Brutus's Progress in pictures

[86 1/2 Brutus]

We started working on Brutus about 3 months ago before we joined the family.  Here's some before and afters.  we are getting close, well not really, but ocmpared to what we've been doing to it we're not doing to badly.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Body Work

[86 1/2 Brutus]

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[ArdWrknTrk]

That's incredibly impressive! 😎

Talk about a makeover.  😍
This obviously isn't your first rodeo, George.

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Thanks Jim  Its like Nick told me, " i didn't think i'd ever see Brutus looking good again"

but as always, have to work on the go before the show.

All new cooling system
All new AC, has yet to be installed
New fuel system from tank to rebuilt yfa
new exhaust
brakes and seals

The 300 /C6 only has 210,000 miles on it, that isn't even broken in yet.

[ArdWrknTrk]

You're certainly putting in the time.
And it's been great to see Brutus coming together.  

Thanks for sharing the journey!  

[86 1/2 Brutus]

We always did want to do it, but now we really have to do it.  The 95 vic, our daily driver is in bad shape now and pretty much needs a restore.  The front end is falling apart, and quite frankly, its not worth it, although it is gaining value on the classic market, is only worth about 800 bucks to the insurance company.  Sot it has to get parked for a while.    It's so bad we cant get out of town, and with Brutus, even before all the work, i'd trust that truck around the world and back.    

[86 1/2 Brutus]

We had to put the ranchero on the side for now to do the truck, but that will work out better in the end too.  our painting skills got alot better thanks to 2 failed paint jobs on Brutus.  The parts truck tought us most of what we figured out about painting

[ArdWrknTrk]

People scoff at me when I say something like "I'm hauling this trailer down to my brothers in Carolina, to pick up his stuff"

Yes, the fuel bill is steep, but the truck starts every time I turn the key, and doesn't care if it's empty or dragging a 38' vacation trailer.

If it drives thousands and thousands of miles around town, why shouldn't it go wherever I want?

What are you using for paint?
Red 2k seems ridiculously expensive so I'm going to keep going with OSHA safety red Rustoleum.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yeah, my truck is worth about $750 by the book, so I'm scared to death of someone creaming it.

But taxes are cheap and the bank isn't bleeding me every month.
I can buy a lot of parts for what the insurance+note would cost me for a $50k+ truck!

[86 1/2 Brutus]

Once Brutus is done, according to Hagerty, first i have to close in the carport, they wont insure it becasue i live closer then 31 miles to the coast.  But after extensive talks with them and giving all the info on Brutus.  I was told that he is worth about 16,000 to 26,000 and they would agree on the value of 26K.  This includes a rider that if the truck gets totaled, i get paid and i keep the truck.    Although it cant be classified as a daily driver, all we do is tool around town for the most part so thats not a problem.  We had the vic since new and just now has 90k on it.    Most of Brutus milage got racked up in the younger days.  Best thing, i'd be paying about 10 bucks cheaper then i'm paying right now in insurence.

[Gary Lewis]

Wow!  That's truly impressive progress, especially in that time period.  WELL DONE!!!  

The info on Hagerty is interesting.  I'm going to contact them about my trucks.  I did their on-line estimator but didn't like the results.