Portland Swap Meet - Swap Meet Shoppin'

Careful shopping can turn up some good buys on abandoned projects. This '56 Ford F-100 custom cab had a Volare frontend installed and came with a ton of parts-price was negotiable.

While it looks original, other than the wheels and tires, this '50 Chevy pickup received a full mechanical restoration up to and including freshening the 216-cubic-inch six cylinder. While the $6K asking price probably wasn't out of line considering what had been done, most prospective buyers will probably want to scrap the six and update the running gear.

Need something in a relaxed fit truck? This '42 Seagraves was looking for a home.

For those preferring something larger, this '70 Jeep/Kaiser 5-ton truck could have been yours for $12.5K. Notice how it dwarfs the Falcon wagon next to it.

Speaking of shopping carefully, this big-window Chevy had some good and some bad. Lots of goodies on a big-block, nice wheels and tires, a shiny bumper, and a chassis that showed promise but we'd want to see if the doors would come anywhere near fitting the hammered, firewall-less cab.

Need a good grille? We found a bunch of them, and the inspiration for some cool swaps.

This savable '56 GMC hood with surface rust was cheap at $25. For anyone with such a truck it was worth the price to have a spare, or how about punching it full of louvers and replacing a stocker for a fresh look.

For $100 this hood was worth buying for the trim we needed for an upcoming project. Unfortunately for us we were in a rental car, otherwise it would have had a new home.

We ran across several chopped pickup cabs, and while they are tempting if you're thinking of building something with a lowered lid, check the workmanship carefully. In particular the windshield posts should be inspected closely to ensure it's possible to fit glass.

We found what seemed to be a number of good buys on sheetmetal-the asking price on this pretty nice Chevy bed and fenders was $150.

We found a surprising number of solid, bare cabs. Keep in mind the paper trail necessary to title a pieced-together truck. A title has to come from somewhere, based on serial numbers on something-either the body or the frame, depending on the vehicle.

In the same space we found a '58 GMC front clip with the grille. The fenders were nice and the bumper was even straight. Replacing wrinkled or rusted sheetmetal with something better will often save money in the long run.