GMC General at abandoned house

[Ol2Stroker]

Damn that's a sweet 359!

[Mcrafty1]

Generals were pretty nice trucks back in the day. I always liked the one Jerry Reed drove in Smokey and the Bandit II. Thinking about that kind of takes me back to my child hood when they built cool trucks and cool movies, and when I was asked what I wanted to do when I grow up I'd tell them I wanted to be a truck driver cause it was a real mans job and it was a cool job. What the heck happened?

The gubmint took over with all their regulations and now all truck drivers are book taught.

[JTFormula]

I think I know the former owner of your truck. Big Ed Wilburn. He drove a lowboy for a friend of mine. He lived in the house across from Ramtown-Greenville Road in the south end of Howell. He was a nice guy and a good driver. A very large black man. He told me when he retired he was going to pick up a day cab tractor and see if he could make a couple bucks with it. I believe he had been an owner operator before. If you think of selling that truck, I'd be interested. Ed was a really good guy. - Tom

Tom, I sent you a message with my phone number. I would love to talk to you. This was Eds old truck he bought from Best.

[JTFormula]

I just realized I never posted the video of the wife and I going for a cruise.

[farmer52]

Great! Gotta love that driptroit moan!

[Vladislav]

That's cool to see it running and you driving!

Good sound and looks it goes fast.

And I'd say my shifting skills went not much further from what you did in the video.

[JTFormula]

Thanks Vlad. It's a strong running truck. Considering that was the 4-5 time I drove it without anyone teaching me not bad.

Ken, it sounds better in person but LOUD!

[Dirtymilkman]

Ooh, a redhead!

[farmer52]

Careful DM....JT may open a can of whoopa$$ on you. Just sayin'

BTW, Mrs. JT is a nice person.

[mrsmackpaul]

good onya JT wouldnt worry about shifting skills slow right down dont race the gears you have plenty of time to get to the next gear watch the tacho and it will slip on thru no noise nothing with out using the clutch at all most blokes only use the clutch when taking off the old Road Ranger is very easy to shift just dont rush it steady steady

once you get it happening you will find when you have no trailer on you can skip most of the gears and still change with no clutch

Dont push the clutch all the way to the floor it will activate the clutch brake and grind the gears if it has a clutch brake fitted

good luck with the sale

Paul

[thomastractorsvc]

Pretty neat video. If you can keep it do it, remember it don't eat and poop so it is easy to take of.

[JTFormula]

Paul - Thanks for the tips. I want to get out and drive it one more time before it gets sold. I have a interested buyer from this site who is in PA. He sounds like the right buyer and more importantly I will hopefully get to see the truck finished. Its sad but my business is more important right now. I buy something else down the road once some steady money is flowing again.

[41chevy]

Paul - Thanks for the tips. I want to get out and drive it one more time before it gets sold. I have a interested buyer from this site who is in PA. He sounds like the right buyer and more importantly I will hopefully get to see the truck finished. Its sad but my business is more important right now. I buy something else down the road once some steady money is flowing again.

One tying that took me 40 plus years to almost learn, there will most times be another coming along. Paul

[Outbehindthebarn]

Pretty neat video. If you can keep it do it, remember it don't eat and poop so it is easy to take of.

Former horse owner????

[Outbehindthebarn]

I just realized I never posted the video of the wife and I going for a cruise.

It sounds hotter than my '92.... yes, moan-ier... I think two strokes run better in GMC's, they feel at home!

[JTFormula]

Well the end of an era has happened. The General sold yesterday. I actually sad it went but it did go to a good home in NY State. More importantly is that the new owner has a large garage to keep it out of the weather and it's going to live a retired life pulling a trailer of restored John Deere tractors to shows and probably going to bring it to some truck shows too.

I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear as I watched it roll on to the highway on the low boy when they left.

[41chevy]

Well the end of an era has happened. The General sold yesterday. I actually sad it went but it did go to a good home in NY State. More importantly is that the new owner has a large garage to keep it out of the weather and it's going to live a retired life pulling a trailer of restored John Deere tractors to shows and probably going to bring it to some truck shows too.

I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear as I watched it roll on to the highway on the low boy when they left.

When the time is right , you'll find another.

I look at the space my Vicky was and now thing how cool a '56 Merc will look there.

[Vladislav]

Congrats on the deal JT.

I feel for you but you did what you had to and it's done.

Anyway you've got a big lot of experience of owning a big toy what doesn't seem an easy thing (to me), especially being not a mechanic yourself.

Hope in the end it was a deal not a steal.

[JTFormula]

Well I do have my eye on a B30 wrecker that's been for sale for a while. I speak with the owner Tim on a regular basis. Once my business is in full swing and money is not as much of a worry I'm going to check it out. Hopefully before Macungie.

[41chevy]

Well I do have my eye on a B30 wrecker that's been for sale for a while. I speak with the owner Tim on a regular basis. Once my business is in full swing and money is not as much of a worry I'm going to check it out. Hopefully before Macungie.

I have a complete rebuilt 1956 330 c.i. 255 h.p. DeSoto Fire Dome Hemi and a MACK B model firetruck Hemi Bell Housing adapter I could be persuaded to trade for something.

[JTFormula]

I have a complete rebuilt 1956 330 c.i. 255 h.p. DeSoto Fire Dome Hemi and a MACK B model firetruck Hemi Bell Housing adapter I could be persuaded to trade for something.

One step at a time. But it would be a cool conversion. There's also a B61 rollback in PA that I would have interest in as well. Both b's are around the same price. I'm not close to doing anything though.

[41chevy]

I've had the combo for 6 or so years. I only bought it from Jack Merkel Racing because I didn't want to see the combo be split up for some ones hot rod. Sits in the container with all it's other hemi friends.

[DieselDeere]

Well the end of an era has happened. The General sold yesterday. I actually sad it went but it did go to a good home in NY State. More importantly is that the new owner has a large garage to keep it out of the weather and it's going to live a retired life pulling a trailer of restored John Deere tractors to shows and probably going to bring it to some truck shows too.

I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear as I watched it roll on to the highway on the low boy when they left.

Small world. I'm the guy in NY that bought this and while searching for some parts for this old girl through the power of google, I stumbled across this thread. If it's alright with you guys, I'd like to do my best to keep the progress of this truck documented in this one location since JT has done such a good job so far.

While cleaning the cab, I realized the rubber floor mat was soaked, most likely from a water leak in the cowel, so i removed that and vaccuumed the floor clean to let it dry out. I will wire wheel and paint the floor to protect/seal it and then remake the rubber mat. I had to replace a few s194 bulbs in the dash to get all the warning/turn signal indicators to work, and fix some grounds to the cab lights. Im just really impressed how complete and rust free the truck is. Today i decided to take both door panels off to address the door latches and exterior handles. A plethora of broken torsion springs really compounded to not allowing them to work the way they should. Anyway, like what was already mentioned, this will be a truck to haul tractors to pulls and shows and will be painted black to match the rest of the fleet.

[mrsmackpaul]

welcome mate good to see it has gone to good home I thought it looked black already maybe my eyes are getting old

Paul

[41chevy]

Welcome. Keep the progress photos coming . Paul