g741.org

You truck looks GREAT, 06! Well done!
Gary

Well folks,
I sold my M37. After I just about finished everything, I just lost the intensity of it all. I am happy with what I sold it for. Sold it to a younger guy who really likes it, so that is good. It is amazing all of the stuff for this truck I have collected over the years (27) .
I have really enjoyed this forum (and Big Electric) you folks here are great. I will still visit, but the days of picking up one of these trucks cheap is over, I'll start a different project to occupy me. Thanks to everyone who helped me all these years.
Bob

Bob,
I'll miss seeing your M37 project adventures on the site. I hope the new owner chooses to participate and that you drop by occasionally. What are you thinking about for a new project?

Andy

Bob, I’m in the same boat, so to speak? I’m attempting to sell my 53, need a change.

Bob,
So sorry to hear you sold your truck, but happy you got a good deal out of it!
I know what you mean-just not as motivated to work on mine as I was 5 or 10 years ago.
Don't be a stranger!
Gary

I understand how some of our hobbies sometimes become less interesting to us as time passes. Me, for decades I was really into all parts of photography including my own darkroom, and lots of equipment for that hobby. Now, I just take some family pics on my cell phone. I used to track my Cobra and other cars, and no longer have any interest or skill for that hobby either. I still shoot and reload a lot, but no longer try to get to a range almost every day. Other things to do now.

I also understand how the restoration of these aging vehicles, with the tine and effort and cost can be just tiring. Esp when there is some complex stumbling block, or perhaps when it is about as complete as we can make it.

When I recently had to put my own truck up for sale, due to a move and no driveway to park it with our recent move, I was pretty accepting of that necessity. But now that I have become a member of a Heritage Foundation group, with like friends and interests, and am parked in a huge hanger with all sorts of other vehicles and nearly a full machine shop, my interest and enthusiasm is fully restored. They rolled over a big tool chest for me to use, and I am enjoying restoring that now.

Something that might help restore a flagging interest in is to use it as a handy pick up for one's needs. All the best to those moving on to other interests, and thanks fo your advice and suggestions for the rest of us. hal, South Carolina

That's a great post, Hal! I recognize that if I had some willing help close by I could impart my knowledge to a budding enthusiast. I just haven't found that apprentice yet
Gary

Greetings Folks,
Lord Almighty, Life sure is strange.
I logged on today, and I started by reading NAM VET's posts about stumbling onto the Heritage Group, and the resources and camaraderie there. While he was looking to sell his M-37, life instead presented a fresh look at an old friend.
After reading that post, it was interesting to see the 'archived' path he had taken in the marketplace titles of 'M-37 Up for Sale', to 'M-37 Not for Sale Now' so to speak.
After a bit of poking around, I checked in on this build thread of 06boblee's amazing trip from it's beginning back on Friday June 23, 2017. What an amazingly detailed and artful progression of work, culminating into a Stout standing, Factory-Fresh looking piece of old, and new, Detroit Iron, ala Texas, presented here on Sunday Nov. 14, 2021, fully 3 years, and almost 5 months after the first post.
And then, with an unsaid certain sadness to it, is the post of Sunday, Jan.15, 2023. The M-37 was sold. Sold appreciative of all that this forum had lent and given "all these years."
The following posts of friends and well-wishers, mention that there are also others that are considering the same course, who have been here quite a while, but now the drive is waning. And second to last, pulling up almost the rear, is NAM VET, understanding, but re-energized!
I'm there.
I joined here on the evening of Friday, August 12, 2011. I had a truck, I liked the looks of the sight, and I wanted to be a part of it. The more time I spent here, the more I liked it. I had more questions, but I was also learning more things. I was beginning to be able to answer some questions myself, and help out or give back, instead of just taking. All was good.
I looked at my profile today. You see I needed to, because of time, I had lost track of something. I looked up my last post. It was September 2, 2013.
That would be 10 years ago this Sept. That's a long time.
In September of 2013, some big changes were coming, not that I knew it then, but they were coming just the same.The first part came as a Blessing, and the second part came as a Wrecking Ball. Life got very hard, for a while, and I gave up on things that had defined me by my interests, because those interests had been pushed back by the intensity of what life had become. Those interests were still there, they were just out of reach. I never forgot them, but I couldn't pursue them either.
Life has flowed and ebbed, and the Blessings that had come still remain.The Covid Crap, and everything to do with the way things are today, certainly have been a bit of a serious challenge, and remain to be, but the core of life has recovered, and the sparks are starting to fly again.
And today, after a full 9 years plus, my Log In, and my Password still worked, and this Site is something that can be counted on. It's because of the People here.
You can go away Folks, and you will be missed. But remember that here, unlike so many other places in life, You CAN go back.
Cheers, and Peace. It is good to be back.

Well said.

It was cancer then a broken neck that took me out of the game a while.

Welcome back!

PrinceO'Weird

PoW,
You sure are one tough customer to go thru all that and still be "Truckin'". God Bless You! I hope that is all behind you now, and STAYS THERE.
Thanks for the good words and 'Welcome'.
Chris

It took me several years to source and build my M37 back in the mid-70's.

Some improvements over the years, and I put a LOT of miles on that little truck.

Times got hard for us in the early 2000's and I had to sell it for some good $.

The buyer lost his mind somehow, and no trace of it nowadays. I wish I had it back now.
PoW

PoW,
That's one fine Truck.
Seeing that 'expanded' gauge plate, I'm thinking: Diesel. Sure enough. Looks like it was a seamless fit too.
Rough situation for the buyer's state of mind, and a shame the M-37 has gone off the map.
Hopefully someone is appreciating it, and will post on here someday.
It's a hard piece of Iron not to see!
Chris

When I got my truck in '17, it was already running, and without rust, just "patina". Still, being retired, I spent a year, nearly full time, on my own restoration in my garage and my driveway, something I could do in warmer SC. It was work, and not without some difficult and frustrating issues but my truck came to me in much better shape than some of the projects I have seen here. Now, it runs and works and looks great.

New to Lexington, SC, and having my M37 in a big "hanger" 15 minutes away from me, with all sorts of machinery and tools and more, including help and friendship with other enthusiasts and owners, there are about a dozen or so various vehicles in the restoration process. I have access to my truck and the equipment 24/7.

Some years ago, read an article in one of the car mags about never completed auto restoration projects. If someone were to ask me about how to go about such a project, and end up with a completed project, this is the advice I would give them. Of course, things like having the support of a forum, adequate funds, and an anticipated source of parts are going to be important.

But there is an emotional part to such a project. One thing I think is important, is to not begin with a full disassembly, down to the vehicle's components. It is usually far easier to take an old vehicle apart than it is to put it back together. And I think when the owner looks at such a huge project and sees a huge pile of parts, the journey just looks too long and hard to complete. And the longer the pile sits there, the more likely it will be abandoned. So.... only take it down one component down at at time, so when the owner looks at his vehicle, it bears some resemblance to what it will be when done. Hard to see this when one just looks at a frame.

Me, I first pulled the engine, and only when that was back in, did I start removing the fenders, then the bed, and would work only on those parts to get them ready. Perhaps if I had gazed on the frame sitting on stands, I would have just slowed my restoration to quitting.

The other times, when the necessary tasks look momentous, just too big to begin or complete and the weariness and disillusion sets in, the longer one stops the work, the less likely it will be restarted. So just do some little easy tasks, something that will be necessary eventually, like cleaning some bolt threads, or cleaning some small part, or polishing some lens, or crimping a few wires, or even tidying up one's work bench.

At our "hanger', there are frames and full disassemblies sitting there, and I don't see their owners there working on them. Of course, for some the friendship is more important than actually working on their vehicles.

Just a few thoughts..... Hal

I think the main thing that slowed me down was my thinking that if I put 37" tires and an overdrive trans in it would like highway speeds- it did not. The new owner has already contacted Charles and is shipping the differentials for regear. He really likes the truck and of that I am happy. I still have a complete bed ( in pieces) that I am going to make a trailer with.

Hello all!

I am the new owner the young buck 42 year old Bob mentioned. My boys and I love the truck!

Having said that she is going under the knife for a few things.

Center drive line
New gears (hoping to get 4.11?!?!)
New bench seats with 5 point harness for the kids
A 4 point roll cage if I can (wife request)
And "AC" ...kinda...(wife request)

Right now she goes to our monthly car show in our little town of Wimberley Texas, called "coffee and cars." The boys love showing off their monster military truck.