Projects 1950 3100 Truck Project

Nice! My wife wants to steal that color for our truck. Would you mind sharing the brand/color name?

 

Your right about that... the dash and small areas like firewall and such are a pain in the ass. Its nice to get onto those wide open areas... but its a lot of sanding! Buy some long board sanding blocks for the doors and such, you will be glad you did. Btw, the cab int looks great, nice job w the matting!

 

Haven't seen anything about weatherstripping on the doors. Was kinda jealous of that good tight fit on your doors, then it hit me, no weatherstripping yet! I've got the soft black rubber, but it still holds the doors out some. I think the door latches you used are the way to go too.
Did check out a very original, barn find type truck last month. There had never been any weatherstripping around the doors apparently.

 

Nope, nothing yet. The only thing I am hoping for is that there is no play in/out when the doors are closed. I hope that means that the weatherstrips will just have to squash down....or the door wont latch, one of the two.

I wanted to look into alternatives to the og strips, but not sure if there are any. I remember on one guys build here he used weatherstrips from a suburban or something like that. I'll get more into it when the time comes.

 

Looks good. I hard time deciding on the colors because I wanted the truck to look more O.G. and not overly restored. Finally I just went with a British Green that was close to the O.G. color and I went with Matte metallic gray for the interior, done in O.G. style.

 

Sorry, that is classified info....ha...I just saw this, It was a duplicolor "exact match" spray can I bought at auto zone called "light blue metallic".

Yea I am sort of looking forward to that part, but I know I will hate it after about 10minutes. Thanks...

I am kinda glad you brought this up, I guess door fit is usally not all that great on these. I have seen a lot of trucks lately and all of them had adjustment issues. I was really worried it was just me...

I hear ya, I wanted something off the wall for the dash but still somewhat reasonable. In my mind this color is still something you might have seen back in the day. I am thinking some black/white/silver pinstriping will go good with that color...

 

The door fitment on these trucks was awful. They never bothered to fix jigging issues, most of the passenger doors hang out a bit at the bottom. If the doors and hood latched, it was sent on down the line.

 

The only area I wasnt happy with after all the dickin around is at the front cowl side of the door at the bottom where the hinge is sticks out a bit, you can see it in this pic...



I wonder if I could somehow bend the hinge, or even cut it at the door and reweld it slightly in there to get that to go away. I am sure then that will create an issue somewhere else so maybe I should just leave it alone and paint it a dark color so you cant see it, ha...

 

He has a point here I overlooked too, Man that weather stripping messes with the door fitment like you wouldn't believe, It happened on mine also. Getting these door to line up and work takes awhile, like one of the other guys said a few post back, they never fit rite from the start!

 

Did they even use the fat rubber when they made them? The original barn find truck I saw just had a jute/ hard woven looking material on the inside sill. Nothing on the door. Doors fit perfect and locks worked well. Coulda rotted out I guess.

 

I also dont have any rubber bumpers anywhere. Honestly I havent really worried about strips just yet, I figure I'll be running around with the windows down anyway since I have no heat or ac.

 

SCORE! I have been watching a set of 50 Texas truck plates for a long time on EBAY. They were kinda pricey and I have read a lot of horror stories of the DMV not accepting them, so I was hesitant to buy them. Anyway, talked to a VERY nice girl at the DMV who told me to print a color copy of them and she would see what she could do. I had my wife stop by and the girl just called me and said they are good to go, number and condition wise. She said when I came in to ask for her and she would get me set up. If she is good looking on top of not being a typical DMV worker thats even better....


I am going to run an antique registration, you guys know the deal. I dont live in the big city and there are hot rods always out and about so I dont anticipate an issue, and really dont plan on driving it but on nice days/weekends anway.

I am super pumped, I have been looking for these since I bought the truck and have come across singles here and there but never truck plates and never a matching set in useable condition.

Now I just gotta get the damn truck drivable...

 

Fuckin awesum! Sounds like the DMV girl would make someone a good wife!

 

I don't have rubber bumpers either. Doors would fit tight as hell without the aftermarket rubber too.

 

We will require pictures of said DMV agent before such judgement is passed.

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Yea it is, and yes she would. I have a feeling there is a soft spot in there for oldies, or maybe I was just nice. Hell, maybe she got laid last night and was in a good mood...

BTW, I am going and registering the truck the second I get them. I wont have it ready for a while, but I figure with the 5 yr period, I dont want to take a chnace on her not being there when the time comes and some other bee itch giving me grief...

I'll see what I can do... BTW, I am basing that off the fact that she sounded hot, and her name was Brenna....I pictured her working there in a Cheerleaders outfit, twirling her hair while she talked to me.....haaaahahaaa!!

 

That's an awesome feeling! I finally found a good '51 MO Tag a couple months ago and registered it as soon as the dmv cleared the numbers. Never have to renew it, no mileage limits, and there's just something about an old tag on an old ride!

 

So last night I scored some original stainless w/s trim that has a couple minor dings in it, I had lost three other sets on ebay by $1, pissed me off so I offered $100 to someone for thiers and they shipped it today. Hopefully it gets here with no damage. My understanding is the repo ones dont fit as well, and I need to install them with the glass before I install the windshield glass itself. I have all the other door trim, but still need inside w/s molding but that can wait.

I also bought a pair of repop window regulators, sell for $59.95ea plus shipping on most sites, got both for $40 shipped from ebay new. I have the og ones but they are stripped and rivited together so I didnt want to mess with them, hopefully they are not super shitty ones. I have all the other parts needed to reassemble the doors except run channels, felt and rubber.

Also found a nice orig hood emblem, the repo I have is cheesy, thin and too shiny, just doesnt match. Also found on original inside rear view mirror. Need to make the bracket to mount it, not going to pay $15 bucks for something I can make in 10 minutes.

MikeColmire hooked me up with brand new green side glass, so all I need now is a rear glass and w/s glass if I want to run all green. If anyone needs clear glass let me know...

And 63bigbird hooked me up with a new cab corner so I can cut out the piece I need to fill that hole up.

After that I can start assembling, run electrical and get this bad boy on the road!!

LSR14 is my new goal..

Sorry for the rambling, sometimes I put my thoughts down here to motivate myself, haha...

 

Awesome work. Keep plugging and we'll keep following. (Motivates me to stay at it on my project.)

 

Glad to see the juices are still flowing. I'd love to see you get it on the road!

 

Dude - As much care and time as you are taking fitting the door gaps - Why not cut around the Altman plates and weld them in flush like you would the Autoloc style sheet metal kit. In fact, had I seen the Altman kit before I installed the Autoloc bear claws and sheet metal kit over the Thanksgiving weekend in my '53, I would have done just that. And using the weld in striker plate from Autoloc would finish and ultra clean, flush and blended install. Also be permanent and look factory.

Here's how mine looks after welding and grinding, ready for a little Ever-Coat glazing putty.

 

Wow, honestly until you said that the thought never even crossed my mind. Seems like that would make it fit better and look better as well. Doesnt seem like it would be hard to do either...hmmmmmmmmmm. Damn you.....

 

You bet - post up your results. A wire-feed welder is your friend.....

 

Autoloc is Hoffman Group. Proceed with caution! Search them here or on Google and prepare to be amazed at their customer relations!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Don't know if I would weld it or not. It would look slicker; but if you needed to do any repairs to the latch would it still be possible? I don't know I'm asking.

 

Yes - you unbolt the latch and remove it from the door - like any car.

 

Yes, those three bolts in the center on the jamb side hold the latch in, that wouldnt change. I am going to add that to the "to do" list dammit, just when I thought I was almost done welding.

I have a game plan in my head, but seems like there is always something going on. Got a few hunts coming up over the next few weekends, then the weather will probably be shitty for a while, so it may be next month some time before I do anything substantial.

I am going to try and go get my plates registered, but they are no longer open on Sat so I will have to take off work, need to get the exhaust done, there is a place in my hometown that can do it, same thing, no saturdays. Need to take the bed back off and get some kind of paint on the back of the cab and while that is off, get the rear of the frame jacked up, sits low on the end past the rear axle. Finish cab corner, paint interior side of doors, install glass and door guts, reinstall doors, adjust hood/front end, align front end and flip white letters in, put on some hub caps, install harness and tail lamps, fix and install gauges and oh yea, get seat/door panels/headliner/carpet done. Sheesh.....just need time and money...

 

Take your title with you to the DM,V with the vintage plates. Just did this, at least in WA they re-title your rig with the new plates, as a "permanent" registration. No more tabs to buy in WA with vintage plates.

Best place for your state plates is at local swap meets - can be better price - not as rare as from random eBay sellers across the nation.

 

time and money... seems the 2 never arrive at the same time. nice build. just a lurker here, but makes me want to build an ad myself.

 

Well.....license plate fail. So today it was kinda slow at work, so I took off around lunch time and decided it was a good day to get the plates registered. If you remember a couple weeks back, I supposedly got these plates approved with a picture, and the girl told me to see her when I was ready. I wanted to get it done before she got fired, or whatever, so I called ahead to make sure orig girl was there and she was. When I arrived I was asked if I could be helped but I mentioned I was there to see Brenna. She was tied up when I got there and the other girl got seriously offended that I wanted to wait for her. I see her look at my plates and she says, "I can help you just as easily" Not wanting to make a scene (my downfall as usual) I said, Fine, you can help me. I told her the plates had already been approved, I just wanted to get the registration done, and she said "well we still have to physically inspect them" with this eat shit and die look on her face and an attitude. So she hauls off with the plates to the secret inspection room. Sure as shit comes back and tells me I can't use them as they are....I let out a long sighhhhhhh and probably turned beet red. I was literally trying to not reach over the counter and smash her face into the potted plant sitting there. OK, not really, but....ok really....


Now I dont dispute that there are some issues. What I have a problem with is I asked what I could do to verify wether they would work or not PRIOR to buying them. The orig girl said bring me a good color pic of them, exibit a:




This is the exact photo I gave her. After an couple hours she called back and said they would work fine, we just ask that you use the one with the number missing paint on the front. I asked her multiple times, she said, they will work, ust see me when you get here.

So I buy them, they were not cheap. I have been looking for a nice matching set of "truck" plates since I bought the truck, ebay, craigs list, swap meets, car shows, junk yards, uncles sheds, etc and these are the only ones I have ever seen. 50 tx car plates, sure, onsies and such, yep, but not a matching unissued set of truck plates. Here is the plate in question, the other one isnt really a problem (yet anyway)..



Anyway, she says I cant use them, and the orig girl that helped me chimes in (while in the middle of helping someone else) "oh I already got those approved." I can see that the woman I am dealing with doesnt like being questioned, so she snaps back " Well (insert head womans name here) said they wont work, and orig girl says, well she is the one that looked at the pics and approved them in the first place". So I am standing there while these two go back and forth. The orig girl is trying to help, as she is the one that started the whole deal, but to no avail. I ask to speak to head cheese and get the eye roll of course. She comes out and is nice, but it is obvious she doesnt want to back down in front of all the employees and other customers, so she politely tells me to go pound sand, and come back when they are fixed....##$#$%$$%#&(*&^%$#$##$$#@@@##$#$%%^%^&&^&^!!!!!!!!

But as usual, I just take my plates and leave. What can I really do, you know...

So I am really butthurt by the whole deal, and my wife wants to do some Christmas shopping and wants to go to Hobby Lobby. After I got over it we left and on the way there I had an idea.....get online and try and find out what kind of paint people use to restore these things, and maybe someone has a brand of paint they use. Sure enough, I am led to a link on the HAMB (of course, where else) and old thread guy says he uses acrylic school bus yellow. I look and look and look and cant find anything that looks similar.

A word of advice at hobby lobby, they have paint in various sections, as they sometimes crossover to different hobbies. I find this, acrylic school bus yellow, what are the odds:



I also buy a few little round sponge brush dealies and grab a piece of a cab corner that has satin black primer on it and dab a bit on there to see how it matches. Looks pretty damn close to me and the spongers give it the same kind of texture, see what you think...



So it looks like all may not be lost. I am going to try and do just that section and see how it looks. She never even took them out of the wrapper, and I think if I can just get them looking better they will get them done....Damn I hate being held up by people on power trips. Well, wish me luck.....