Sorry for the wait on these.

 

How bout 1 of these

 

I'm in the process of making a comfortable cruiser out of my 48 f1, but that truck of yours or any truck for that matter has two choices in my opinion. First, try to restore it and love all that original tractor like quality she will give back in return. Or second, (my personal choice)
Big engine, big brakes rebuild all body mounts and a solid/comfortable suspension (i.f.s., 4 link rear with air bags. SWAY BARS!!) I had original suspension until the day I was making a left turn and my drivers door came open when I was against it because the truck leaned violently one way or the other while turning.

Make yours Low, loud and patina me plenty. Nice truck either way good luck?!

 

Your truck reminds me of my truck before I fixed it up in 1998-99.









Here you can see what can be done with a rusty old truck. I say fix it up, keep it stock, keep the engine if it is working OK.

 

Wow that is a beautiful truck either way. I hope you still have it, that one is worth keeping

 

Did the build cause the loss and gray hair

 

No, it was the 33 years of teaching high school students and coaching too many close soccer games.

 

I dunno Abe, your hair turned gray!!!

 

I think putting a good quality wood bed ranks up there right after brakes, seatbelts, and dependable drivetrain! Don't paint it except the undercarriage and fender wells, new correct hardware.....

 

Do you guys reccomend anywhere that sells boxed frames with a coil spring conversion? I've seen a few places online and I think if I really want to use this truck it will be the best option.

 

Wranglerboy, still have the truck? Any updates to tell us about? Any new pictures?

 

Abe, I love your before and after pix, Nice job on the truck.... Hope we hear more from Wranglerboy. His looks a lot like mine. I wonder what that rear frame extension is our past the rear of the box? Also I see some one put in boards in the box without the metal strips- that's different.

 

Abe that's a nice story and history pictorial for your truck.

 

Hey guys,
Sorry I haven't updated this thread in like 2 years, haha. A lot has happened to this truck since you last heard from me, so much I'm not sure I could get everything but I will try.

All metalwork on the cab is done. Ended up replacing most of the floors and some of the firewall, cab corners, door sills, rockers... Once all that was done, I refinished the firewall with a matte black single stage paint.

The floors and rockers were finished with raptor liner and the entire underside was wire brushed, scuffed, and undercoated.

The cab went back on the POR-15 finished chassis after that. The original dash's lacquer paint just didn't clean up how I wanted it to so I got it matched and base-cleared it.

Steering column and box refinished with black matte single stage, and gauge cluster cleaned up.

Bought a original style repop steering wheel was pretty beat. ***** and bezels cleaned up, fresh air heater and all its components restored with single stage matte black. Found and original firewall pad! that just got brushed off and hit with a little black spray paint. All of the front clip's inner parts like the inner fenders, radiator support, air deflectors, etc. were blasted and refinished with single stage matte black. Got the front grille mocked up but it will likely come back off. The original bench seat I will be getting back tomorrow! It was reupholstered with the most expensive leather hide the guy had!! I got the front axle dropped 3 inches and am currently c-notching the frame to flip the rear axle (about 4 inch drop in the rear). The box hasn't been touched yet but I have all it parts ready when I get to it. Next up on the list is to get the inside of the doors painted to match the dash and get the new windows and tracks in them. Also while both axles are out, I'm replacing all bushings and other things that wore over its lifetime. The rear frame where the farmer had welded on some junk on the back was too far gone so I had to cut from the rear axle back completely off and weld in part of my parts truck's rear frame. It came out plum and square and I am going to do some modest boxing in that area to ensure no stress cracks.

So much progress but its still so far from being finished! Please note that I am trying to preserve its exterior as much as possible as well. The cab corners, cowls, and front fender very unfortunately had to be replaced but I'm currently working with my paint expert buddy to figure how to best imitate the patina without making it obvious that its a faux patina...

If you guys have any questions, please let me know. I have thousands in this truck but I'm determined to drive it so I don't care! I have made friends with some of the more traditional hotrod guys and they have talked me into keeping it as original as possible. The way I look at it, I want what I do to still be cool in 50 years. Yeah, I could drop a coyote motor in this thing, but its likely in 50 years they will be considered junk just like how we look at the some the cars that were customized in the 80's and 90's. For that reason I am utilizing as much original parts as possible while adding bare necessities (like front disc brakes) and little touches of flare (like the modest lowered suspension). For example, even things as small as its original hose clamps have been restored, and when it is done I think it will show the level of effort that was put into her. Anybody could go down to Napa and buy some junky new ones, but I felt that was the easy way out. I plan on putting an original flathead v8 ABA in it to replace its current 6 cylinder. Theres a local guy who specializes in building traditional hot rodded flatheads and his work is impressive. I also will likely be buying a new set of traditional wheels and tires for it. I haven't ordered them yet because I can't quite decide on size and whether whitewalls or blackwalls would look good under it.

PS Im sorry for the lack/poor quality of pictures, I'm a horrible photographer!

 

Thanks for the update. We expect more pictures later. And I say Blackwall tires.