Hi Folks,
Been awhile since my last update. Progress has been slow but steady. Will be picking up quite a bit over the next two months, though - would like to be ready for paint prep by the end of September. So much fun visiting the shop to see all the little changes. Here's the latest progress:
Sheet metal repair on the cab has been very time intensive, but these guys are artists and they are really getting this old cab put back together. Here's some work in progress:
Cab corners are looking mighty nice now:
A little bit later, and you can see the results of all the work that was done on the lower firewall:
Something a bit different here, outside of the shop. Took a ROAD TRIP with my Dad - went down to Texas first to pick up a pair of original running boards I found online. Mine couldn't be saved, and having original metal sounded nice. Then stopped by the lumber mill to pick up the wood for the bed. This is a shagbark hickory tree from our family farm that we had cut down last fall and had turned into lumber. It was finally done drying in the kiln and ready to take back to Minnesota:
We dropped the lumber off at Bruce Horkey's shop in southwestern Minnesota. Bruce is such a nice guy and I know he's going to do amazing work turning these into beautiful bed boards. I think the contrast in this hickory is going to look incredible:
Here are those Texas running boards. A little surface rust, but they are completely solid all the way through!
The sheetmetal repairs continue. You can see we filled in the battery box opening. A new battery box will be installed under the bench seat area. Even though this metal will be under carpet, the guys at the shop created beads in the filler piece to match the original metal on the driver's side. I love that attention to detail:
Continued...