If you’ve ever cleaned out your grandparents’ house, you’ll know how much clutter someone can accumulate.
From old manuals to birthday cards, broken watches and more, it makes no sense to keep things around just for the sake of it.
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But on the odd occasion, keeping something around could wind up being incredibly rewarding.
Daniel Johnson has been keeping a 1928 Chevrolet 1.5 tonne truck tucked up in a shed for the better part of six decades.
With a familial bond and rich history, this was one item he never wanted to part with.
“My father actually purchased it back in 1963 to use on the farm as a service vehicle,” Johnson says.
“We bought it at a clearing sale for five quid and had to drive 50 miles home with square tyres. They had been deflated for so long they were completely flat at the bottom.
“Safe to say it was a very uncomfortable drive home,” he laughs.
The Chevy was used mainly during the harvest, and the family had to place 200 gallons of water on it to make it go.
“I think it was good that we sparely used it. Not overusing it meant it preserved a lot better and lasted a lot longer than it should have.”
As the years went on and they found themselves not reaching for it as often, Johnson made the decision to retire the old rig, tucking it in to bed in a friend’s shed.
“I kept it there for a quite a while,” he says. “Years and years.”
When the bicentenary rolled around, Daniel saw it as an opportunity to bring the truck into the sunshine and fix it up.
“It thought it was the perfect time. It took me a little while to get it up and going again, finishing after the bicentenary but the thought was there,” he laughs.
Luckily for Daniel, the years in storage hadn’t done as much damage as he thought, with the rig still in pretty good shape.
“The woodwork was buggered on it, but all the panels were there and there were some missing doors.”
Working with wood his whole life, Daniel started off with what he knew best.
Rebuilding the tray, cab and doors himself, Daniel says this was the easy part.
“Wood is what I do. I was able to build all of that myself.”
However, when it came to sandblasting, he needed a little helping hand, borrowing his friend’s sandblaster in Federal, NSW.
“I sandblasted the Chevy up at his place and built him a rather big shed in exchange.”
When the body was all done and dusted, he then took to painting the truck – his very first time doing so.
“I’ve worked on trucks since I was nine years old. I had a bit of knowledge that my father and other people had passed along to me so that definitely helped.”
“It turned out better than I expected,” he says.
The whole restoration took only four months, with Daniel saying he “didn’t do anything else” during that time.
“I was definitely lucky that I had all that time up my sleeve. Not a lot of people can bunker down and do it all in one go.
“But since I’m 74 and retired, it gave me something to do.”
He says the biggest difference between restoring a truck from the 1920s and a modern truck is perseverance.
“I learned a lot from the whole experience. Different skills and ways of doing things.”
Daniel used the Chevy as a work truck for a number of years before putting it on club registration and parading it at local shows.
He plans on getting a camper built for it so he can go driving around the countryside like a “silly old fat camper”.
“It does about 50kms flat out so I’ve got a long drive ahead of me.”
Read more:
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- Insta-famous truckie encourages young people to get behind the wheel
- 11-year-old saves up own money to buy 1975 Oshkosh E-Series
- Fully restored 1924 Ford Model T is “reborn” after surviving fire
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