Back By Popular Demand- ANOTHER 1953 Pickup Truck!

The last few garage sessions, I made an attempt at saving this front grill panel. It was pretty bad, and the extra one I had, was no better.
Wasted, repaired several times over and paper thin in spots.

Now, this is solid and repaired. It will get a license plate in the center and two turn indicators somewhere, plus I'm adding a splitter (no bumper) under the grill once I get it on the truck. I wanted to try a body trick called "Frenching", it was actually fun taking this useless hunk of 63 year old steel and making it useable.


I'll get better at it as I go along. I had to use a bit of paint here and there and even a little bit of filler because the grill had filler holding it together in places.
I used a strong fiber filler and there's not much of it. Here you go:

Once the grill gets the number plate, the turn signals and the IH emblem, it'll look right. Right now, it's a bit off- but hey, "if the shoe fits" and all that..


The update for today is, I sold the IH chassis- it was too nice to scrap and someone else felt the same way I did, they came and bought it. The chap came from a racing family, we talked for a long time, cool dude. Even the neighbor next door came over to help load it and HE was on a pit crew for a race team 15+ years ago. It great hanging out with those guys and made a few quid too.

Today I'm hoping to get the bed cut up and the Hemi #3 chassis back out front so I can start on the cab floor, getting ready to drop it into place.

I looked that Irish Gaelic phrase up. It means thank you. COOL! I saw a vid on how it's pronounced- NEVER would have gotten that right

I've got some pics coming. I uncovered Hemi #3 today, turned the key and just like a faithful daily driver- it fired right up and I drove it around front, to get it in the garage. I started making measurements and puttin' the good eye to it.

With what I have planned for this one, it's going to be so much better. Real update coming soon

Listen to a V8 anyone?

That is beautiful work. I like it. But- yes it needs a hemi.

Man that is really nice. It looks old and tough, yet stylishly executed. There's big money in that build. I'll get there one day, I'll get there

Quick progress report on Hemi #3:








This is a much tighter fitting, better looking build all around. Rather than tacking it together and mounting it later to see what fits where, I now know how much room I have and exactly where I can put things ahead of time.
This will have a much better driving position, a perfect seating position, Hemi #2 was comfy- but seats were too high. New glass all around, real AC and new wheels and tires. We've already decided that I'll be the one taking this to car shows in the autumn before it sells.

HEMI #3 Build Thread update: Well, I've been busy. My stupid job is, well- a job.

I have some things completed, the cab is on the chassis, it moves under it's own power.
The dash binnacle is pushed way into the dash, I moved and altered pretty much everything, including the steering location, pedal box, everything. It's all coming along nicely, I'll get some pics later when it's beer time.

The big hurdle at the moment, is the sonofabitching Wipers! I attempted to mount the donor wiper motor, on to the 1951 wiper linkage and the '51 stuff, was a "back and forth" motion. The donor electric motor is a "full circle" motion.

I took my best guess THREE TIMES and welded tabs and pins in place to make the full circle motor produce a back and forth motion. Yeah, that ended up being an exercise in "Hey jackass, you're not an engineer, nor are you talented enough to make this work".

So I tossed that idea and bought a rear hatch wiper motor that goes back and forth. Simple eh?

Yeah... NO. It won't hang/mount in the right spot because it's too big. It has MORE motion than the linkage needs, so it wanted to flip itself over when you turn it on. So again- I took my best guess at correcting the motion and well...

Total fail. After about the fifth or sixth hour--- I got mad, smashed the rear wiper motor and threw the vacuum motor out into the woods. I said "curse word it, this one isn't getting any wipers" and opened a beer, went in the house.

This morning, I ordered a used wiper motor off Fleabay to try it again. I'll mock everything up on the bench this time and make it work before I start welding curse word together and powering it up. Here's where I wish I had my degree in engineering. Is it too late to study hard? Yeah, I'm afraid it is.


I'm supposed to go to a big televised auction this weekend with the guys that buy my trucks, they're already talking about Hemi #4. They wanted this one to be ready in 3 more days. Yeah, they're going to have to wait about 3-4 more weeks before this one's done- But. It. Will. Be. Worth. It.

trials and tribulations!.....I'm still working out how to lift a tonneau cover with a totally fabricated lift cylinder from an awning....should be great!...can you say limit switches?

looking good, man!

JP

Soon you'll have your own TV show. Remember us little guys😀