Been away a while, life got in the way. Now have new house finished, new shop too full and time to get a project going. I (think I ) want a model A PU but to me the stock bed looks too short and the rear wheels are too far forward. I'd like to build a longer bed and center the wheels on the bed but I'd long to see some examples if any has some pix. I've got Photoshop and am trying to see what one would look like but I'm not good enough to do it easily. Hope someone has something to look at.
Look for a 1933 or 1934 bed and it will be like a late 31 wide bed but longer .. I don’t think I have seen a AA express bed
This '29 AA Express is what I'm hoping to replicate with my AA. The bed is not quite 8 feet long and around 4 feet wide. The express bed, long running boards and rear fenders are rare enough that restorers aren't likely to give them up to us hotrodders. I'm using the dually wheels, brakes, rear axle and front spindles from a '60 F-350 and will fabricate a bed.
Nice work @themoose Hello, Great look for added space in the truck bed. But, a new frame worth the customization? The @themoose look is pretty great. Now, if the cab could be extended a few inches for taller, bigger folks to have some comfort while driving, that would be great. There was a red RPU on the HAMB that had an extended cab area and that was very nicely done. The normal length bed is good for just about 90 % of daily chores. An extended bed, while it looks great, makes a lot more custom work underneath to make everything fit and work correctly. Jnaki So, if a longer bed is what is necessary, how about adding in a few inches for us taller, bigger guys/girls? A better proportioned look and not a squeezed in look. Computers do wonderful things, but it is the extra work to get the real underpinnings correct and to make sure they work well. Or at least have air shocks or extra support. YRMV
Wild Turkey must be reading my mind. I have a late 31 widebed truck that I'm finally starting on. I have always thought that the axle position is way to far forward in the bed. I recently brought the bed into the garage and I'm thinking about reversing the bed by moving the front panel to the tailgate end. And, of course putting the tailgate where the front panel is. The bed pockets are different from front to back so they will have to be repositioned as well. It looks like I can accomplish this by drilling out all the rivets and relocating the bits without permanently altering any original sheet metal. Plan is to leave the bedsides the original length. TheMooses pictures actually just convinced me that I am making the right move here. That truck looks awesome.
JVO added 4" to the doors while leaving the cab the stock height. It gives the illusion of a top chop. Nice, clean and subtle. We talked about this, and how he did it. His suggestion to me was to lengthen the doors at the belt line and making new, 4" longer door skins, from scratch. Doing this and moving the rear fenders closer to the back of the bed is going to be a lot of work. But well worth it.