The Story - Project Delia

I'm not sure who really came up with the idea first, my father Ron, or me, Ron Jr. I think we were out by the pool and somehow came across the topic of old cars. I told him of this truck that my Boss's family was holding on to. It was a 1950 Chevy Panel that had been in their family since the day it rolled off the lot 52 years ago. The original owner used it to deliver wine presses that he made at home. As the story goes, the guy never really left town and always took care of the truck. Hence, the 58,000 original miles on the odometer.

Eventually this truck made it into the hands of the owner's nephew who started to restore her. He had the engine worked on, replacing the valves and rings to solve an oil problem. The fenders were yanked, smoothed, and primed. Minor bodywork was done to the front quarters to repair some rust, as well as a patch just behind the driver's door. He also went out and bought all new chrome to help in his restoration. But then something happened. He moved to Florida and left the Panel to his nephew in hopes that he would one day take up the restoration process. It never really happened and the truck sat out in the open for the past two years.

The story sparked my father's interest and we thought more about it. I tried to get in touch with the current owner but he never responded to my first phone calls. We attended a local car show, have heartedly looking at the other cars and trucks that were for sale. Nothing really caught our eye, or if it did was considerably more then we were willing to spend. We almost wrote off this idea.

The following week I received a message from my boss that they were interested in selling and that I should give the owner another call. When we first saw her we almost kept driving. The condition that we were told she was in did not look that way from the street. This rare find was nose down in the gravel and sporting a paintjob the color of a green penny where the rust hadn't turned it brown. The fenders were gone, the tires flat, and one of the doors sagged a little too low. She wasn't a beauty queen in the slightest. We decided to give her a closer look and saw that she did have a good potential. The rust was only on the surface and hadn't yet started to do any major damage. The fenders were all tucked inside the cab, which also housed about eight tires, an additional bench seat, and a family of friendly hornets for good measure. I think that I fell in love right about then, sounds dumb, but any auto nut knows that you can have a crush on a nice piece of steel. After minor discussion we took her.

Why Delia? On our way out to see her for the first time I told my father that we needed to name her. "Every old car needs a name." Having not seen the truck, or even decided if this was the one for us, this could not be done just yet. On the return trip we now knew we wanted her but still could not settle on a name. What we did decide to do is come up with a theme for her. My grandfather once owned a toyshop in town when my father was a little kid. So "Rey's Gift Shop" seemed like the perfect title to put on the side of the old delivery truck. It was later that night that my father decided that it would only be right to name her after his mother, Delia. So now that we have a truck, a theme, and a name- we can begin.


I'm not sure who really came up with the idea first, my father Ron, or me, Ron Jr. I think we were out by the pool and somehow came across the topic of old cars. I told him of this truck that my Boss's family was holding on to. It was a 1950 Chevy Panel that had been in their family since the day it rolled off the lot 52 years ago. The original owner used it to deliver wine presses that he made at home. As the story goes, the guy never really left town and always took care of the truck. Hence, the 58,000 original miles on the odometer. Eventually this truck made it into the hands of the owner's nephew who started to restore her. He had the engine worked on, replacing the valves and rings to solve an oil problem. The fenders were yanked, smoothed, and primed. Minor bodywork was done to the front quarters to repair some rust, as well as a patch just behind the driver's door. He also went out and bought all new chrome to help in his restoration. But then something happened. He moved to Florida and left the Panel to his nephew in hopes that he would one day take up the restoration process. It never really happened and the truck sat out in the open for the past two years. The story sparked my father's interest and we thought more about it. I tried to get in touch with the current owner but he never responded to my first phone calls. We attended a local car show, have heartedly looking at the other cars and trucks that were for sale. Nothing really caught our eye, or if it did was considerably more then we were willing to spend. We almost wrote off this idea. The following week I received a message from my boss that they were interested in selling and that I should give the owner another call. When we first saw her we almost kept driving. The condition that we were told she was in did not look that way from the street. This rare find was nose down in the gravel and sporting a paintjob the color of a green penny where the rust hadn't turned it brown. The fenders were gone, the tires flat, and one of the doors sagged a little too low. She wasn't a beauty queen in the slightest. We decided to give her a closer look and saw that she did have a good potential. The rust was only on the surface and hadn't yet started to do any major damage. The fenders were all tucked inside the cab, which also housed about eight tires, an additional bench seat, and a family of friendly hornets for good measure. I think that I fell in love right about then, sounds dumb, but any auto nut knows that you can have a crush on a nice piece of steel. After minor discussion we took her. Why Delia? On our way out to see her for the first time I told my father that we needed to name her. "Every old car needs a name." Having not seen the truck, or even decided if this was the one for us, this could not be done just yet. On the return trip we now knew we wanted her but still could not settle on a name. What we did decide to do is come up with a theme for her. My grandfather once owned a toyshop in town when my father was a little kid. So "Rey's Gift Shop" seemed like the perfect title to put on the side of the old delivery truck. It was later that night that my father decided that it would only be right to name her after his mother, Delia. So now that we have a truck, a theme, and a name- we can begin.
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