Projects My roadster pickup project.

Nice build! Your doing great on the details! Not sure how you know they said it was a 1940-ish color if you didn't have the sound on but I do agree that color would look great on yours!

 

I agree maroon would be a cool color for a RPU like yours! So would root beer brown!

 

My RPU is going to be this color. It's an Isuzu color, a direct match , same color code as Washington Blue.

 

Color is hard my mod was going to be marroon up until the day I ordered the paint. I'd looked at the chip i'd settled on & that day it didnt look right so I ordered green. Then I didnt tell anybody until it was back together, then I had the club come over.

My vote it titian red

 

Don I can see it looking real good in Washington blue or a red in the same vein.

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second on the Titian red I believe it was for 58 Buick more a deep maroon than red. My 33 chevy A/A coupe was this color in 1960

 

Hi Don , ,

My G/F and I are flying in from the UK for the Turkey Run , and I discovered your RPU build-up thru your Turkey Run post`s .

Im lovin` the style and quality of your work , A Very interesting read !

I look forward to seeing the RPU in in the metal at Daytona !
Be great to meet some HAMB members

 

Hey Don - what a resurrection!!

The bed/build is turning fantastic. Dude in my hood has an old school T-bucket with a blower & stick ... reminded me of you when he wheeled by.

Keep us posted.

My '64 dragmobile is headed back to my garage for completion. The race shop let me down & has done ZERO in a month & 1/2. I bought a JD2 tube bender & ordered some addt'l dies. Might as well finish it myself. I might have the welding skill ... just say'n.

Paul

 

Thanks. I read it in the subtitles on the bottom of the screen.

Rootbeer is a color I have actually kicked around. I thought of doing it the reverse of how I had my 23.

I like Washington blue also, good to know the Isuzu color is a match.

I wonder how hard titian red is to spray ? I love it but it always seemed sort of translucent and hard to apply well.

Did you spray it ? If so, how did it cover ?

Thanks. Have you been to TR before ? It is quite the event, and carries over into late at night up on A1A at BelAire Plaza. You will love it.

Thanks, Paul. Sorry to hear about the shop letting you hang, I hate when the do that. PM me your email address and I will send you pictures of Don's cage. Dan and Don got it done and it really came out nice. Dans Mustang is missing the whole back half, he is tubbing it......you know Dan, he can't do anything half way.

Don

 

58 Buick Titian Red was a straight enamel color not a "candy" I did not paint my car I was 6 when it was built but I did get a quart from a restoration shop and I saw no difference in it than any other enamel this was in the early 80s ,They are the ones that told me it was a Buick color and I'm pretty sure they said 58 .

 

Thanks for that info, Leon. I went to some on line paint charts and looked at that color. Looks like it was a 1954 Buick color. Very sharp shade.

To keep moving along on the bed for my rpu I decided to make the stake pockets next. Last night Dan and I fooled around with some scrap pieces of 18 gauge to see how we could bend up the shape I need. I took dimensions off of the stake pockets on Dan's rpu because he has an original Model A bed (Brookville). The ones on his car are about 2 inches wide, not including the flanges, by about 1.5 inches tall.

We found we could make two of the bends in the brake, but the last two bends (for the end flanges) had to be hand shaped on a jig we built to go on the welding table. The problem was that once you bent up the C shape for the center, the piece would not fit back into the brake to bend those flanges. But all we did was take a mallet and shape those flanges over a buck we made and that solved that problem.

So tonight I cut out 4 pieces of 18 gauge that are 6.5 inches x 16 inches. Each one of those will become a corner pocket. I scribed lines on that piece and took two angled cuts out of it so that it will tuck up under the wing, which is also angled the same amount. Here is the first piece all cut and ready to bend up in the brake.



Each pocket is going to be shaped like a top hat if you look at the profile. Both sides have a lip where 5 number 10 stainless button head screws will hold the pocket to the bedsides and the tailgate and front piece. Here is the first stake pocket Cleco'd in place. I left the bottom longer than needed because we are going to taper the pockets down at the very bottom to make it flow better into the bedsides.








The last part will be to weld a cap on top of the pocket that will go up under the lip to steady the lip. I will either run rivets down through that cap and wing, or more ss button head screws. Not sure which yet as this whole thing is still in the figuring out stages. Now I only have 3 more pockets to make.




Don

 

Don,
The color I have penciled-in for my 29 coupe is one I've really liked for years. It was a Fiat color from the early-70's that I had on my 1973 128. It isn't red, or brown, but reminds me of a terra cotta. Like a shiny, wet clay pot. I don't have a code, but it's a handsome, commercial-ish color. Here are some crappy images of my 74 128 sedan in that color. I thought I saw a new Fiat painted a similar color the other day, but from what I can tell on their web site, it is more of a copper metalic. The new Fiats also come in a neat medium blue / green. Later, Gary

 

Gary, that is a nice color. That is the problem, there are just so many to choose from. I sit at redlights and look at cars around me for ideas. One good thing is that since the car makers are building such boring cars these days they have come out with some sharp colors to try to put some excitement back into them.

Today was one of those days I just couldn't get interested in doing anything major to my project, so I piddled around a little. I squared the bed up and scribed a line around the inside showing where the floor will lay. I bought some 1 inch angle iron and am going to run that around the perimeter so the floor can lay on it and be bolted down to it.

I removed the bed from the car and dragged out the louvered panel I will be using most likely for the floor, or possibly for the tonneau cover........haven't decided yet. Dan made this panel up to use on the first version of his own rpu, and he sent it off and had 204 louvers punched in it. I wasn't sure how it was going to fit my shorter and narrower bed, which is why I was anxious to check it out now that I have the final size of my bed.

Luckily, the louvered area is just inside the area I need to fit into my 40.5 wide x 35 long bed. It is almost like it was planned that way. It would be a shame not to be able to use it as it has been just sitting inside a sealed shipping crate for the past 5 years or so. I laid down some levels and yardsticks to difine the area I am going to use, just to get an idea of how it will look. Now I just have to drag out the nibbler and make 10,000 of those little C shaped pieces of steel again. I am still finding them in the bottom of my shoes and have to use needlenose pliers to get them out.

Here is the louvered panel with the levels and yardsticks marking the area I will be cutting out to use.

Don





This picture shows this tonneau cover on the first rpu Dan built, before he took a sawzall to it and started over.

 

Nice work so far looking great...

 

like!

 

I am learning so much reading your thread, Don! I have pretty much decided to build an RPU instead of a roadster, based on all the beautiful PU's I've seen on the HAMB, your family's being in the fore.

Brad

 

Damn that looks awesome as a tonneau cover!!

 

Yes , Don , flew in especially in 2003 for TRR , this time staying 1 mile from BelAire Plaza - for me - the A1A atmosphere is the best part !
Ive been in touch with Greg about fixing up a ride or 2 , and hope to meet at the Hamb parking area .
cheers
.

 

Come on Don you must have some progress since ???


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Yep, time for an update, it is something when this thread becomes a home page because I don't want to miss a beat on this build.

 

I haven't been ignoring you guys, I just didn't have anything new to update. Now that the world didn't end yesterday I decided to get started on my car again.

No major progress, but one thing I had to do next was to figure out how I was going to mount the bed to the frame. So, I ran a piece of 1 x 1 angle iron down each side and bolted those to the bed sides. Next, I needed some outriggers from the frame to reach out to lay under those pieces of angle iron, and to do that I cut up some 2 x 4 box tubing into the shape of a gusset and had Dan weld those to the frame for me.

Here is how I made those bed supports. This is the back one.



And this is the front one. Same thing on both sides.



Once all 4 were welded onto the frame we lifted the bed on to see how it fit. It lays nice and square , almost like I planned it that way. My frame is wider at the back than in the front so my supports needed to be longer in the front than in the back to reach the angle iron.



I know this isn't major progress but at least I now know how the bed will mount and what I am doing for the floor of it.

Don

 

I've been undecided whether to use the louvered panel I have as a floor or a tonneau cover for the bed, but regardless when I cut it out of the panel Dan gave me it will be the same size........40 5/8 wide and 35 long. So if I just cut it to that size I can use it in either place.

Today I decided to just bite the bullet and get the cutting over with. I have been dreading it because I am using that nibbler of mine that throws out about 10,000 of those little C shaped pieces of steel. I am still finding them in my shoes from the cutting I did months ago. Here is the panel we started with, the levels are defining the size I need to cut out for the bed I am using.




Once we had it cut out we laid it on top of the bed to see how it looked there, and I liked what I saw. It looks better than I thought, and I have decided it will be my tonneau cover.











This will mean I have to have a custom gas tank built, but I ran into a guy who fabricates custom aluminum tanks locally, so I will just give him my dimensions and have him build it. I can now finalize mounting the bed to the frame and building my stake pockets.

Don

 

great choice Don... it makes a great cover... it would have been a shame to cover all those nice louvers

Roy

 

Thanks, Roy. Once I saw it in place I liked it too.

Don

 

That's some very nice work, Don. Gary

 

Great fabrication Don, excellent work!

 

Looks great to me Don, Nice

 

Looks right at home there, it just works Don. JW

 

NICE!!
Later,
Dick

 

That looks awesome! How will the lid open? Shocks or lift off?