Truck based woody

[mhsprecher]

GB,

There is an article on a 48 Dodge truck-based woodie in the latest issue of Vintage Truck magazine (vintagetruckmagazine.com). A nice magazine, if you are not already aware of it. The Dodge is located in Spokane, which is good and bad news for you in that it is in the same state, but about as far away as you can get and still be in Washington. Just thought I would pass that along.

 

[GB SISSON]

Well it's 5am and I'm on my second cup of coffee. Seems the building trades recession is nearing an end here in the islands. We are working on a couple of mega homes at the same time and bracing for a two home family compound on one of the outer islands without ferry service. These large waterfront cabinet projects are often done in conjunction with huge Seattle based general contractors and architects and they take a lot out of me and my two or three man shop. I am the only one of the subcontractors that actually uses tools all day long and is a totally 'hands on' shop worker. Of course the deadlines are nearly impossible to maintain and all the huge amounts of paperwork fall upon me in the evenings after we're done for the day in the shop. In my typical long winded fashion I have just explained why progress on the wood wagon has come to a crawl. Well that and the fact that I have 4 grown kids that like to bring their families up to the old place they grew up on the weekends. Grandma and Grandpa DO enjoy that as many of you can attest. Now a huge wedding looms this summer with 200 out of town guests..... Since I can't sleep I figure I can get a couple hours in this morning before my guys show up at seven. My plan is to sort out the maple and do some proper layout on the doors now that I have all the angles worked out. Last Sunday afternoon after the kids headed for the ferry I got a few good hours in on sheet metal work. This was mostly tapping out dents, welding up cracks, dragging better pieces out of a storage shed and scrounging up good hood trim, but it felt great seeing some progress. For now I am priming with rustoleum red primer and using two colors of green in krylon rattle cans. Both are satin finish. One is 'camp green' and the other is 'Italian Olive'. My local Island Hardware doesn't stock them so I always pick some up when I'm 'over town'. When I run out of one I switch to the other. They are very similar. This may or may not be the final finish, but it looks presentable for now. Here's a couple pictures from Sunday. Oh great, now it's 5:30, gotta run.

 

[wga]

GB - what's the story on the BSA?

 

[Bill]

In an earlier post on this thread I mentioned to get ready to cash in yours and the wife's 401K. Yer provin there's more than one way to skin a cat!! Hang in there GB... Bill SNOW here today

 

[GB SISSON]

GB - what's the story on the BSA?

I snuck in a ride since the sun was out in Western Washington. I had a couple of 441 Victore back in the late 60, early 70s. Got divorced in '99 and that was the first thing I went shopping for. I keep it in tune and it usually starts on the first kick. There IS a technique. Getting back to bikes after 30 some odd years is a bit daunting, but not really any traffic in the islands. Just Tons of deer....

 

[GB SISSON]

In an earlier post on this thread I mentioned to get ready to cash in yours and the wife's 401K. Yer provin there's more than one way to skin a cat!! Hang in there GB... Bill SNOW here today

Lots of folks here have been very generous with extra parts, even including shipping. Really quite amazing what has been offered to me. I also never throw anything away so I have been able to keep the cash outflow to a minimum using old parts in good condition. Luckily I have two crack free blocks to overhaul out in front of the woodie on sunny days off. So far the biggest expense has been the 3" maple, but I bought it along with a bunch of other cabinet lumber and I never looked at the invoice. When my monthly bill came from my lumber supplier I just wrote them a check like I do every month. I guess I just didn't want or need to know what part of the check was my maple.

 

[Graeme / New Zealand]

What model BSA GB? I've always had a thing for the A65 Lightning since I saw one back in the early 70's when in high school. A 500 Goldie single is cool and you can't beat the sound of a rocket 3 with the ray gun mufflers..

the truck is coming on cool as well. I hope you are going to paint the jail bars and hood side trim. I like them better than the chrome jobs you see some people do.

Graeme

 

[GB SISSON]

What model BSA GB? I've always had a thing for the A65 Lightning since I saw one back in the early 70's when in high school. A 500 Goldie single is cool and you can't beat the sound of a rocket 3 with the ray gun mufflers..

the truck is coming on cool as well. I hope you are going to paint the jail bars and hood side trim. I like them better than the chrome jobs you see some people do.

Graeme

If you click on the picture above on the upper right, I had just installed the hood spear on that side. They were both in rough shape but solid. 80 grit sandpaper, rustoleum rusty metal primer then topcoated with my recipe for 'sun bleached flat tacoma cream'. Rustoleum flat white enamel and 'new caterpillar yellow' from a napa rattle can. Mix up in a tuna can and apply with a soft bristle brush. I have a great collection of grill bars saved for this project. Most have never been hit so they are for the woodie wagon. When you collect jailbar trucks you find out how awesome it is to find straight bars. When they are kinked I have taught myself to saw across the kink with an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel, bend the front surface into a fair curve, vice grip a stiff bar of copper to the inside leg and weld up the saw kerf. The metal is too stretched to just bend back to straight. Yes, all the trim will be tacoma cream. Some of you have seen the video a Hollywood cinematographer made for me about my tonner panel. It has some footage about this tacoma cream thing. He has a summer home on the island and I built new cabinets for him. He wanted to do a video in thanks so he did. It isn't on youtube, but something called 'vimeo'. He named it 'truck detail string out'. It's about 5 minutes and I gotta say he did a nice job....

 

[wga]

https://vimeo.com/135415843

 

[Bill]

That was a very well produced video. To the point, great background.. wish I was riding shotgun. The stars didn't even have to cleanup for their parts! Ten outa ten...Bill

 

[GB SISSON]

That was a very well produced video. To the point, great background.. wish I was riding shotgun. The stars didn't even have to cleanup for their parts! Ten outa ten...Bill

Another big thank you to the folks that appreciate a build on a shoestring. I just can't get enough of this stuff. Any Barner that ventures to Washington's San Juan Islands would be welcome to tour the island in one of my jalopies. All my ford friends live on the internet. The old car guys I know locally are into 'old' volvos or studebakers or dodges. Some of them even prefer old chevys. Gasp.

 

['36 5W]

Great video! Love your theme. Your old Fords are right at home on the islands;
like a step back in time.
Gotta love No Budget Builds; one step below Low Budget. We have to take a
similar approach for some of our Cobble Cars we piece together at the museum
where I volunteer. Make it work with generic parts (most people would not know
the difference).

At least yours are All Ford.....

 

[vilanar]

Nice ! Thanks for sharing . Looks like a beautiful island.

 

[jerseyboy]

GB,
Great video! Thanks! Woodie is coming along wonderfully.

Keep V-8ing and 4-banging!

 

[GB SISSON]

Well in the next few days I can post some pictures of my doors. I woke up at about 4 am and after a weekend with my wife's relatives on the mainland I was ready to get to work on the woodie but had a full day of work waiting. By 7 am I had a jig built for laminating the front door stiles. I traced the pattern off a panel truck door and bandsawed a stack of 2x8's into the shape. I sort of built in a finger joint about 1 1/4" long that took care of itself in the laminating process. When I get some pictures you will know what I'm getting at. In the meantime I dug up some excellent NOS door latches at an ancient hardware store while I was over on the mainland. They have a thumb latch to open from the inside and a 3/8" square that accepts the ford door handle on the exterior. The striker is the exact same size and shape as a ford pickup striker. I bought all the ones they had just in case I end up building another. I also ran across a '36 cowl that I fell in love with. Next woodie?

 

[RalphM]

Next Woodie? If it's anywhere near this one, hell ya! You did bring it home with you?

 

[GB SISSON]

Next Woodie? If it's anywhere near this one, hell ya! You did bring it home with you?

Sometimes we only have one chance to approach the owner with some kind of offer. It's yard art at a business, but hidden in the trees. Gotta think of a really good reason why I should have it, and what I could give him to put in it's place......

 

[docrock]

Great video. Makes me want to live there. Keep up the great work

 

[GB SISSON]

It has been a great place to raise 4 kids. Like a lot of rural areas, all of them have moved to the mainland where they have 'real' jobs. It is indeed a very beautiful place and like I stated in the video, the top speed limit of 40 mph (35 on most roads) makes it a great place to use and enjoy older vehicles. At the speed limit it takes almost an hour to go from one end to the other. No stop lights, but we have a movie theater and a supermarket and a napa store. We also have summerfolk who need cabinets and furniture in their vacation homes. In the fall, I will have been here 40 years. I guess it will be the weekend before I get pictures of my door parts.

 

[GB SISSON]

Goodyear makes roofing rubber. I delivered urethane insulation for 20 yrs. it was used commercial buildings, mostly flat roofs. The rubber goes over it. I think it lasts 50 yrs right out in the sun. If you want to try it I have some pieces I think are big enough for your roof. Shipping is on me. If I ever get to Washington..... Take me for a ride.... MARK

Mark, this was so incredibly generous of you! Well this morning I have spent about an hour researching a coating for an epdm roof. 99% of what's available is white. I had intended to apply sikaflex black marine sealant onto Mark's samples but I have read that most chemicals don't bond properly or else they react negatively with the rubber. There are coatings out there made for painting an epdm rubber roof, and from this research even 'flex seal' from the late night tv ads claims to be compatible for epdm and is available in a brushing liquid in black. The reason I would coat it would be to put a 'grain' texture to the surface as opposed to the smooth look of an inner tube. It seems the rubber roof would conform well onto the roof's compound curves. I think I will order a quart and if it doesn't work out I can always build a redneck rowboat out of old window screens and flex seal.....