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I've wanted a '56 cabover, on a later chassis for years. I just located this.
I can fix all the rust except for the top, I'm not sure I can handle it. Might need some professional help there. Anybody got a thread on here showing similar repairs? Thanks.
Maybe I'm just getting old but that truck doesn't stir any emotions in me other than pity. I feel sorry for the neglect it has endured but I don't think that I would ever take it on as a project. Rust is like an iceberg...what you see on the outside is just a fraction of what lies underneath. Good luck to you should you take it on...
Wow, that will be a huge undertaking, I found a nice original top for my F100 and put it on as you would do a chopped top. 56's are one year only, good luck, looks like the top is only a small portion of what that will need....
There are many here who have the skills to take on a project like this, if you get too bogged down just reach out and I am sure they will be willing to offer the advice and support to help.
I look forward to following your build so please keep us updated. When completed it will be a cool truck.
Thanks for the encouraging words, one out of three, haha. I know where I can get a top off of a '56 F100 cab, cut thru the ws posts and back window. It wasn't a really good cab but wasn't rusty around the drip rail area like the COE is. Might solve the top problem?
I'd be thinking pretty seriously about replacing the whole cab. I don't think I've ever seen a cab rotted completely out like that along the drip line... I suspect it got crinkled in the back at some point, popping open the seams along the top of the truck. Those seams are actually pretty complex and are multiple layers (someone has posted a pic with multiple cross sections at some point here...), and are difficult, if not impossible to true up completely. And since they've opened the whole cab up to water damage, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other internal braces and important structural sheet metal is rotten as well. Unlike many old cabs that are basically sealed up with the doors closed.
I don't care how good your skills are, that truck is one big mess, and we only see the top of the cab, doors, and steps.
The door bottoms are completely rotted out, the top of the cab is rusted through at the drip rail, and we haven't even seen it with the doors open.
The steps are not replacable, except in firberglass, which are excellent, but expensive.The Y block is probably stuck and beyond repair.
I have a '56 C600 on an E-350 chassis. My build is here on FTE, and you can see what is involved. There are plenty of cabs of this vintage available as of last year, in much better condition and ready for transplant.
I don't care if you are getting it for free, not worth the time or effort.
Regards, Mark.
Holy crap, Abe! That one's no better. Every seam is gone. All the panels are rotted around the entire perimeter. Even the frame crossmember is shot. The things you Easterners do to old sheet metal should be criminal. I do have to give the guy credit on the innovative big back window, though.
$1300
I do have to give the guy credit on the innovative big back window, though. 
