JR's Korner of BillyBob's Garage

WHAT'S NEW is a chronological listing of updates to the BillyBob site.

TRUCK LINKS including vendor sites for old parts, custom parts, and tools as well as sites for classic car and truck organizations

STORE Operating in association with Amazon.com, books, recordings and tools can be purchased.

PLANNING for the restoration including project schedule and cost estimates.

TRAVELS WITH BILLYBOB With apologies to Steinbeck, this area of BillyBob's Garage will be used to log the trips BillyBob and I make together.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS was the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I could accomplish without a garage up until the summer of 2010 when I finally got enough warehouse space to work in. Now, it also includes the continuing work on BillyBob in the shop.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and adventures between time of purchase and the time when I started restoration, a piece at a time.

JR'S KORNER JR's Korner is the history of BillyBob before I got him authored by my brother, Wm. C. Kephart.

BILLYBOB MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for BillyBob, including required tools, materials and procedures.

PARTS SHOP The Parts Shop is a repository of How-To articles. Things that I have done over and over enough times to have developed a procedure. This gives me a checklist and saves brain cells.

STEALTH SHOP Urban residence design with large integrated shop and separate living quarters for a relative or renter.

1. JR meets the pickup

I needed a truck! After three attempts to have a washer and dryer delivered without success, I knew that only my own delivery vehicle would compensate for the great lack of professionalism on the part of the appliance deliverymen.

I can think of no greater waste of time than sitting in a Laundromat while one's clothing is being cleaned. Now I had a townhouse with a washer/dryer hook-up. I went to the local appliance store where a snappy young overdressed salesman approached. "What can I sell you today?" "A washer and dryer" I said. The salesman hauls me over to a black washer/dryer pair. This group has about twenty controls and enough board feet of plastic Mahogany to trim out the sides of a '65 Country Squire station wagon. "Listen . . ." I said, "You'll be able to close the deal if you start at the bottom of the product line instead of at the top." He did, I said "I'll take it." and the deal was done in five minutes.

The salesman said that the delivery guys would call me at work when they would make the delivery so I could leave work and be home before they got there. For three consecutive days I found a card hanging on my doorknob politely telling that I wasn't home when they tried to deliver my goods! I finally stayed home all day and they came at 6 P.M. I needed a TRUCK!

A year passes. During the year I move from the townhouse to your standard 950 square foot, built from a planbook, ranch style starter home. I could have used a truck for the move. I didn't have one. I had to buy a Refrigerator. Back to the appliance store and the same customer oriented delivery practices. I needed a TRUCK!!

I'm at work discussing my need for a truck when an engineer by the name of Pete said "My uncle has an old pick-up he wants to sell." "What kind? how old? how's the condition?" "Wait, wait, wait...let me call him." Pete said. Over the course of a few days we make arrangements to look over the truck, which turns out be a Chevy of indeterminate year, and talk a little turkey.

The appointed day arrives and I drive to a former mining company town, the kind of town where all the houses are sixteen feet wide, thirty feet long, four feet apart, two story and dingy gray color from years of coal dust exposure.

Pete's uncle's name is Yak. Yak says "Come on in! Here's a Stoneys (Local beer in a normally proportioned but very big bottle). So you want to buy my truck." For the next half hour while we drank our beers we talked about Old Chevys, the coal industry, the Steelers, and old Chevys. Finally, it's time to go look at the truck.

Out in the shed behind the house that passed for a garage sat a juniper green half ton 1955 first series Chevy. I didn't know, and neither did Yak, that it was a 1955. We both thought it was a '54. However, the serial number must have confused the Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles when they were told it was a 54' because they chose to leave the year off the title. Yak told me the truck had been brought home from California sometime in the mid sixties by his son and this was when it was titled in Pennsylvania.

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Issued Wednesday February 18, 1998

Updated Thursday April 19, 2018

copyright © 1998-2018 William Craig Kephart all rights reserved