'Everything new is old again' or 'Sleeping in the truck'

[GB SISSON]

Couldn't decide what to name this thread so in the spirit of the twice titled episodes on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, I went with both. I have been torn about what to camp out in this year during the 4 day antique tractor/gas engine/steam'threshing/logging up at Lynden Wa. Over the years I have fitted out various early ford trucks as period style campers, but those trucks got sold off whenever there was a recession or building slowdown and the last three years I have towed my display equipment there with my suburban and slept in that. My red diesel powered tonner hasn't made the scene there with the exception of a one day visit when the show was shut down due to the covid.
In order to sleep in the tonner's bed I would need to change out the heavy lumber rack which made it impractical to run a tarp over hoops the way I wanted to. I developed a fondness for a proper tarp job while reading the great post about Austrailian open cab military trucks.
I had two major criteria for my canvas bed cover. 1) That it looked not only period correct, but matched the worn look I had massaged into the rest of the truck and 2) It had to be simple and quick to break it down and store in the bed or up on the two main hoops overhead. The forward hoop (which is backed up by some red barnwood), becomes the new lumber rack and is semi permanent, while the rear pipe hoop needs to lift out as it is seldom needed but needs to come out to rotate the small crane mounted on the rear bumper. I would call the job about 80% complete but this morning's photos show a ladder and random wood slats placed on the rack to help me determine what dimensions are required for the wooden members. I will also be making a third 'hoop' that is lighter in weight but dimensionally the same and drops into the center stake pockets only when the tarp is rigged. My hope is that I can end up with the tarp's grometts about 1 1/2" above the hooks some po installed on the stake pockets, putting it just below the rolled top of the flareside on the bed.
I have raided my stash of old bolts and screws so the various fastenings don't look new, but still need to burn the galvanizing and (even worse, the cad plating) off some fastenings I bought at the hardware store yesterday. I already burned the galvanizing off of the 1 1/2" pipe elbows. I fabbed up the back window guard from a piece of mesh I got from the rock quarry. Ok, I will start with a couple photos depicting of the evolution of this truck from when I bought it at the Portland swap meet a few years back to where it is this morning, having reassembled the bed and installed solid but weathered 1 1/8" douglas fir bedwood with plain steel bed strips. Didn't want that to look new either.

[cas3]

Nice job. What ya gonna do with the snatch block laying on the tire machine?

[petehoovie]

[Kube]

So very cool!

[GB SISSON]

I take that as a real compliment coming from one of the masters of restoration on this site. We are pretty much working in opposite directions and yet we can also appreciate the work that isn't in our usual realm. Thanks, GB

[Kube]

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Originally Posted by GB SISSON

I take that as a real compliment coming from one of the masters of restoration on this site. We are pretty much working in opposite directions and yet we can also appreciate the work that isn't in our usual realm. Thanks, GB

Hey, I am very serious. What you are doing is what I'd term "livin' the dream". Keep it up and keep us up to date on this project

[Flathead Fever]

That's a 5-year-old me camping in August 1965 at a Model A Club campout in Idyllwild, CA. Our family life revolved around old Fords. At the time dad worked at Norton AFB painting airplanes, pretty good chance that green canvas tarp was borrowed from Uncle Sam.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by Flathead Fever

That's a 5-year-old me camping in August 1965 at a Model A Club campout in Idyllwild, CA. Our family life revolved around old Fords. At the time dad worked at Norton AFB painting airplanes, pretty good chance that green canvas tarp was borrowed from Uncle Sam.

Good to see our tax money used for such a worthwhile endeavor!

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Flathead Fever

That's a 5-year-old me camping in August 1965 at a Model A Club campout in Idyllwild, CA. Our family life revolved around old Fords. At the time dad worked at Norton AFB painting airplanes, pretty good chance that green canvas tarp was borrowed from Uncle Sam.

[GB SISSON]

Thanks Pete, and FF I bet your dad was proud that you grew up to be a well trained mechanic! That's my kind of rear bumper too and I'm thinking he must have towed something with that truck.

[pistonbroke]

Gary It makes me sad that I never made it up to see you when I lived in Olympia. I have so many Jail bar stories and you and I do a lot of the same work, both ford and wood. Nice Job, Tim

[GB SISSON]

Tim, I have no plans for moving, so there's still time to visit. Today I built the middle section. It's not really a hoop but more like an upside down 'U'. I have some leftovers from a batch of old growth redwood tank staves I bought last year and used to build a large outdoor furniture set for a waterfront home. The tank was 16' in diameter and 9' tall. The staves are 2 5/8" thick X 5 1/8" wide and 9' so and really dark in color. I made today's piece from this stock and am making the remaining wood parts from that as it is very light in weight and being clear and very straight grained it is strong enough for what I'm doing. The ridge pole is a tank stave on edge and I've been imagining the setup procedure which could go something like this. Drop the new middle section into it's stake pockets, set the ridge near the center but on it's side. Slide the redwood runners out to each side and they will have 1/4" steel pins that engage a drilled hole in the steel pipe. Now using some rings of bicycle or motorcycle inner tube hooked onto the bed's hooks and toggled through the grommets with a stick, I affix both bottom edges of the tarp. After that, maybe I can roll the rectangular ridge pole onto it's edge causing the tent to make up taught. Worth a try, but I'm burning up a lot of weekend with my over engineering ...

[Krylon32]

While not a Ford (47 Chevy 3/4 ton HD)when I was a kid in the early 50's my dad rigged up a similar bed cover like the above. Every year he'd put it on the truck and 7-8 locals would pile into the bed and we'd motor our way to the Burwell NE. rodeo and while most of the guys slept in the sheep barn I got to sleep in the truck bed. Great memories.

[Ray in La Mesa]

In 1973 I camped my way across the U.S.- San Diego to New Hampshire & back in my '28 "A" roadster p/u with an "A" p/u bed trailer. "A" p/u beds are only 44" long & I'm 5'6" so made a canvas & plywood popup for the p/u with my table & , stove & ice chest inside. I mounted a pup tent on the trailer & with the tailgate down it was long enough to sleep in. One side of the tent was mounted under a piece of plywood that hinged down to form a closed top for traveling. Good thing I was by myself as there was barely enough room.

[cas3]

Great story Ray in La Mesa, please tell more. Got pics to share? A fella in Iowa drives his model T with a trailer all over the us and trips to Alaska to boot.

[A bones]

Needing to sleep myself, I'm not sure I grasp the point of your query.
This however I am sure of. Some decades ago I was fortunate to occupy the top cot in a VW Westfalia edition, for just over three months.
The simple canvas on a tube frame made my bony body happy.
Your bed looks to have enough room for a simple folding cot.
Enjoy the show.

[corvette8n]

Looking good Gary, can’t wait to see the finished product.

[GB SISSON]

Ray, I'm with Skip on this. Would love to see some pictures! In '73 I was living in Massachusetts after my dad pulled up our stakes in North Seattle and took a job in Boston a few years earlier. I was 20 and and my daily driver was a '28 AA factory stakebed. I'm glad you and your wife came to visit us here, and now I see we had a near miss back in '73! Side note: Ray's wife has had a model A since before they met and a couple years ago she drove my AA doodlebug 3 laps around my 10 acres, double clutching like a pro and grinning the whole time! I'm loving the tarp tales, and am hoping to stretch mine over it's completed frame by this afternoon. I have an army cot, a vintage aluminum cooler and a kerosene lamp as well as a few other items with which to accessorize my Tonner Townhouse.

[Ray in La Mesa]

cas3: Haven't figured out pictures to Fordbarn but there is the article in Nov-Dec 1973 issue of the Model A News on the trip.
Left San Diego at 4:30 AM & down the alley & A went dead. Short in brake light switch, new fuse & on my way across the desert in June. Drove by the temp gauge instead of speedo. Uneventfull to New Hampshire where I bought a one horse sleigh for my Dad & bolted it to the plywood top on the trailer. Headed west to MARC A Meet in Dearborn on 3 cylinders as I burned the exhaust valves w/ lean carb setting. Got the long distance trophy. Replaced valves after meet at the curb of a local Model A supplier, also where I found a complete horse harness for the sleigh in the trash & headed on west. N. Dakota rest stop to replace H20 pump. Had a 4 blade fan, didn't want to remove radiator so just bent one blade back, swapped pump & rebent blade. On west to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to fight the logging trucks in Wa. & Ore. Was running a CB so begged them not to run me over. Home to San Diego & replaced fan with original 2 blade (welded cracks). 9,000 in 7 weeks.

[glennpm]

What a great truck!!