I put the Trex 'Brasilia-style" stuff in my bed 4 years ago and I love it! The '54 is a daily driver, and I planned to use my truck like a Truck. I throw big rocks in it, haul wood etc., with no worries. While the Trex wasn't all that beautiful to start with, I can say that with zero maintenance, much abuse, and parking outside, it looks just as good now as the day I installed it.

Now, I love real wood, and I love the nice Chechen wood dashboard extension I made, and red oak side stakes and rails I put around the bed. But if you want to use your bed and never ever worry about it, that funky looking stuff is perfect!

 

While we are revealing secrets: User name AXracer: I don't race AXes (boy that WOULD be scary!) I also am not an eX (former) racer. AX is the abbreviation for Autocross, the type of racing I compete in. I am also not a tall smurf or blue in the face (usually). However, the siggy picture is really me driving my Solstice racecar at the SCCA National Autocross Championships, the largest amateur automotive competition in the world.

 

hey axRACER!

this is truly a lot of fun....poking back and forth, never really knowing what the other fte guy will say next. let me thro this one in

a few years ago a good friend of mine begged me to go with him and his son to go to a race track somewhere near the corvette museum in Kentucky. it was a track were they use to race the vintage cars. he had a38' chev w/ the 235 i6 motor. used to be know as the 12 porters. any way we had a great time but I saw in his eyes the true love of racing and he wanted me to video the experience. I taped it and did quite a good job if I say so myself. he would sit and watch it over and over. shortly there after he was racing a 4 banger for another friend at a local dirt track and in the back turn, he had a heart attack and died....right on the track. 77 years old and still racing.....why? because of the love that I know axRACER has for the sport. I surely don't want ax to die anytime soon but I have seen the love that I know he has for racing. I'm just glad that he has time to instruct us in what ever area he chooses. his sense of humor needs a little adjustment but we can live w/ that.....

that's my story and I'm .....glad I shared it w/ u guys.

qman

 

The desire to race is like a drug! My dad had a 65 Chevelle short track race car and he gave me rides up and down the country road out in front of our house. I was 5. My Dad has been gone now for 20 years but he told me something when I was 18, I was going to sell my car and my motorcycle and some other things I had so I could go racing ... My Dad said something and it made me cry..? I was shocked and could not figure out why my best friend ( my Dad) did this. He said it was for my own good and that once you start racing you will sell everything you own to keep doing it! Like a drug! To this day I do not drink , I do not do drugs and I am not into sports of any kind. But I do want to race! anything!

 

well' chris..... then i'll say u got it...and good luck with it.

I'm infected, at 67, to the look and sound of the 50's cars and trucks (save my 65 gto) . I just go to another place in the presents of one of them. right now I'm trying to recreate my 54 f-100 and a 57 nomad. they both should be done by tax day this year and then I will be out of control. I can't wait. so....that's my sickness.

I feel like I'm at an AA meeting

I don't smoke (never have)
I don't drink (nothing since 77')
no drugs (cept for what dr gives me)

I spend my time and $$$ on cars and trucks (cept for my bride & bass fishing)

politics ain't cutting it either.

qman

 

And now I'M not so confused anymore. Thanks guys for all the clarifications. I have never raced anything, never smoked, no drugs, but I like a couple beers now and then (that cancels out the no racing). Lord knows I'm hopelessly addicted to old ford trucks.......I think the trex type of decking would be great in a DD that has to live out in the elements. I have two flatbed trucks with steel beds that I fabricated, Both have pressure treated plywood for the deck surface. The T-100 has one layer of 3/4 and the '92 f350 has two layers of the same. This could be ripped into 'boards', milled, or actually used as a full sheet, and used in a pickup bed. Someone commented that the pressure treated wood is very corrosive against steel. On my angle iron and channel structure, no real worry. With the pickup I was thinking you could use a barrier between. I have stolen my kid's plastic sheet 'sleds', the kind with a handle cut into the front, and used that material for many projects. Cut it into strips over any steel, use stainless fastenings, and I think good to go for many outdoor years.

 

yeah, yer one sick dude...but I love it!

keep doing what yer doing and don't look back....they might be gaining on you!!!

best of luck

once, some sports commentator said that larry bird ( who had made 11for 11 free throws) was" lucky". when they told larry about that, he said that after practices w/ the Celtics, he would stay after everybody else and throw 1,000 free throws just because he wanted to. he then said "lucky? yeah, I guess that's it , just lucky".

may you get that "lucky" at what you do.
qman

 

<a href="http://s125.photobucket.com/user/calorchard/media/f100/P82A0921_zpsc3a32bd9.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p74/calorchard/f100/P82A0921_zpsc3a32bd9.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo P82A0921_zpsc3a32bd9.jpg"/></a>

 

I found the best red and white oak in my shop........

 

The #1 reason why the 1ST-RIDE & T-Roaster are not done is I spent 12 yrs on race teams wth NASCAR ,Hooters Pro Cup , & Fla . Sunbelt Super Late Model Series . Racing = a disease that has no cure only treatment ! & racing season started last night at Daytona .

 

I was lucky and started my business first ,racing second !

 

Me too. I don't know if I'd call it lucky tho, but it paid for the racing.