The story of the first Patrol begins in Colorado, where it was owned, licensed, and insured, at least until 1987, by a Mr and Mrs. Lowell Hale of Montrose. (all this info comes courtesy of several old documents that came with the Patrol- old Colorado registration forms, insurance cards, and a Colorado license plate with tags that expired in 1987.
The next record in this Patrol's ownership history came in 2003, when it was sold by the Hales, to David Leis, also of Montrose Colorado.
Mr. Leis passed it along to our very own RiverPatrol in 2005 as part of a package deal with her green 68 soft top (Limey) - It is at this point that the earliest known photo of this Patrol emerged:
The engine was totally locked up and wouldn't turn, and the entire powertrain and undercarriage were caked in oily mud at least 1/2 inch think.
It sat at RiverPatrol's "Patrol Farm" in southern California until September 2014- When what remained of it was passed along to me as a parts-donor for one of my other projects:
Several more photos of this Patrol "as I got it" , and also showing it being torn down, can be found in the thread I started when I first brought it home:
http://www.60patrol.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3213
At first pass, this Patrol looked like a total rust bucket. The tub and the front fenders were scrap, and beyond saving; but on closer inspection, the windshield frame, hood, grill, and side doors all looked re-usable (the side doors, grill and hood were what I originally bought it for). The floor pan and the firewall MIGHT be salvageable (there is rust around the side vents (no surprise
)... but nature works in mysterious ways sometimes- The frame and undercarriage are nearly pristine (aside from being utterly caked with dried mud) - A couple minor rust pits here and there on the frame, but no holes, no weak areas, even the crossmember is still solid and hollow (following 20 minutes with the pressure washer blowing out all the debris, that is 
) The condition of the frame is what got me thinking....
Here I had an original, numbers matching early model Patrol with documented ownership history - should I be scrapping it out? The decision all came down to that seized engine - Was the numbers matching block reusable? were any of the cylinder walls cracked? Were any of the bearings spun?
There was only one way to find out, and it involved nearly 20 hours of effort, an entire can of penetrating oil, 3 pairs of oil and grime encrusted jeans, and all the subtlety of a 2 pound brass hammer being swung at it like a lumberjack going to town with his favorite double-sided axe:
when it was over, I had the answers I needed: The block was ok - no cracks, no warpage in the main journals, good main and rod bearings. Only the pistons were frozen to the cylinder walls (this was the best case scenario
) So, now It was confirmed that I had the core components I needed to rebuild a numbers matching 65 Hardtop Patrol, except a tub, fenders, hardtop, rear doors, dash pieces , and various other detail level stuff... Hmmm, now where was I gonna find all the stuff I needed to make this one complete again? I had no farther to look than my back yard. Enter "1965" Patrol number 2:
The "1965" on this one is in quotes because the only component on this Patrol that is confirmed to be from 1965 is the frame (going by the serial number). Most people on the 60-Patrol forum already know the full back story on this one and how it came to me:
http://www.60patrol.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2336
The earliest known photo of this one comes from 2001 when it was sold to a Beni Williams (notice the "62" year referenced- even the title on this one is wrong- there is no way the serial number supports it being a 62, and the body tub and windshield frame are clearly from a hard top Patrol- it's definitely a 65)
This one is a certified hodge-podge of pieces-parts from other Patrols... but the tub/door jambs are the correct early style hard top tub, ditto the front fenders, and I can take the side vent panels from this one to repair the rusted sections on the other firewall. This one can also contribute lights, dash, heater, and all the other misc. blah blah blah parts.
So, I was pretty close to having everything I needed for this project, except a transmission - The original tranny in the White 65 had a PTO mounted to it (the hole in the floor pan, and the missing side cover on the transmission told me so), but the PTO had long disappeared (Riverpatrol disavows any knowledge of this PTO's existence, and denies flatly that it ever came to rest in her parts shed
); and the tranny had been left open to the elements long enough for the wind and sand to make the inside of the transmission look just as crusty and caked up with goo as the outside.So, where was I going to find an early Patrol transmission & PTO combination, along with a operational winch to put back on the front bumper...? Hmmm, where?
In my driveway, right next to the 65's frame, that's where. Enter parts-donor number 2: A certain 66 hard top Patrol that will also be familiar to most of you:
Yes, the mean green El Paso machine is going to have to cough up its Engine to donate parts to this Patrol's engine rebuild, its transmission, its brakes, and other misc blah blah blah parts.
The last major pieces I needed for this project were a set of 5 original Patrol wheels, and I found those, courtesy of Mr. Gerk up in Lake Tahoe - Thanks bud.
So, that's it- Here we go again... New project, different Patrol, same crazy weekend wrench jockey... I'm going to re-use use as much of the original truck as I can, as many "correct for a 65" replacement parts as possible, and I'm going to honor it as the original "white hardtop" that it started out as (although I am tossing around the idea of a two-tone white scheme- doing the body in Ivory, and the cap of the hardtop is bright white); and I hesitate to call this project a "restoration", because I will want it to be a reliable driver when I'm done, so I will be "modernizing" it a little bit... using an alternator instead of a generator; and I will do the dual-circuit master cylinder conversion on it to make the brakes safer... minor stuff like that which will contribute to slightly more modern operational reliability...
I'm off to the garage now to continue cleaning up this frame and engine block.
