Travels with BillyBob Log

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 is the restoration of parts of BillyBob that I can accomplish without a garage.

PRE-RESTORATION includes log entries of minor repairs and 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.

3. Benefit Car Show for Ray Kelly

This benefit car show was scheduled for June 12, in Davie, Florida to help Ray Kelly get a "Paws with a Cause" assistance dog. I learned of the show from a co-worker, Jason Warner. His Mother's neighbor (who has a sweet advance design stovebolt and trailer, BTW) was organizing the event.

SITREP

The day of the event dawned with a sixty percent rain forecast. John Ray, who has a stock '54 Chevy pickup, and I were planning to convoy to the event but neither one of us wanted to drive in the rain. we decided to go fer it and and turn back if we ran into heavy precipitation. I met up with John and his two oldest daughters, Elizabeth and Emily, on Military Trail in Boca Raton and proceded south from there. I was in the lead and had planned to stay on major streets but no limited access highways. It was our first experience in old truck convoy travel and when we got to the show, John commented on the additive effect that two trucks made on the number of thumbs-ups that we received.

PRE Check

1.	Date and Time	June 12, 2005 11:00 AM
2.	Odometer	10,520
3.	Emergency Supplies	Cellphone, AAA+ membership, reading glasses, rain pouncho, jump charger/air compressor pack
4.	Prep	Monthly maintenance check, clean windshield

Engage

We were vehicles 72 and 73 to arrive at Tree Tops Park where the event was being held. The cars in the show were mostly lined up in the grass on either side of the access road to the pavilion where the food and trophies were. We cruised the strip down to the end and back which was getting pretty crowded. The only place to park the two trucks side by side was back where we entered so we ended up anchoring that end of the show. There was a pride of corvettes across from us. Got settled and took some pics. This is John with his oldest daughter, Elizabeth, on the right and his middle daughter, Emily, on the left.

Recorded sightings of BillyBob and myself are rare but John took my camera and snapped one off for me this time before we headed on down to the pavillion to register (and get our free hot dog or hamburger and softdrink). Ran into my co-worker, Jason, and his family at the pavilion. That's where we became vehicles 72 and 73. Scarfed down our burgers and hot dogs and headed back to the trucks to start our hike down the line to see the other cars and trucks.

There were plenty of trucks this time so I got at least one photo of each. They were all pickups. The first one here was a custom Ferd with a chebby small block (if I remember correctly). I like the chebby small blocks but it gets boring after awhile. I would rather have seen an old flathead or a Y-Block or a 289 or 390. Now a Ferd single overhead cam 427 (or wuz it 429) would have really gotten my attention.

This is a rare treat. It is a '37 Plymouth pickup. Chrysler only made these for a few years. They are re-badged Dodges for the most part, I believe. The builder kept the body intact so it wouldn't be impossible to return it to stock someday. It's currently powered by a v6 placed in the traditional longitudinal alignment. I don't know what flavor the v6 is.

This Stovebolt belongs to the fella who organized the show. It is towing a matching trailer made out of the bed of another Advance Design pickup. This is one of four AD trucks in the show and the other three are bullnosed 54-55 1st Series trucks.

This was labeled as a fifty-niner (but I think it is really an early sixties truck). This truck came in handy to me later in the day when some kid (young man) was trying to tell us they made Advance Design trucks up thru '59. I sent him down to look at this truck and argue with its owner.

UPDATE 3/22/6 I don't know much about chebby trucks that came before or after BillyBob. Steve Sproul of Raleigh does and he wrote to provide the following additional info regarding the above truck (thanx Steve):

Anyhow the white Chevy truck from this event is a 64’ or 66’ based upon the C-10 plate on the upper fender. The windshield/Full door is a dead give away that it isn’t even a first version of the new body style from 1960-1966. I’ve owned two of the 1965’s and the C-10 plate is located on the small body panel directly behind the hood for that year.

This beautiful Model A Ferd pickup was the only other stock truck in the show other than BillyBob and John's truck. Those spots on the side are machine gun bullet decals. I guess it's a moonshine truck.

This is the only Task Force Chebby in the show. The hood wasn't open but I'm pretty shure it doesn't have the obligatory chevy smallblock in it. It did have wheelie bars.

This is the other bullnose Advance Design Chebby in the show. It was fielded by a father and son team, I think. I didn't get a chance to talk to them. Shows several influences - rat rod, low rider, etc. Had a corvette or camaro engine.

A well-done grafting of a '56 Chevy car dashboard and steering wheel into the cab. There is a '56 chevy parked next to this truck and its dashboard can be seen in the background of the next photo. Door handles were shaved and the interior had a lot of exposed foil-backed insulation.

The equipment to work the air bag suspension is mounted in the bed. Retro exhaust tips peek out from under the running boards in front of the rear tires. The truck is sporting '59 Caddy tail light lenses with blue dots added at the tips.

Last truck of the show was this early fifties Dodge mild custom. Couldn't tell what was powering it. It would be nice to think there was a fifties hemi under that split hood or at least a cleaned up flathead six but if I had to put money on it, the safe bet is a smallblock chevy.

We went back to our trucks to answer questions from passerbys. Elizabeth and Emily set up a tailgate party in the back of their Dad's truck and John and I started talking truck restoration. We got so involved in it that we didn't notice when they called out John's number over the loudspeaker system for a door prize. Elizabeth and Emily were on the ball tho' and they went to collect the prize. When they got back, they said BillyBob's number had been called too. The girls went back to the pavilion and picked up my door prize for me. John got a restaurant gift certificate and BillyBob got a Meguires Show and Shine wax product - I wonder if I really won or they were just commenting on BillyBob's blotchy Rustoleum paint job.

We decided to cut out just before the awards ceremony. The girls had been great and weren't complaining despite the fact we weren't part of a club and they didn't have anybody their own age to interact with. We were all getting a bit fried by the sun. John was more familiar with the area we were in and had some ideas for the ride back. He and the girls took the lead and the return to Boca was much more pleasant. John found roads that were less traveled with fewer traffic lights yet still on the beaten path in case of breakdown.

POST Check

1.	Date and Time	June 12, 2005 5:00 PM
2.	Odometer	10,587
3.	Mileage	67
4.	Elapsed Time	6 hrs

After we split paths in Boca, BillyBob and I went on to the Krash Lab. My boss, Derek, was working and I took a few minutes to tell him about the show before recording the POST Check numbers above and cleaning up BillyBob a bit. Drove home to the Krash Pad then and, oh yeah, it didn't rain all day!

You can email me at  webmaster@laroke.com

Issued Tuesday June 14, 2005

Updated Friday January 6, 2017

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