Projects '57 Chevy Panel Truck build "the Patch Panel"

I'm doing a 62 Chevy stepside in a satin baby blue, white bumper/grill combo....simple

 

Who paints a motor white?!? We'll see how long this lasts...

 

Just don't put any oil in it

 

This might be the beginning of a new trend....

 

Looking great by the way. The wife and I got back from visiting Sonoma a couple weeks ago and tried to drive around and find old cars for fun... boy we saw a lot, but I guess I missed this one. Keep at it

 

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After getting the motor & tranny mounted up, I realized that the motor was just going to collect metal/paint/bondo dust for the remainder of the project so I decided to pull it and get it away from the destruction. I'm not in love with color (white) and figure I'll probably repaint it something more sensible before the final install.

The original plan was to do most of the metal work, shoot the truck in epoxy primer and get it running. I know from experience that once it hit the road, I'd be too busy driving it to ever finish the bodywork & paint. Today I grudgingly took the grown-up path and decided to finish the metal work, completely strip the truck inside & out, bodywork it (inside & out) and paint it. Of course, my timeline just doubled or tripled also, but at least I won't have to do things twice...

First off, I fixed some cancer around the top of the A-pillar. It was a factory leaded seam and both sides were rotted. I'm pretty sure it was never completely welded and moisture got in behind the lead. Other than that, the "brow" of this truck is pretty solid.









Next I jumped to the interior because I wanted to get my new roof supports in. When the PO installed windows in the truck he cave-manned these supports out with a chisel. I had to repair the interior beltline top rail and the side panels before sticking in these little posts. Anyway, I'm stoked because these were a BITCH to find.





It was getting pretty dark so I gave the dash a half-ass stripping. Still have a little sanding to do in the tough spots...



Progress is progress.

 

Threw some more time at the panel today.

For the first part of the day, I focused on getting the interior of this truck metal worked. The problem with an old truck is that for most of its life people don't hesitate to drill holes in it.

If handyman Joe needed a hole somewhere on his old panel truck, by-god he drilled one. He specially selected his dullest drill bit and leaned on it with all his body weight so that when the last shred of steel finally peeled out of the misshapen hole, all 180 pounds of him came slamming against the drill motor, burying the chuck into the sheet metal siding and distorting the panel inward around the hole. I bet he did this once a year for 30 years.

I filled 25-30 holes in the interior side panels and wheel wells of the truck today. Did a good bit of hammer and dolly work too thanks to 3"x5" access panels placed along the inside wall. I don't know why those little doors were put there at the factory, but I'm sure glad they were.

Anyway, this is what it looks like now...



It was tired of being hunched over so I finished the work I started weeks ago on one of my rear doors.

Before...



After...

 

Thought I was going to be out of town all weekend but plans changed and I got to sneak a day in on the panel.

My front clip had been sitting in my side yard since the day I pulled the drivetrain months ago. Now that most of the body repairs are done, I need to align the body panels and fit the doors. They, like most Chevy truck doors, don't fit the openings well at all. To fit the doors properly, the front clip should be on and in the right spot.

So today, I blew apart the front clip and did some minor repairs on the front fenders...

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I also shaved the side emblem holes in both fenders and hammered out a few dents. I set the fenders on the truck and bolted on my new hood hinges.





That's it for today...

 

my brother painted his engine white over a red primer, or maybe red paint and later it turned pink

 

Wow! Great body work; I wish I had half the skill. How are the neighbors liking the white tent?

 

Haha. Yeah, the second I stood back from it I had a "what have I done" moment. I don't actually like the look AND it's a different white than the firewall. Sweet, right? I'll re spray it something less retarded before final install.

Apache...thanks! My neighbors don't seem to mind the white tent - I think I'm that stupid thing's biggest critic.

You ever tried to work in one of those things? Tight quarters for sure! Maybe if you were restoring a little foreign car it'd be fine but it's hardly ideal for something as chubby as a panel truck.

I'm looking at a house with a 900 sq. ft. shop out back this Friday. Hopefully my tent dwelling days are numbered...


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Nice work....

 

great progress and sure glad you can take and post killer tech photographs!

 

my son just brought home a 56 panel, im going to follow your build and get some ideas, we have owned about 10 panels 48-59 in the past, after seeing your build its really motivating me to get this thing on the road, hey........ and your not to far away, keep up the hard work it will pay off,

 

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Thanks for the kind words.

impala59...10 panels?! geez. I hope your current one is in better shape than the one I started with!


My new steering wheel was waiting for me when I got home. My wife wasn't home yet, so I used the opportunity to photograph it with her psychedelic comforter as a back drop

 

yes I had a lot of them, when I was a child In the early 70's my dad bought a 57 panel at travis air force base, 25,000 original miles and never drivin off the base and I think 25mph speed limit. that's were my love affair with panels started,

 

Love those panels, nice work!

 

Took a couple hours today and finished up my front fenders. I had repaired the rust and shaved the trim holes last week but still had yet to modify the lip surrounding the grill.

As most of you probably know, '57 truck fenders have a flat spot stamped into them as a mounting point for the '57 grill. The '55-'56 fenders have a continuous lip as the grill mounts inside the grill opening rather than on top of it. I plan on running a slightly modified '56 grill so the flat spots in the lip had to go...









I still have a few slight dents to take out and one little spot of rust to cut out at the right side turn signal mount point.

I got the font clip all bolted together for mock-up, but failed to snap a pic. Once everything(fenders, core support, hood, doors) is lined up and fitting together, it'll all come off and go to the blaster...

 

What blasting method will you use ?....I'm dealing with the damage a powerful sand blaster in the wrong hands can do to a panel. Norcal Metal stripping closed after a chemical spill/leak. Chemical dipping is not a great alternative but the choices are slim...Joe

 

There's some dude in American Canyon that has done a nice job on a couple Porsches I've worked on. I'll pass along his contact info when I find it...

 

Thanks....

 

Scored a couple things this weekend that I've been hunting for...both off of Craigslist. Two solid scores at a low price in a single day?!? I'm pretty sure I used all my CL karma.

I found an original condition, working 55-59 radio with knobs & working original speaker+cover. I gave my buddy my old factory delete plate a while ago because he thought it would look great in his '59 Apache. This of course left me with a radio shaped hole in the dash and sent me on a 4 month long search for the perfect radio. They pop up on ebay a lot but usually they're trashed/not working or working/nice and too expensive. This one is about perfect and was CHEAP!



I've also been looking for an original '55-'56 truck grill for months. I've looked at a few and they were all damaged or rusty & too much money for the condition. Finally found one that is straight as a pin and has no serious rust on it. The guy let me have it for $60!

So, after all the running around, I had a couple hours to mock up the grill & get the hood on. Nothing fits yet, it's just sitting on there loose.

 

Nice clean radio....craigslist Karma, how funny.

 

I pretty sure I have some headlight bezels and door strikers left over if you need them...Joe

 

Nice grille! 57 hood, 56 grille....we can't keep anything straight can we

 

Only way to make the hood fit...is to make the hood fit. Amazing how bad the tolerances are on these old trucks.

 

Whoa. Crazy day...


Had to slice and dice the hell out of my hood to make it fit. Squaring the fenders to the cowl/body made it fit horrendously! Anyway, confident that my fenders were square within a 1/16" I started cutting the hood.

First, I gapped it 5/16" at the cowl and welded it there. That made the hood massively crooked toward the right front fender. Cowl gap good, hood crooked. What to do? I cut the hood at the back and centered it between the two fenders. I pulled my dimension from the center of the slight peak in the hood out to each fender...



From here I started working on the sides setting a perfect 3/16" gap as I went. Pretty self explanatory on the driver's side...



The other side however, was way out! the side was fine, but in setting the hood at the center of the fenders, it moved out at the front on the pass. side. HMMMM? I checked everything again... Still square. The means this hood was out of square by about 3/8"! Anyway, to fix the front edge I had to section it back a bit.



geez...For a perfect, undented, undamaged hood, that thing was JACKED! Got a little bit of fab left on the front of the hood and a day of welding and hammering before I jump in on the doors. They fit horribly also!

 

strange...I thought you first fit the doors...then you can put the fenders on and fit them, and adjust the side to side of the fenders based on the hood. and you have to adjust the curve of the hood to match the fenders.

But I don't like cutting and welding unless I really have to.