Guys,
I'm not sure what to do. My 1960 Styleside tailgatge is very solid- no rust but very banged up. The steel is stretched a lot. I know I'm not good enough at bodywork to fix it perfect enough. A trusted body shop friend of mine with his own shop said it is just too far gone to fix economically. He suggested I find a replacement.
The aftermarket ones don't have the raised letters so I've kicked around cutting my letters out and carefully welding them into the aftermarket/new one. I'm confident in doing that and it gives me the raised letters I really don't want to give up on.
Of course, if I found a good original, I'm much further ahead from the time standpoint... Anyone out there have one?
What have you guys done to fix a bent up tailgate?

Thanks,

Nick in WI

 

There's only one aftermarket tailgate that I'm aware of for a 57-60 styleside trucks. Dennis carpenter stamps it. It has the raised letters. Its also $400. Have seen some nice original gates on ebay.

 

If the option is to pay shop labor rates to attempt to straighten a beat up original, $400 for a brand new correct one is a bargain.

 

I agree. If I were to pay someone to straighten this one, 400 bucks would be eclipsed in a hurry.
I checked out Dennis-Carpenter's site and they don't show a picture. I've seen one on www.classicautopartsonlinecatalog.com with stamped Ford letters that are block shaped and I bet Dennis-Carpenter is the source for it as well. I sent D-C an email asking for a picture.
I really like the original letter shapes and am not ready to give up on it yet...

 

Has anyone used the repro Styleside tailgates? I'm curious as to the quality of the fit and finish.

 

I talked to Dennis Carpenter and they are having them reproduced overseas. I have not seen one up close but was told they are same gauge of steel and raised letters as the original. I believe MAC's and others use the same supplier. Is the tailgate mainly bowed, top tube dented? I read somewhere that the bow of the gate could be fixed. If you have time I bet one will turn up at swap meets, etc. The new ones are over 400.00. Good luck.

 

If you post a pic, maybe somebody can give you an idea of how tough it would be to fix it.

 

My Tail gate is from Dennis-carpenter. It is GREAT!

 

There's options out there. Here's some pics of how I repaired my 49. Its still not perfect but I don't have alot invested and I still have my Ford script.
1949 Ford F1 4x2 - Poor-boy Tailgate

CharlieLed recently had a thread where he crafted a tailgate. They wanted the Ford script tailgate on a later style bed instead of the block letters. What they did was to have the Ford script laser cut into some flat sheet metal and overlay that ontop of a smooth tailgate. I can't remember who did it. Here's the link to the thread;
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...lgate-art.html

Bobby

 

Walston,

That tailgate looks awesome. I sent an email to Dennis-Carpenter to request a picture. They did respond back with the following: "The graphics/catalog folks (who have the cameras) are gone for the week – we will get a picture taken and send it next week."
Your pictures verify what I was hoping for though.
My tailgate's top tube is dented and the panel with the letters on is both stretched toward the front of the truck from being hit from behind and stretched backwards from having stuff slammed down on it when open.
There are definitely some cool ways of personallizing trucks after looking at some of the suggestions.
I think I'm going to buy a new one and hang the old one on the wall of my garage or future rec-room. It's still cool enough for that!
Thanks guys,

Nick
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Glad I could help

 

I've been scouring the internet trying to find out how the paint on the tailgate from the factory would have been. All pictures I've found fail to show the tailgate. Anyone know how the lettering would have been done, if at all, on a two-tone paint scheme?

 

Here is a picture from Ira Brown's website. I am 99% sure this is the correct way the letters should be.

 

B7C-9940700-A .. Styleside Tailgate-52 1/2" long / Obsolete/Reproduced

Applications: 1957/60 F100/350 / 1961/65 F100/250 4WD / 1961/66 F350 / 1962/63 F100/250 2WD (not Uni's) / 1966 F250 4WD.

All these specific 1961/66's used the 1957/60 Styleside Beds.

 

Anyone have a decent spare styleside tailgate? Seems that the catalog vendors cant get them either - we took ours to the body shop to look at and they said "find another" :c(