Worked this week on starting the truck. Ran the charger - was at 4.9V before, got it up to 5.9, but upon pressing the starter button, no cranky. On the meter, with the charger on, cranking it dropped the volts to like 2.9 - dat ain’t going to work.
Looks like the battery (Optima Redtop) has lost it’s capacity to hold the juice. It’s just under 4 years old, has never been down to lower than the upper 4’s, but apparently she needs a new one. 36 month warranty is over, too.

EDIT :: snagged another red top from my buddy; a leftover when he was working on a ‘54 Ford truck. 

Edited January 9, 20214 yr by balthazar

Joined my (2) 6-volt batteries in parallel and gave a go at starting the truck. No cranky.
Batteries were at 5.8V & 5.0V, but when you pressed the starter button, that went down to 2.-V.

Going to charge both batteries and try again. Still debating letting this baby go.

29 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Still debating letting this baby go.

Meaning that you are debating in selling her?

I was saddened when I read it.  

Yes; debating selling. Feels like I need to purge my extraneous collectibles / stuff / junk in order to concentrate on the B-59 & P-64.

53 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Joined my (2) 6-volt batteries in parallel and gave a go at starting the truck. No cranky.
Batteries were at 5.8V & 5.0V, but when you pressed the starter button, that went down to 2.-V.

Going to charge both batteries and try again. Still debating letting this baby go.

Let it go and focus on the pontiac IMHO.