True that!

 

I have a 52 and the only rust is the floor where the right front cab mounts and a dent in the rear top of cab. I have stripped all the gauges, doors, front fenders, hood etc. solid rear corners. Come get it or pay the shipping and I can send pictures.
TractormanBill

 

Once again a great FTE member steps up!

 

First off, thanks to all the folks that had kind words of encouragement. I've got my build excitement back. Both estimates were for labor only but perhaps neither wanted to mess with the project? The word tradeoff really nails the situation. I was ready to spend some time & money for nostalgia but have limits.

Actually, I already picked up a spare parts cab to speed this up. It's not in great shape but wanted the roof, a pillar & cowl. The estimate considered that.

@das54, having done other projects like my wooden boat, I decided to resist the urge to do it all. I'm comfortable on all of the project but sheet metal and reasoned major cab surgery would be beyond beginner skills. I'd just be too pissed at myself if I spend the time and then botch it.

Wolf, the pictures don't do it justice. Where there aren't holes, there's major pitting. Saveable but major surgery or the rust will just be back in a couple of years to waste a paint job.

That's an understatement. Tractorman, I'll be in touch asap

Mystery of eBay how that was sitting under my nose, or it just listed. Thanks!

@schoo, I saw one ad for a place for working starting in SF and answered the ad but never heard back. I'll google it.

@FortyNiner, very kind words of advice, thank you!

john

 

If it is worse than the pictures, then I can understand wanting to move along with a starting point that is better. Sometimes it really does make sense to pay to have a better starting point. And with a great offer like above, there is no real losing!

 

That one looks really clean. The other one in Fowler CA, I'd be very leery of rot under the windshield and rear window rubber, among other things. The extra cost of shipping might be worth it.

 

To save time, I think replacing your cab is your best decision. That being said, I didn't have any welding experience but the mig welders are almost goof proof. There were parts of my build where buying a mig welder proved to be invaluable; and I aquired a few skills with it.

Good luck with your cab search, and build. I will definitely be subscribing to follow your progress.

Tom+

 

I used to buy miller mig welders a transport truck load at a time ,and sell them .When my son was 10 ,I had a little 110 volt machine with a gas hook up ,and he figured it out in an afternoon well enough that he built himself a little trailer to pull behind his bicycle ,to carry his lawnmower around the neighbourhood to cut lawns .I helped him a little ,but he did all the welding the very first day .He is 25 now ,the trailer has been passed along to another kid and it's still going strong .My point is ,that if a 10 year old can figure it out ,you and your boys can as well .

 

I used to have a cheap FLUX welder but could not get good welds. Partly because I was new to welding and partly because it was not a very good welder.

I bought a Miller Gas MIG at a swap meet. The difference was night and day. I can actually get good welds now. I would not call myself an expert but I can weld and get good results.

Get yourself a good welder - you wont be sorry.

 

You are correct that when done it will not be your grand fathers sheet metal any more but the memories will be the same. The 51 I have built for my son was not my dads or any member of my families, but it was my son's dad's 😉

Kevin
LFD

 

Hey Tom, that is very much like what I did with my donor cab. I had cross braces in too though.



Sorry the pics are so big. I think my camera is from texas.

 

A guy posted one for sale today in the 1951-1952 Ford F-1 Parts for Sale or Trade Facebook group. I don't know where he is.

Here is the link


https://www.facebook.com/groups/1641...99348033665974

Keith

 

Hey Wallace,
I like your approach... You are making a Plan. That is a solid way to do this Old truck stuff.
We were in a similar predicament with a very rusty truck .. sand blasting was the bottom of
the pit for us. Everything from here on is building your truck and putting it back together. I struggled
with the concept ... if I replace everything it might as well be a kit car.. So..

I drew the line at the Frame, Cab, & Bed - I saved those at considerable effort so I could still call it
a 1950 truck. If you look at our trucks you will see that a massive amount of the body/sheet metal
are those huge round fenders. We paid $265 ea for (4) new heavy duty fiberglass fenders. They Look
great and I had them on & ready to go in a weekend for $1,000.

Every single person on here has had to replace or repair the Cab Corners on their truck's cab. I would
hazard a guess that pretty much everyone had to do some major surgery replacing floor panels - you
can use panel adhesive if you don't want to weld the floor.

The tough areas on a cab are around the window, roof line, drip rail, cowl, and the door bottoms. If I had
major rot in those areas I might ship one in from Bakersfield/Quartzite. If you hire out just these repairs you won't be looking at $5,000.

We found that the Labor Rates drop drastically as you get further away from the big city. We had our
work done 60 miles south of Austin in a tiny place called Seguin for 40% of the Austin quotes ... I think we paid $50/hr. for welding.

Good luck over there in San Francisco! Enjoy the journey ... Keep working on your plan... we'll help where we can.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Yes that is one area that definitely needs bracing to keep it square.

Another cab will likely need some work in the places Ben has mentioned. I was able to save my fenders with repair where they meet the running boards, doors needed work, filled cab seams, gas filler opening ,etc.

The floor was intimidating but....using 14 ga braked steel and ........



The black areas are treated with rust convertor.

Tom

 

Unfortunately the problem John is facing is common but his is an extreme case of rust, pin holes and badly pitted metal in all the horizontal areas. The spots that don't have holes yet are very thinned out and weakened some. I have started and complete projects like this for customers in the past on vehicles that you can't buy or find parts for. But these trucks are not yet to that point and you need to do just what John is doing now, weigh your options and go with the best plan. It really can get discouraging when you have a complete truck (minus tailgate) and then find out most or all is not worth the cost of saving. What John is keeping in mind is the memories of this being his grandfathers truck and what his kids will remember is building it with their dad and the quality time spent together. Those are the real memories.

I bought my 51 for my now 9yr old son when he was -3months old I told my wife that I wanted to create memories for my son and this truck so when he turns 16 that this isn't just a vehicle for him to drive and beat up. It will be a truck that has been in his family as long as he can remember. I'm looking forward to all the memories that haven't been created yet. My dad was not a car guy at all and I didn't get those memories with him. Johns kids are very lucky and at the end of the day he will have a great truck with the tile from his grandfathers and John and his kids will have new memories together.

Joh, keep all the plates and any cab sections with stamped markings and have these grafted into the new cab to keep some of the old with the new.

Keep your head up it gets bettter from here!

Here is my son at 3 after his first ride in his truck!


Here is my son last Christmas at 8 with his truck!


Building memories for both of us!


Kevin
LFD