I'm a Truckin'....51 Ford Progress

Been a while since I posted anything on my old truck.  Its a slow project, that will hopefully be completed road ready this spring or summer or fall.

This the last of the major bodywork to be done the new tailgate and the rear bumper.  The tailgate was the second try as the first did not turn out good enough.  The old rear bumper for this truck was flat ugly and besides I wanted to hide the tail lights a bit as most people hang a big ugly light off the sides of the box.  So with this we inset the tail lights in the bumper and I purposely shaped the bumper to mock the angles of the box.  Sort of has a Corvette look, which I have always liked.  My dad did all of the welding and paint work on both the tailgate and bumper.  I did a bunch of sanding on the bumper and that was about it. LED tail lights.

He mocked in an old license plate to see how everything fit up.

On the back we added a couple of neat touches.  Games Workshop is not the only one that likes to put skulls on everything so added some on the back.  That actually matches the theme, because my gear shifter knob is also a cool looking resin skull.  My dad came up with the dice idea, he had cut up and polished some aluminum cubes and I went work on them with the drill press counter sinking some pips.  The dice unscrew and allow the tailgate to swing down.  I still need to paint the pips, not sure what color to use.  Maybe red pips to match the tail lights.

Inside the box you can see the aluminum diamond plate bed and the fake tool box.  The fake tool box is actually concealing the 20+ gallon aluminum gas tank.  I had a local fabricator that works on race cars and street rods weld up all of the aluminum.

Its getting there......

Old Ford Pick-up Progress

Like all my projects, a little bit here, a little bit there....

New stainless headlight bezels and sealed beams, sure changes the look of the front end. 

Old Ford Pick-up Progress

My move has significantly slowed my progress on miniatures as I get settled, but my old truck really hasn't moved much and at least I know where all the pieces are for it.  Progress is always slow on it, but it now it has rear fenders that actually have paint on them (look better Butch?).

Course when you do things like this you always find mistakes, and one of those is the black rectangular like gap between fender, box, and running board.  Getting some new sheet metal bent to fix that.

Yep the aluminum box is the gas tank, minus all of the plumbing.  Decided the yellow was not bright enough, so I needed a box with some diamond plate.  The yellow color is a little off in these pics.

Another angle of the box.

 And yes, I got wheels, nice looking 5 spoke rally type wheels.  Now I need a tailgate and rear bumper, tail lights, and more work.  New goal is to be on the road next spring after the snow melts.

Much more to follow on this project.

Truck Progress

Some head way on the other long term project.

The truck gets closer after doing and some re-doing of things. When you redo things, they do sometimes get better. In this case the firewall has become very clean looking compared to what it was.

It does have an engine, and it does run. Just don't have a gas tank just yet.

Roll up windows are real fiddly when working with 1950's hardware. Vent windows in the doors will be even more an issue since the top was chopped.

The old running boards were rusted out and beat up junk, so new ones needed to be bought or made. To buy them is a lot of money, to make them is a bit of work.

So, Brand new made running boards. A local metal fab shop did the 90 degree flanged bends. The radius 90 bend where the board bends upward to the cab of the truck though is by two men, with some clamps, a picnic table and a 3-inch diameter pipe, that's called "Redneck Bending". Of course the front edge of the board will need to be fitted to the front fender.

The Box is brand new steel, measurements from the old abused pile of junk from the 1950's. It was definitely used as a truck for some 25+ years. It has no floor just yet, but by spring that will be cured with a big sheet of aluminum diamond plate.

The rear tire is not wide enough, and the rear fenders are missing. Good thing there are still people making brand new rear fenders out of steel or fiberglass, your choice.

The Beast Lives

It breathes, it has brakes, runs, makes noise, my awesome Ork battle truck is coming to life. Well maybe not an ork battle truck, but more like my '51 Ford F-1. Lots of blood, sweat, and money in this one.