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The Cimarron Starlite Cruisers'
Car Club proudly features, great classic vehicles, which belong to the
good folks of Oklahoma.
Several members of the Cimarron Starlite Cruisers
attended the Pontiac Nationals held May 2 at Tulsa Raceway Park. This wonderful
event is hosted annually by the Indian Nations Pontiac Chapter of the Pontiac
Oakland Club International. Owners of Buick and Oldsmobile vehicles are also
invited and the event is promoted as the Tulsa Pontiac Nationals and Buick,
Oldsmobile, Pontiac Challenge. While
enjoying this wonderful day of classic cars, swap meet and drag racing we met
up with David Bailey and his outstanding classic GMC 100 4X4 pickup.
David was talked into purchasing the pickup over
ten years ago by his very smart wife, Julie. They found the truck listed on the
internet. David originally thought the truck was too expensive and too far away
to be a reasonable project because it was located in Salmon Idaho!
Julie made some calls to find out more about
the truck and eventually talked David into purchasing the truck and driving the
2900 mile round trip to pick it up!
Tulsa Auto Spring Company assisted David with
refurbishing the springs of the original NAPCO
four-wheel
drive assembly. Northwestern Auto Parts Company (NAPCO) was founded
in 1918 and based in Minneapolis. As
early as 1942, NAPCO began building four-wheel
drive assemblies to be fitted to Ford, GMC, Chevrolet and Studebaker
vehicles; however NAPCO is primarily associated with GMC and Chevrolet pickups.
From 1956 to 1959 the NAPCO Power-Pak option could be ordered directly from GM
(an official RPO 690 was assigned in 1957) and factory
installed on trucks with very few modifications to the original chassis.
Today these
trucks are still very versatile and durable 60 years later and
are considered to be very collectible by GMC and NAPCO enthusiasts.
David
did a
complete overhaul to the factory Pontiac 347 engine with a factory two barrel carburetor that produces 182
horsepower and over 300 pounds feet of torque. The four speed manual transmission and the NAPCO
4X4 assembly make this a very desirable collector’s truck.
American Auto Trim helped David and Julie bring the
interior of this classic 4X4 back to life.
As you can see,
David used red oak and stainless steel to restore this eye catching bed.
David chose
Specialty
Tires of America for the 6.50/16 original looking tires and stock wheels and
hub caps.
The
total restoration of this rare NAPCO equipped truck
began about four years ago. David and
Julie’s friend Larry Crider did the paint and body work. Don Meyer recommended
the classic colors of Seminole Brown and Panama Cream Yellow as the just right
colors to bring this classic back to life.
After
years of intense work and a labor of love, you can clearly see that Julie
talking David into buying this GMC Classic Pickup project was the right choice! From bumper to bumper this classic GMC is
truly a 'String of Pearls'
The Cimarron
Starlite Cruisers sincerely appreciate David and Julie Bailey of Broken Arrow
Oklahoma for sharing their classic 1957 GMC NAPCO 4X4 as our Great
Oklahoma Classic for May 2015!
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