So I'm taking off the running boards and fenders on our 51 F1 and I notice rust where running boards join the fenders. No surprise right? Anyways, what are the options to replace these? I read a thread where someone was asking if anyone would be interested in steel fenders, leading me to believe that that's not an option. If fiberglass is the only real other choice, just how good can someone repair these if the rust lay where everything is bolted together? Joe

 

There are patch panels available for this area. They're available from many restoration parts warehouses. They cost about $90 each.

 

Plus the rear fenders pop up for sale on e-bay from time to time if Ilyas Traveling Bonus Built Parts Caravan doesn't have any. The patch panels are a pretty straight forward approach.

PS Hey Ilya, you need to be more FTE PC in your signiture!

Those would now be: "...and way too many Bonus Built/Economy Built parts..." The Monkey Faces have cast us off you know!

LOL!

 

Plus you can put a "wanted" ad on Craigs list. I found a pair of front inner fender panels for my 48 by putting a wanted ad in the "for sale" section of their "parts section".

Tom

 

You'd be hard pressed to find fenders without some kind of repair needed in that area, even on the most rust-free, desert-lived trucks. Repaired by a competent bodyman, they will be better than new and last at least as long as you and your kids will enjoy the truck. Remember, it took 60 years to get as bad as they are now, which isn't that bad and that was with the truck driven through all kinds of weather and road conditions. Something it likely will never see again.

 

I was shocked to see how bad my fenders were, and this is a northern NM/southern Colorado truck, not likely ever on salt, but one that was USED as a truck, not a concrete cowboy commuter truck in town. All it takes is a little dirt/sand to get behind the reinforcements, which are strategically placed in hard-to-repair areas, and it's Hello, Rust...

 

Moral of the story is that these trucks just rusted out in certain places due to the way the parts caught water or stored dirt - and they all do it in the same places - cab corners, fenders at running boards, lower to upper fender seams (that's a biggie you don't have yet) etc. etc.

Good news is because these are such repeat offenders, the patch panels are available and as Wayne said, done right will last a long time and look great!

 

You can find many of the replacement panels at directsheetmetal.com

 

Hey ZOOT!

Start a new thread and introduce yourself!