Or, a 1 step:

Buy one that's been restored...

 

LOL!

True, but bear in mind mine was brand spanking new when it was bought. So now matter what they look like when we buy them, time will take its toll and they'll need some sprucing up.

 

I got this! You place the ice chest full of frosty beverages on one corner of the tarp, the jack(hydraulic jack recommended) on another corner, and then use the jack stands on the two remaining corners.

Whew, that was a lot of work. Time to sit back and enjoy a frosty beverage or two and start into the planning part of the program.

Bobby

 

We're gonna need some cold motivation-in-a-can to help us mull this over.
Maybe we should first make a test drive ( read: "beer run") to see what easy restoration steps can be glossed over. After all, we're drained porfessionals.

 

The guy that built this 40 Ford must have had a great tarp and knew how to anchor it to the floor. His tarp must have been made of money. I just had a frosty beverage enjoying the look of this one.

 

Thanks you all for a great time. I agree counting the cost is hard on a person.

 

Wow, if a 52 is 13 steps and a 50 is only 5, my 48 should've restored itself. Can you imagine the poor guy that reads this crap and thinks it's accurate? Hey Honey, there's an old truck for sale up the street. Let's go buy it and restore it. It's easy, I read it on the internet. We already have all the tools we need in the kitchen drawer. We just need to buy a tarp.

 

Search Youtube for "auto body repair". You'll find all kinds of "experts" demonstrating the proper way to do body work like using a grinding disk on a drill to remove rust, then tapping the rust in and smearing the rust hole with bondo. Sanding the bondo with the same drill sanding disk and then spraying the repair area with a spray bomb primer and paint over the repair. Most of this guys are really proud of their techniques and have series of auto repair videos.

 

We used to call that the "cave and pave" method....works great when you're 15 with no money (wait, I'm 49 with no money!) and no skills. It sure does impress your friends when you're done though!
I just realized that my welding skills have been hampered all this time because my welder doesn't have the solder button . LOL!!

 

I worked in an couple of body shops, both had us do questionable work. The first shop we did a lot of work for small corner used car lots that didn't want to spend a lot to fix up the rot bucket cars they bought at auction. We used a lot of stainless steel tape, the type used on heating ducts, and bondo. Grind the rust area, knock the rust in, tape over the hole and bondo. Looked good for a few weeks until moisture go in and the rust grew. I can make any rust bucket look good.

I put out a lot of buckets in that time, I was young and needed to get paid so I did as I was told. One more hint about used car lots, be very leery of a two tone car. We'd bondo the rust on the bottom of the cars and used whatever contrasting color left over paint in the locker to paint the bottom have of the car and used pin stripe tape to separate the colors.

 

I always like useing newspaper and window screen to back up my repairs

 

Dick, you're just doing low tech, the stainless tape is high tech.

 

That is exactly what I did, but I forgot to buy the tarp. But I did fix all the rust with aluminum foil and bondo. I know it will work forever because aluminum foil and bondo don't rust. I just haven't gotten the hang of using solder and my MIG.

 

Man, I wouldn't trust your body work, the stainless steel tape will last a lot long that ordinary aluminum foil, geeeez!!

 

But I wadded up the aluminum foil - of course it was used only once before and may have some grease on it...