So, I have an extra cab and doors for my 35 Ford pickup, and I have come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to use pieces from them to stretch the cab, it's much too small. I was thinking about slicing each door in half, not exactly in half, but with the two sides i'm going to use a couple of inches longer, and welding them together. The big issue I'm unable to wrap my mind around is the taper of the cab, the cab is much narrower in the front than it is in the rear. Am I overthinking this, or is there a proper way to allow for this? Any positive advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks - Karl
It's been done. While this truck is a little OT, it shows what can be done. The owner is from Ohio but I can't remember his name. If I recall correctly, he had an extra pair of doors and used them to complete this. Obviously, he had to straighten one corner, probably using pie cuts. Also,I think he used a slice out of each door to extend the doors and create the extended cab. Maybe he or one of his buds will chime in and give more info. Like you, I am tall and one of these trucks would never work for me. That is why I took the pictures.
I figure that I am going to have to do some pie slices and make it match when I stretch my 48 cab this time around. I played with a photo of Cole Foster's old truck to get Proportions right but haven't measured the cab (s) to figure that part out. I'm going to do the doors first and then fit the cab to the doors.
Being 6'3" and about 250, I can see the value in stretching one out, but I dont care too much for the blue truck. It doesn't look correct for the period of vehicle to my eyes. It reminds me of a early 90s Ford Ranger extended cab. Mr.48's photo is more appealing to my eyes.
I have a good friend that just finished adding 6" to a 40 ford pickup. He kept the same wheelbase by shortening the bed 6". Came out nice but was a lot of work. He said it was hard trying to keep proportions to make it look natural, especially the doors but he pulled it off. Again he said it was a major pain in the as$ so good luck to you.
I believe the blue truck is actually a fiberglass body, and if so, is on a Ranger frame. I definitely do not want that rear opera window! I'm trying to determine if I can take a specific section out of the donor roof, maybe further back than where I cut the cab I'm using, and keep the taper inline, make it flow smoothly without any transitions.
That is an all steel body. Not fiberglass. I don't know what kind of chassis it is but you can build whatever you want. I just posted the pictures to give you a source of ideas and to show it can be done.
I friend of mine owns s shop and a customer showed up with one of those fiberglass extended cab 35s on a ranger frame. They sold it and he built him a steel one. I’m not much of a fan of an extended cab style but I have seen them stretched. Adding 2 inches to the door and maybe an inch 1/2 or so to the cowl and rear part of the cab would help proportions The roof taper will probably requite a custom roof skin
The door was stretched on this one. And the cowl just a little Bring the back of the cab up some and lose the window and you would have what you are talking about
I looked at stretching it behind the doors and putting quarter windows in it but seeing a few already done made me decide that wasn't what I wanted to do. It's still an ambitious project with a chop, section and stretch in the mix. If you have to cut and weld something you may as well do it on the doors that you can set up on a table and weld on a bit more comfortably. Original photo credits for this go to Royboy for his fine sideshot of Jerry Curry's sweet 36. Stretched about a door handle length in the doors and shortened about the same in the bed. Original photo below that for comparison.
I think it can be done but both your examples look a little odd to me I think to pull it off is going to be major slice and dice splitting difference between the door and the cab back and maybe even the cowl so your eye doesn’t pickup the really long door or huge cab back Pedal placement, steering column and seat can make huge gains themselves with adding an extra 3” or so may not seem much ,but can mean gigantic difference in feel
Well I've owned this truck since 1973 and pretty well know what I want having driven it over 300K all over the western US. Pedals will be in the floor where they belong and most of the frame will be the stock long wheelbase GMC 1/2 ton that is like a short be but has an extra 9-1/4 inches in it. As I said previously I was already to make an extended cab out of it with quarter windows made out of window openings of a Suburban to get the lines right. After seeing different trucks around the country I decided that I don't like the extended behind the door look. This isn't about my truck anyhow and the only reason I mentioned it or showed the photo was to give Kruzin Karl an idea of how to figure out what the stretch he was thinking about might look like. The photo in post 3 was from printing several side shots of Cole Porter's truck and getting out the scissors and scotch tape. The 36 in post 10 done the same way. Print two photos cut the photos and place the cut piece over the shot of the whole truck so it shows the cab extended then cut the donor photo again and work on shortening the bed a tad to match. He can take some side shots of his truck and print them and cut and tape to get an idea of how it might look in different configurations. Both of us are going to have an interesting time getting the front and back sections of the cabs to mate up. In my case it is part of two cabs accumulated over the years for just that. Where do you cut, how much do you bend so that you don't have a kink in the middle.
The problem with Ford pickups of that vintage is the cab is moved as far forward as possible to provide the maximum amount of cargo space. Unfortunately this was done at the expense of leg room, the easiest fix being to stretch the cowl and move the cab back on the frame. Depending on how far back you move the cab this may also require moving the "x" member as well, the benefit being more room for motor and trans.
Fellow HAMBER (AKHotRod) is in the process of doing this to his 36 Ford pick-up now. I Have a picture he posted I will include here. I think this is a much better look than messing with the cowl, much cleaner to me at least, and much simpler as well. He also sent me a picture of the truck that inspired him to do this. Notice in the picture the added room to the interior. I judge this added room by were the steering wheel is in comparison to the front edge of the seat. In a un modified truck the wheel goes over the seat by 4 or 5 inches, in this picture it shows the wheel several inches before the edge of the seat. Big Difference... [/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
The further you stretch it the harder it will be. The doors have a curve to them. The cab has a taper with a curve, or two curves set at a taper - however you want to view it or say it. The doors glass Chanel's run straight and should do the same after the stretch- that will mess up the smooth curves on the outside and where the work is in the door skins and glass channel and upper window frames. This is why the above door modification have the extension at the belt line across the glass opening. The roof has the same curved taper plus a front to back crown. You'll probably need to make a new roof skin if you want it smooth without transitions or without a couple gallons of mud up there.
...I think it can be done but in very small additions to doors, rear cab side, possibly the cowl area,...that's the trick to make it look "factory"...don't shorten the bed as that'll throw the proportions off as well...just my 2 cents...and I hate those quarter windows in an old truck.
As said previously this is no small undertaking. This is like cutting a wedge Basket Ball and trying to put it back together keeping it round. I do like the idea and my advice is to have access to an English Wheel and plan on hand making some panels. Wedge slicing, pinching and tapper cuts are way harder than making a new part. Just look at the top edge of the Door where the window glass comes up through. The whole Cab is like that. Rolling a new roof skin and welding it in on all 4 edges is way easier than splitting in the center and trying to get 3 different Crowns to come together. Yes it will be done. Side profile is important and can't be seen from 6 feet away. If your not working in a large Shop roll it outside and walk 30 feet away and see if you like things before welding things together. If you plan to do good metal finish work, Clean your seams on both sides. I can't believe how many guys weld on Rusty Crapy and Painted metal then wonder why they have slag holes. Remember this, you can't weld a panel together and then Beat it into shape. It needs to be the shape you want before welding it in. Best of luck.
This the 39 chevy truck I am doing. I stretched the cab 6 inches and chopped it 2 inches. It is a lot of work, I did some pie cuts and used another roof to get it lined up. Still have a ways to go but just sitting in it now compared to my stock cab 40 is like day and night difference.
I've never done any of this, but to me it looks like the easiest place to add length in one of these 35 cabs is through the cowl. Add two or three inches there and move the cab back that amount. Might need to fudge the bottom of the cowl to fit the fenders, but that's a whole lot easier than wedge cutting the whole bottom of the door if you add in the middle of the door. If that still isn't enough, sneak one inch of length behind the door. Nobody will notice that and the bottom of the body is rather flat there (no slope to deal with).
I'm with alchemy, but will slightly disagree. Putting all the 'stretch' in one place is going to throw the proportions off. A bit at the cowl, a bit in the doors, and the rest behind the doors would go a long ways to maintaining proportion. It will require a lot of slicing-and-dicing, although widening the rear of the cab should eliminate some of the issues with maintaining proper 'taper'. The cowl I'd just extend forward, narrow the firewall slightly, and accept that you'll need a custom hood top. I'd suggest that the upper limit on a 'total' stretch would be about 5" before it becomes obvious.
I like the idea of spreading out the stretch, but I've never seen a cowl extended or stretched. Anyone have some pics of this?
your plan has merit...as you say the cab is a bit tight..... i have a 46 ford jailbar i intend to ....stretch... about 4 inch will be enough for me as i am only alittle bugger anyway. i plan on slicing about 1 inch behind the B pillar vrtically to just above the drip rail and then horizontaly forward about 6 inches then go across the roof.....from what i see this will give me the most flat areeas and should make it easier to blend .......but i have been wrong before....i live in hope
Thanks for reminding me his name. What a character! We met at GG Nationals about 3 years ago and then I crossed paths with him at Nashville last year and went to lunch with him and his buddies. It was a blast!
You guys have been ridding around in your Silverados, Rams and F250 too much. Come take a ride in my Bantam pickup, that will cure you. I agree with the others, besides the work involved it's darn tough to make a stretched cab look right. I'd try the cowl or foot box ideas mentioned. Pie cut the rear window opening and push the back out? Or a taller seat and a sunroof...
I have a horse in this dog fight. I have a 41 truck that I will get started on soon and have been researching this topic. this gold truck (Ridler Great 8) was stretched 4 inches (looks like behind the doors) according to what I can find on it. The dimensions still look pretty correct. Often they do not.