Iiiiiit's heeeeeere,...

Yep, we got the '56 home today. what a trek that was! Got the same guy that towed it before and hauled her home to the tune of 200 bones. Kinda ouch, yeah, but MUCH less than it would have cost me to rent a truck & trailer that had that high of a tow rating.
The guys at the tire store were sad to see "Mater" go. Well, except for a couple of the newer techs that got to assist & get trained on changing tires on "widow maker" rims, old split ring rims that can fly apart with enough force to chop a man in half.
After some work & a couple laps arounf the parking lot I managed to get it out of low range, amazing how reading the directions on the sticker can help! Altho, I was trying to get it to get out of low and it did, half way anyhow,... Seems it was stuck inbetween gears and I was afraid I'd just screwed myself when I got it in Hi. Would have made towing it a snap, no worries about the drivetrain then, still not good tho.
The trip home was uneventful. Could hear the gears in the rear end whining all the way home, and one of the rear brakes was still slightly engaged so it was smoking when we got here. No actual damage or issues at all.
Anyway, she's home now, and she has new shoes. The new rubber doesn't look too out of place, but then med/heavy truck tires haven't changed appearances as much as auto tires in the last 20 years.

Now, just have to pull the brake system apart & get that fixed, at least rebuilt well enough for the short term so I can get it onto the base & to the auto hobby shop for a couple months of serious rework. Once there I can gut the whole brake system & instal all new parts and lines & do it the right way, can NOT afford to have it take a hairy dump on you!
Once it's there, strip the front from the firewall up, repair the sheet metal as needed, pull the engine out & change all seals, gaskets, & other items that are overdue. Also gut the cab & clean everything up, fix the electrical issues & start making a new wiring system.
I'll pop up the occasional update with pics as I can.

What was funny, I was standing in the parking lot at the tire store, and this guy walks up & starts talkin to me about the truck. He's tellin me on the sod farm he runs they have a 1957 flat bed out there that they just retired coz they bought another rig with more load capacity. Still runs & drives perfect, has a 12' bed, all the stuff I was wanting except it doesn't tilt. Said they're prolly gonna offload it as a whole truck or part it out for a couple hundred sometime, might even let me have just the bed for a reasonable price,... NOW??? What lovely timing! ugh!
But yeah, this truck has more of what I need even if she is in a bit sorrier shape. Plus the fact that you just cant buy the character she has.