Grizz’s 66 Chevy C10 Short Fleetside - BRICKIN’ IT 27/12/21

Came home Friday night and the neighbor brought around a parcel.

Contents........

Bumper bolts, welding clamps I had ordered and apple licorice from Ta2Don.




Last week Martin climbed into a large skip and like a circus monkey, hanging on one side with one hand, he managed to retrieve this heavy duty towbar, possibly Jeep Cherokee.
So last night I dismantled it, as it is a heavy old thing.

Once more the rattle gun paid for itself on all the rusted bolts and nuts.



Along with the A-Class Mercedes Benz towbar which together will be making a new removable towbar and fitting points for bumper mounts for the new rear bumper.



Next up, I bolted the side plates to the chassis, cut the end plates off both towbars and fitted the Merc one between the Jeep items.

Grinding the parts clean for welding, I set my welder on higher power and feed.



The Mercedes parts ball fitting tabs were left on till I have finished making the slip on/in removable parts, then it will be welded on to the original chassis support along with tabs to bolt it to the Merc cross bar.



Got to welding the corners to the new side tabs, but my welder melted its tips, twice...... and the thread on the tip is screwed, so I pulled the plug on the welding.

Seems I need to figure out the settings a bit more and replace the torch as it is a bit knackered.




Last thing. Today I fitted the pair of Sinclair stickers Grunty made for me years ago for the Taunus Transit, to the Caravan Shed.

Especially for ClemDaddy, who for those who do not know, lives in a 1940's Sinclair Service station.

TAKE A LOOK AT: www.tubatrucks.com to see the perfect home.

Grizz,

I always found Flowmaster to be very annoying on a long trip, lots of drone...

Heard good things about the Summit mufflers, or go old school and use cherry bombs or Smitys mufflers. Fairly certain that Miles at Namco sell them. Not sure what mufflers I have on Woody but they sounded good on the way home....

P.

After weeks of waiting for the planets to align, today it all came together.

Ashley in Portsmouth had given me some tarpaulins he had gained a few years ago, to use for the truck and covering it etc.

So, via the power of "Pony Express" a mate of his delivered them to Bridges Auto breakers in Peas Pottage for me to collect today.

I picked Martin up early as we were going to rummage through some of the cars in the yard for bits to use in our builds. I was also hoping to find a Jeep Cherokee there as I need a pair of door stops for my doors and an aircon pipe for my buddy Maverick in South Africa who needs one. Unfortunately, it turned out they have no Cherokees at all.

When I got there, the guys had the tarps, and also a surprise from Ashley, he had had his buddy the Pony Express man, make me a massive Chevy logo sticker for my garage...... watch this space. THANKS MATE !!

USA sized plate and large fast cat for perspective.



Next up we were searched,and let loose in the yard.



Martin went straight for the Ford Mondeo's as he knew he wanted an oval dash clock to build into his truck.
Unfortunately, all the cars there were stripped of their clocks, except for one, which he managed to to get out.



Next up he showed me the very cool retractable cup holder that seems to be fitted only to the Mondeo's and three of the bodies there had them, so we took them all out. after this we walked around the yard, scavenging Jaguars, Mercedes, BMW and other brands looking for bits to remove, eventually we got back to where we started, and another scan around the outsides of the wrecks yielded a broken out dash under the snow, under the rear of another car.... JACKPOT !!!! A dash face with the clock still stuck in it with the plug and wiring attached, as well as another cup holder.
I plan on making another metal section below my dash to fit all the gauges I removed previously, and each end will get a "hidden" cup holder.



Next up it was back to the office and in anticipation for getting scapled for the parts we had picked, we put them on the counter......

£2.00 per item..... so £3.00 per item..... WTF ? SCORE !!!

While out there I also kicked a Rover Grille out from under the snow. £5.00 bargain as well.

These guys really are not greedy. Which makes for a nice change.

Possibly for Clem's garage if it suits his Decor in Fayetteville. Registration plate for perspective of size.




Last thing for the day was to get a Bacon Buttie and a coffee at a service station vendor.



So all in, a short day out, but a great one.

Got home tonight and there was an envelope in the post......

Thank you Tim "Ruffgeezer" this is a very cool addition to my crazy collection.



And for those of you who like a bit of detail.......

This is the bike it came from.

Excellent stuff Rian, I think I shall have to keep an eye out for one of those cup holders

Love the American style tow bar you're building, I don't know why this style of removable tow bar isn't more popular over here. Also means you can remove the tow ball and replace it with a bbq add-on for tailgating like this bad boy!

www.gatorpit.net/tailgate/images/Tailgate_GP_6.JPG

As I drove up to my house tonight, there was a large Parcel Force van parked across my driveway.

I saw the guy walk in as I stopped over the road, so met him at the front door, it was the second time he had been here today, thankfully he had thought of trying to see if anyone had come in since he had been here earlier to deliver another parcel from Searcy, Arkansas.

My door repair panels, cut out of Ta2Don's trucks original drivers door. And a retired Tattoo gun from his collection I had wanted to buy from him, but that he refused money for.

Not a very big or heavy parcel by any means, but thought I would add a photo of the costs associated with postage/shipping.



The tattoo gun was to be included in a birthday present I wanted to make up for Nicola, who has her birthday tomorrow on the 5th Feb.

I had the artwork from one of her tattoos that we both really like, mounted it inside a box frame, then mounted the gun, for which I had made its own needle/lance out of some 0.6mm welding wire, onto the backing board next to the pic.

It may seem a weird gift, but I know just how mad my wife is...... so hopefully it will be good.

Remember the Celtic Cross I carved for her birthday last year ??



By 7pm Ian, our old lodger was around to do some computer stuff and printing, as he does not have a printer.

Then mate Martin popped in while Ian was here and all work stopped for an hour or more.

After which Martin and I went down to the garage to look at the spacing etc of the removable tow hitch I am building.

Not having the rear bumper yet, we had to guess the spacing and positioning of the sleeve, and I then cut off the last piece of the old towbar mount from under the trucks chassis and mocked up everything.

The sleeve and the slider insert can be cut to length when the bumper is fitted so that it is as far out of sight as possible.

I would love to know if anyone has a removable towbar fitted to a 60-66 C10 and what their measurements are.

Here is the mock up, if you look straight down the rear of the bed, it is 260mm



You will see the cross bar/bearer has been moved up and inward as well, as it was sitting too low and far out for when the bumper is fitted.



From the top of the bed, to the top of the sleeve is 170mm

I would again love to know what measurements anyone who has one fitted, has on their truck.



Another measurement, this time to the bottom of the sleeve, above my cross brace, at 230mm, if anyone van inform me what they have, this would be hugely helpful.



I also plan on making up a removable number plate carrier that should sit roughly like in this pic.




Lastly, sleeve without the insert, resting above the cross bar.



Any advice and info, measurements etc, greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking in.

Happy birthday to Nicola.

Love the progress, keep the updates coming, and the canvas is a nice touch in the office

Started my day filled with hope that I would be doing loads of truck stuff today, even did the "Jazz Hands" in my Tuba Trucks T-Shirt, because it was going to be a great day.



OOOOOPPPPPPSSS......?

A friends Jack Russell terrier died last weekend, she was devastated, so Nicola brought a small cross home, and despite us not knowing what religion the dog was, she asked me to make a little stand for the cross, as it may be comforting to her friend.

So I thought I would spend an hour or two turning it, as well as an ashtray ordered by Mike Minino in Omaha, Nebraska, then TRUCK TIME !!.

Famous last words.......

Never cane close to the truck, except to have a lovely long visit from mate Woodsie who brought around some prezzies and a card for Nicola's birthday, managed to show him some of the jobs the truck is awaiting etc. he really gets this whole resto thing.

Then back to the woodwork shed.

A pile of blanks waiting their turn...





Half way there...



Suddenly the day was done, and though I had done a lot of non truck stuff, including filling up the various wood and coal stores I had a few bits to show, including some bowls which Nicola promptly claimed.

Includes Mikes ashtray, soon off to Nebraska.



Now watching Pink Floyd in concert with a little beverage, then bed and hopefully tomorrow some truck time.... Nicola said I could.

Made up my new heavy duty extension cord from a 110V site cable so that I can get easy current onto the drive when I do heavy duty welding.

This will obviously not be needed for welding plate steel, but I do have a next little side project ready as seen in Kiwi Kev's back yard Hot Rod shop.



With the imminent arrival of my 67-72 rear bumper, and the towbar build going on the back ground, I decided to build my own bumper brackets, rather than spend the $67.00 plus shipping on a set of reproduction irons, even if I wanted them, so yesterday I stopped at a scrap yard on the way home and got these two almost 6 foot lengths of galvanised flat bar, I am sure they will work just fine.



This week I also got some very cool plates from "Tiggi" in Iowa, the smaller ones are very cool, they go on stuff that has wheels, but never really make it onto the road.



Lastly, thanks to mate Martin's relentless searching for ways for me to spend money..... I may have found an EBay source for an Auto box steering column to replace the bodged one on my truck.

They seller has a few G20 Chevy Day Vans, I have no idea what year model G20 steering columns will fit my 1966 C10, but hope to figure it out soon, as it has to be cheaper at around £200.00 delivered than an Ididit item plus freight from the USA.



So, if anyone has some knowledge of what to avoid, and what to go for in these steering columns, please let me know.

Cheers.