It got really dark really fast and quickly became impossible to take meaningful pictures. But it’s here and it’s sitting on my frame. Working on getting it bolted the rest of the way down so I can put it up and then I’ll take some more pictures showing what I got.
I have been working outside today on paint and trim on the house. Big fun. I came in, got supper going and then thought, "I wonder how Trevor's task went today. "
OK, so I'm back inside and the cab is more or less bolted down. There's a lot of good, some bad, and some ugly, but I think I'm ahead. The truck is not perfect, but it's important to keep in mind that anything I will have to do to the truck body, I was gonna have to do to the coupe, but there's less to do and more to enjoy. So here we go. You will notice it has no doors in the pictures. This truck changed hands back and forth between 3 different people. At some point the truck doors got separated and ended up upstate; Donovan intends to go get them and will freight them to me, but in the meantime he brought three others. One is a kinda manky 30 truck door and two are very nice 28-29 coupe doors. These are not really any use to me directly, but he brought them so I could sell or trade them for 30-31 doors to use until the truck's original doors turn up. The good: It is a real 30 truck cab and it is straight & square at the bottom (all the body mount holes lined up with no massaging needed). There's no real apparent rot on the body; just a little spot on the bottom of the cowl at the passenger side. The coupe needed this repair also and a lot more, so I'm calling this a blessing. The bed is REAL nice - has a tailgate and hinges and is lazer straight - and came with a pair of usable rear fenders. The subframe (what little subframe a truck has) is intact and has not been fucked with. Really really nice firewall. Gas tank looks OK from the outside but it's a 31 (firewall shutoff) tank and the firewall is a 30 so I couldn't use it even if it turned out to be better inside than my coupe's tank. Good news is he left me the coupe's gas tank with me since it's a known good tank; I will pull the fuel gauge (which isn't frozen) out and put it in the coupe's tank. Splash guards are in great shape; I even got the one that goes between the frame horns in the front. Came with a nice chrome Model A headlight bar with a neat custom touch - the center has been brought to a sharp V. I won't be using this unless I decide to run fenders but it's unique so I'll hang on to it for now. The hood is perfect. He brought my headers and intake with him. These look AMAZING and I can't wait to get them mounted up. He brought a pair of matching Zenith-2 carburetors to run on the intake, plus a throttle linkage he made to run between them. These need rebuilt but look like nice cores. Some interior stuff: floors, seat riser, seat. The header is really nice; actually all the body wood that's there is pretty much intact. Speaking of body wood, he left me the expensive coupe top wood that I bought and never installed so that I could sell/barter it. Came with another steering column. I didn't really need it but hey parts is parts. The gauge cluster is really nice: looks like I have a working speedometer, Ford script ammeter, and a fuel gauge! The bad: Didn't come with doors (as mentioned). It's been in pieces, so the top corners (A pillars and the ends of the roof sides) have suffered a bit and will need massaging for everything to fit back together. The paint on this thing is REALLY thick tractor paint. It may be concealing some nasty stuff here and there but the important stuff is all solid for sure. The stupid roof panel thing held down with self tapping screws... at least this roof is like plaster board instead of tin. But just like the coupe I will have to fill some screw holes. Didn't come with a title, but he thinks he can get one, and if not I have plenty to barter with to get one. Visor is kinda beat up? I'm reaching pretty hard trying to think of anything else to put here. Here's a bunch of pictures.
When I saw this picture I just chuckled because I knew this is what you wanted all along. I'm digging it!!
I'm so psyched dude! I really feel like I'm on track now. The past couple days have been really energizing - finding out the frame was so much nicer than I thought it was, then finally getting the body I wanted. I can't wait to start getting it sorted out. For sure there's some battles ahead but I kind of dead ended with the coupe shell and now I have a way forward. I still almost cried a little watching my coupe turn the corner for the last time...
That's understandable, you learned a lot with that coupe in a short amount of time. It's only natural you a little sad to see it leave.
So the only thing I was really concerned about came to pass, the roof sides are really rough, repairable probably but might make more sense to just replace them... even at $175 a panel. We'll see after I get them stripped, I can see a big chunk missing from the passenger side one. But the cab back, top of the cowl etc are all super nice. There is some kind of big dent or tear in the lower part of the cab back filled with bondo, but it looks like absolutely no rot other than the slightly crunchy passenger side cowl bottom. Overall, I'm giving it a clean bill of health & and am quite comfortable thinking that I am leaps ahead of where I was with the coupe. I think a top wood kit, new roof sides, and an afternoon of minor metal patching will have the cab ready to go. Realized I am missing part of the subframe (the horizontal c-channel that goes under the seat) but that will be easy to replace. At a glance I don't think the bed needs anything but new bed strips and wood. But I'll get more in depth with it when the time comes - we are going to get back to running and driving first.
I'm thinking if it were me, before I permanently did anything, I would get the doors you are going to use and get them bolted on. I was watching some videos on Waldens Speed Shop's website and although Bobby was referencing the doors on a 32 3 window car that was being chopped, he mentioned several times how important the door fit up is. I can attest to that fact as well with my crazy project! Your truck looks awesome and I can't wait to see it bro!! You've come a long way from the day you bought a motor you didn't know how to make run! I'm stoked for you!
there are at least 4 different roof over door panels, '30 pick-up, '28-'29 coupe, '30-'31 tudor and '28-'29 tudor... the position, angle of the rain gutters and triangle tabs out front are the differences... rear window garnish are the same for '30 to '34 trucks... shop wisely... go trev go !
Yeah, mount the doors, you can play with the alignment by the front cowl bolts and the panel that spans over the door. Congrats man... The exhaust and intake will look bad ass.
cheap oven cleaner and brake clean are to be cherished almost as much as the wife who still cleans your clothes when you come in from the garage to tired to cook
Congrats, Trevor! Sounds like you got a heck of a boost to your project, I hope Donovan is just as happy. He did a great thing for you. Does he post here? I agree that you should get doors (preferably the OE ones still out there) before fully finishing the install, you can still do plenty of things while the search continues. RMonty needs a hand, and can help get your tank more roadworthy. You can get the dash really nice and functional. Get the seat ready to install. Tackle that wiring you have been putting off. Finish the wood roof so it stays solid. finish sand and polish that steering wheel. While you may want to jump in and get the body to perfect bare metal, and you have certainly shown great drive and ability to learn new skills, you may want to just block out what's there and lay down a fresh coat of tractor paint for now, inside and out to preserve. Going fenderless and old school means you don't need to have a perfect body and real nice paint. Just get the body bolted down and aligned, cleaned up and back to driveable. Hop up the banger, get the cab weatherproof, mount the bed and keep working on reliability. You can do any freakin' color you want, but here is a color chart for 1930. Most can be mixed kind of close in a tractor/implement paint that can be brushed or sprayed. If the tires are going to kick up road junk, you want something cheap and sturdy. https://www.autocolorlibrary.com/pages/1930-Ford.html#parentHorizontalTab2
I’m not even thinking about paint right now haha. Any bare metal is getting shot in primer for now. I don’t mind dents and dings on my old car, just don’t want rust holes. A lot of people have already commented on the green color and said it looks nice, but I think it looks like shit. I was envisioning a single stage dark blue enamel paint, brushed on, and buffing the shit out of it to get it to shine. I want it to look like it was painted in the 40s or 50s and I don’t really care for metallic paint.
Okay, try to get the door hinge screws out! That's always a task that seems to come up on these builds! I'm talking about the inside of the back of the cab and the floor under the seat, for example. Get it clean, knock off the rust and have a nice coat of paint to protect it. it's easier to do now and clean the dust, dirt and grinding out later off the paint. Makes it nice when the seat gets bolted down, too. Just trying to point out things that can be done while it's bare and waiting for money and finding things like roof panels, doors, bed wood and other big chunks. Heck, getting the garage all cleaned up and organized will help, just so you can stand back and dream!
IMO... i feel it is worth the effort to cut [torch] a small hole on the back side of the A pillar near the back side of the hinge... use it to slide your torch head in and get the exposed screw threads hot, don't melt the threads... this will expand then contract the screw, this lets the crusty rust flake off when backing the screws out... if you don't heat them enough [ heating from outside] the screws will break loose but only till you try and run the crusty threads through the tapped holes... SNAP !...OR ... STRIP !... rock on !
Some primers are porous so I would use a epoxy primer to be sure to hold moisture out, or a quick coat of sealer
'28-'29 coupe and tudor doors are 29.25" at the beltline... might be taller ? '30-'31 coupes are 27.5"... '30-'31 tudor / trucks are 29.25" at the belt... all doors taper smaller towards the bottom...
As far as I can tell, the internal structure and outer dimensions of the 28-29 coupe doors are the same as the 30-31 tudor/truck doors. But the hinges are in different locations, and the belt line is a different style. If I could hang them I would just use them for now but alas, no dice due to the hinges… Worth noting, the hinges are all present, straight, solid and clean… they were pretty bad on the coupe, so that was exciting to see… every bolt and screw I’ve had to remove so far has been entirely compliant, the body sections slid right together and went down on the frame just fine and it sits straight. Really nice stuff.
this is dec. 2021 i'm reading this an what i see is a guy knows how to weld wants a ford frame so weld one up , it's two rails an if ur lucky cross members if you buy a old one lol geesh you could weld one up from 4130 an have something for what you paying to buy hundred yr old metal been played with
Didn't realize how old i was til seeing that very same buzz box i welded up the boomtruck with when i was a 14 ishs in the wrecking yard an grandpa teaching me to weld , thx for the memorys
As they'd never been installed on anything but a naked block at Donovan's shop, I was eager to see how the custom headers fit up with a body. I think these look so bitchin. Can't wait to get everything rigged up to run.
Fingers crossed but this looks to be the only rot on the entire body. I chipped away some of the tractor paint in the other usual trouble spots and found solid metal beneath. Some older paint in the door sill. Looks like this car may have been andalusite blue at one time - my favorite Model A paint color. Big bondo spot filling a dent in the driver side cowl. Don't see any signs of rot, passenger side looks to be bondo-free.
Geesh all this talk bout nothing lol get it realy hot with ur map dunk it in water bolt it on ur done
I just got a couple shrinking hammers and dollies. We can try them out. I'm sure there is some stretched metal there!
And for all that, it’s not even that bad of a panel. A little wavy and cratered but the edges and body lines look intact. Looks a lot like the passenger side on the coupe, oddly enough.
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