Truck based woody

[Joe777]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

We started a big cabinet job yesterday but today my employee called in with a 'personal day'. What's a guy to do?.... I worked on the woodie.

Truth be told, we paid him to take a day off so we could see more progress on the woody .

[RalphM]

That is really taking shape. Going to be a beautiful one of a kind woody!

[jerseyboy]

GB,
Looking great! What will you be using for door hardware? Are you going to pick up some repo stuff or make due?

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by jerseyboy

GB,
Looking great! What will you be using for door hardware? Are you going to pick up some repo stuff or make due?

There is a VERY old hardware store in Anacortes where the ferry docks. They have all kinds of old time door latches. They will be just right. Work in our 'resort area' gets slow in winter so I wll; only buy what I can trade for or get really cheap. Today I got a chance to do some milling on the belt line moldings. What I am trying to do is introduce the 'commercial truck' belt line into a woodie. I have a one ton panel and various trucks with this exact beltline. Here is a mock up I did afrer work today to show my version of ford's commercial truck beltline incorporated into a woody wagon.....

[jerseyboy]

Nice match, looks good!

[GB SISSON]

Well I got tired of spending the last ten days trying to coax a few more psi compression out of my old 8ba, so today I quit work early and mortised in the permanent belt line pieces. Stressful router work with the rear pillar attached permanently but I got through it. Next time I will assemble the rear quarter panels as a completed unit, built on the workbench......But with no plans I gotta fly by the seat of my pants.

[Vanspeed]

Very impressive work! The belt line looks great.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

GB just read the whole thread. You are a man with a vision and very talented and I like your sense of humour (humor). Absolutely beautiful work. I'm going to keep up to date with this thread.

regards
Graeme (the other GB)

[GB SISSON]

Well, with work picking up the woodie takes a back seat but I manage a few hours in now and then. Made some thin plywood and cardboard patterns, did some routing into the pillars and spent way too long getting the rear fenders plumb, square and true to the floor structure. With the fender crowns returning in towards the body as they do on '40-'47 half tons, the shape of the arch changes dramatically with a little tilt of the fender's mounting. Now I'm ready to set up for finger jointing and making up these curved members around the fenders. I have collected a bunch of 5/8" shims and washers and plan to stack 10" sawblades with spacers on my table saw to create the finger joints. Should work ok.

[VeryTangled]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

...and spent way too long getting the rear fenders plumb, square and true to the floor structure.

Hi Everyone, Even though I may never see this vehicle, I'm confident it will turn out in such a way to take my or your breath away!

Thanks for bringing us along for the journey.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by Graeme / New Zealand

GB just read the whole thread. You are a man with a vision and very talented and I like your sense of humour (humor). Absolutely beautiful work. I'm going to keep up to date with this thread.

regards
Graeme (the other GB)

Het Graeme, I picked up take out chinese take out this afternoon as I was on the mainland where they have such stuff. It came with fortune cookies of course. Mine made me think of you... " Others appreciate your sense of humor today"...... I do try

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Well GB you bring some interesting threads to this forum and there's always a laugh in them somewhere. We need to all get back to a relaxed way of life like in the days "before the world went mad". I'm learning now not to "sweat the small stuff" we're not here for a long time but we should be here for a good time

cheers
Graeme

[mhsprecher]

What a cool project. Others have already said it all, but I am in awe! ;-)

[GB SISSON]

Got an early Sunday start at about 4:30 am. Couldn't fall back to sleep, so what the heck. Yesterday I made up the finger joints with my dado blade and some assorted washers. Worked ok, good enough for a truck. All these new maple parts will be coming off for final fitting and joining. The panels you see are just 1/8" door skins and cardboard and I wanted to check proportions before I finalize things. It's getting pretty fun now as it takes shape. It's back to work tomorrow.....

[41ford1]

That is coming along very nicely. You might have an additional income source there. Taking orders?

[Mtn Wudy]

I Hope you can get it ready for Wavecrest........What a cool truck...

[jerseyboy]

Lookin' really good!!! It really looks like a woodie from one of the woodie builders of the past.

[GB SISSON]

With a lifetime of custom woodworking as my vocation running neck and neck with a hobby (obsession) with old ford trucks it was just a natural progression. Something I just had to try. Thanks to that fateful trip to Bob Brown's 'The Sportsman Shop' in Alger Wa. 20 some odd years ago, I learned that one doesn't need state of the art tooling to do good quality work, as witnessed by his masterful wood convertibles. Many of my contemporaries in this field have huge, well equipped shops with Gigantic and complicated looking German and Swiss made woodworking machines with self feeders and LED readouts and 3 phase power. Funny, we get most of the high end work here. We have a couple of early makita chop saws, 2 table saws from yard sales (powermatic and unisaw), 1930's 6" delta joiner, a router table andthree ww2 vintage bandsaws, and a 20" taiwanese planer. Typical sanders and power planes, routers, with a drawer full of chinese bits from Grizzly. Oh and 2 really cluttered shops. Thanks for the continued support in my efforts. I'm making patterns and taking notes. I have spent more time researching, mocking up, re-doing and figuring and re-doing again than I have actually spent on constructing. Next time I will have full sized patterns, and the rear quarters will be completed and assembled on the bench, not one piece at a time stood up on the chassis!

[GB SISSON]

So the record temp for today in Seattle was 62 but we made 63 today. I told my employee I was workin on the woodie..... It does not look changed much but for the first time the maple exoskeleton is joined together with well glued 1/2" plywood splines, mortise and tenon joints and 3m 5200 marine adhesive sealant. No more mockups, no more patterns, no more movie sets. What I'm saying is there is no backing up now. The panels will be able to be removed from this structure and finished/veneered as I see fit. I made parts for both sides but this side is easier to photograph. The 3m is known by boatey types as 'pinky', 'bubblegum' and other names. It is a tan colored, rubbery, tenacious glue. This will be a very tough and resilient vehicle, although maybe harder to repair than an original. Tomorrow I can't take the day off, but I have the parts ready so at quitting time I can assemble the drivers side to match. After I find a 42-50 truck 3 speed tranny I should have this thing able to motor in and out of the shop for the upcoming good weather. I already have the brake parts and a choice of engines.....

[RalphM]

Really looking good, ill bet 95% of the population will never know Henry didnt build it.
Are you going to cover the top with vinal as an original would be?