Category Archives: ’48 Patina

The ’48… aka Mr. Patina

When my friend and fellow barn junkie, Lance, asked if we could get his recovered ’48 half-ton running again, I agreed. Little did we know it would take a fifteen month bite out of our schedule for the Apache. But after his truck – in his family for decades – was mistakenly sold from the private property where it was being stored, it took him quite a while to find it and reclaim it, and to convince the DMV that he wasn’t an axe-murderer. So what’s a few months in the grand scheme of things.

The reclaimed truck was minus its engine and transmission, and what remained of it was in a sorry state. Things were not looking good for this budget build until Lance found a restored ’48 chassis with a 327 small block and TH 350 transmission. The previous owner had thrown in the towel on a project started a decade earlier. The rest is history.

How About Them Seats

Sometimes you just get lucky. As you can see below, the interior of the ’48 was destined for the trash bin. So, after taking some measurements we headed for local wrecking yards to see what we could find. We knew we were looking for gray leather, so armed with measuring tape and a few tools, we started our hunt.

Our first stop was a yard in Oceanside where you pay a couple bucks to enter, and pull the parts yourself. As we neared the end of our walk-through, a relatively pristine 2002 Pontiac Aztek was dropped off. Eureka! Everything about the second row seat shouted “take me home.” Dimensions – check; color – check. And the seat was removed by simply pulling up on a release bar at the front. Best of all… the price:  we took it home for less than fifty bucks!

The original seats would have cost a small fortune to repair.
Aztek split bench seat installed in the ’48.
The back folds down.
Another lever lets you tilt the seat forward.

By just pulling up on a bar at the front of the seat, the entire assembly lifts out of the truck. A good find for a grand total of $47.50 plus our time to install in the truck. The Pontiac Azteks weren’t pretty, but they are interesting cars, especially with camping accessories.