whenever possible. Sure, I would have preferred to have all of the Henry J owners restore their cars to original factory condition using only NOS parts. But I did not own every Henry J so I had no control over how fellow owners restored or modified their cars. Some of them added AC for comfort, some added bigger engines for more power, some added radials for better handling and traction. I like old cars and trucks and whatever it takes to keep them on the road while remaining safe and reliable is OK with me.

[bigblockv6]

David, don't worry you're not the only one out there that assumed GMC's built after 66 lost their differences, I've run into this situation with other members over the years. What I would like to add is 1969 started being a transitional year as 1/2 ton GMC trucks came equipped with corporate 12 bolt axles as well as coil spring suspension was offered again, something that GMC discontinued after 1962 because they didn't like the way it functioned and the V6 was dropped in light duty trucks around March 1969. Obvious to see the trend was to produce trucks that were almost completely interchangeable with the other division which eventually lead GMC trucks being assembled together on the same assembly lines as Chevrolet trucks.

[turbohounds]

Thanks for all the comments - as we dig more into our GMC, we're appreciating more the uniqueness, but everything is in pretty rough shape. We are trying to salvage what we can and preserve it well, right down to not using new tail light lenses because they have a bow tie on the lens. Our body shop has pretty much talked us in to faux patina, so we can preserve rare parts like the hood.

We're starting up a blog to track the progress of the build:
http://1966gmcratrod.blogspot.com