You should never buy a classic truck sight unseen. You'd think a magazine guy would know that. But, when I was looking for my next project, that's exactly what I did. My name is Jeremy Cook. I'm the new Associate Editor here at CLASSIC TRUCKS, and the truck you see below is now my ongoing project.
I've always had a soft spot for '64-66 GM trucks. Before I was born, my family campaigned a door-slammer GTO that was towed by a '65. That same gold truck remained the shop truck for the family business for many years and was finally restored for my older cousin to drive to high school. My father also had a sky blue '64 Custom that was his daily driver for most of the '70s, until it became a victim of a hit and run. Both trucks are long gone, yet are intertwined throughout my early memories. So much so, that when searching for a project that was well suited for a truck magazine, the only choice (in my mind) was a '64-66--hence the hasty purchase. In fact, when I made the deal, which was the bartering of some late-model Chevy stuff, the only information I had was the year of the truck and its location--which was a less-than-stellar body shop. The truck was owed a free paint job, but I waived it as soon as I saw the truck. You're seeing what I saw that day, so you can understand why. Beyond all the haphazardly applied body filler, I noticed that the cab on this truck was originally sky blue, while the doors were originally gold. I took this as a sign and trailered the truck home. Upon further inspection, I realized that the recent rash of filler-slinging is by far the worst aspect of the truck. The stock 327 and Powerglide are intact and seem to run pretty well. The interior sheetmetal wore a thick layer of glue-pot glue from a "custom" velour interior, but at least everything was there. Now when I'm asked why I started with such a poor example of a readily available truck, instead of telling this story, I say I did it for you guys. Because if I can turn this thing into the truck I am envisioning (with the help of the amazing rendering from Jimmy's Hot Rod Design, www.jimmyshotroddesign.com), you can do the same with yours.
Of course, I'll have plenty of help along the way. The majority of the work will be performed by Chris Daley and myself at Totally Polished in Oxnard, California (read more about TP on the next page). Brothers Truck Parts and Classic Performance Products have also helped out tremendously with this project. These companies are definitely two of your best resources if you own a truck of this vintage. Eastwood, PPG, Stockton Wheel, Coker Tire, Chevy Truck Salvage, and Airlift also play important roles in the buildup, as you will see in the months to come. Finally, if you're wondering what prompted me to go the black suede, red steelie/wide white, Mexican blanket for a seat cover route on a '60s-era truck, there are two reasons. One is because I lack deep pockets. For the other, check back to the Jul. '02 issue of Jimmy Smith's Sketchpad. The gears in my head have been turning ever since.
BIG WINDOW OR BUST
Totally Polished Goes Big With Project Old School
When I took possession of our run-of-the-mill '64 Chevy, the first order of business was to transform it into something that would justify the large amounts of time and energy we were about to throw at it. In my mind, the coolest truck available in 1964 would have been a 1/2-ton, two-link, Fleetside, shortbed, big window with a V-8 and automatic. But, I also like the GMC dual- headlight frontend better! I'm well aware that is a pretty tall order, considering no GMC ever came with a V-8 and nearly all had leafs in the rear (a GMC with trailing arms was special order only). This truck had what I wanted, drivetrain- and suspension-wise, and the frontend swap would be easy enough. It was the small window and longbed that was going be a challenge. That's where Totally Polished comes in. I came across a '65 pickup that shop owner Chris Daley had just finished working his magic on. That's right, from a small window to a big window and from a longbed to a shortbed. While Totally Polished is known mostly for its super-low show-quality suspensions, Chris and crew have more than proven their metalworking skills in recent years with creations like the world's only '67 Chevelle two-door wagon (his daily driver) and '01 two-door Excursion (TP's 2001 SEMA vehicle). Follow along as Chris and Steve cut out our little window, and don't miss next month's Part II when the TP crew slices through our Bondo-ridden bedsides.
|
Before... |
|
|
Here's where it all started. Before the '64 could even get comfortable in its new garage, we stripped the frontend down to the inner fenders and core support so we could swap all the pieces for GMC units. You'll hear all about that in a future installment. |
On an extremely cold So. Cal. evening, Chris began the process by grinding clean the area to be cut with a four-inch grinder with an 80-grit flap disc. Then the fun could begin. |
Chris borrowed the glass from the '65 he's building for use as a pattern, and with the glass perfectly centered, traced the outline onto the bare metal. |
Using an air hammer, Chris begins slicing through the sheetmetal. Because the hole in the cab needs to be slightly larger than the glass, Chris found that cutting on the outside of the line with the air hammer leaves the perfect size opening. Be extremely careful if you try this at home. One false move and you'll end up with a convertible. |
Instead of maneuvering around the corners, they are left to be cut with a body saw. |
A much smaller hole is cut on the inside of the cab with a plasma cutter. The extra metal is needed to fill the gap that will be left between the inner and outer sheetmetal. |
Once the outside corners are cut, the small window can be pulled free. Back in the day, the "full-view" rear glass option cost just $33.45. Unfortunately, TP has to charge a bit more for their efforts. |
Holes are drilled about 2 inches apart all the way around the outer lip. They will be used later to weld the inner and outer sheetmetal together. |
The heavily contoured inner cab corners were plasma cut so the top, bottom, and sides could be bent back to meet the outer skin. Then the contact areas of the inner and outer metal were ground down so they would weld up nicely. |
Chris creates a 1/2-inch crease in the inner sheetmetal so when it is pulled out to meet the outer metal, the two pieces will lie flat against each other. He then begins at the inside of each section, holding the metal in place with the pliers and welding each of the previously drilled holes. Chris switches from side to side so the metal lays down smoothly and does not warp. |
The excess inner metal is then trimmed away with the plasma cutter. |
Once all four sides are welded solid to the outer skin, you're left with a big, triangle-shaped hole in each corner. Chris begins to prepare the area for patch pieces. |
Each corner is bent and trimmed until it perfectly matches the contour of its corner. |
All four patch panels were then fully welded into place. Then each corner was then ground smooth with the 4-inch grinder. |
Chris now grinds all of his welds smooth and cleans up any rough edges left by the air hammer and plasma cutter. |
Eastwood Company sent us some stripping discs for our upcoming bodywork on the truck. We'd say they work pretty well. The entire back of the cab got this same treatment. |
Chris smoothed on a thin layer of Evercoat Z-Grip body filler, also from Eastwood. Then all corners were then sanded smooth with 80-grit sandpaper. By the time we were ready for paint on the inside, here's how we were lookin'. |
Chris shot a coat of PPG DP90LF from the roof line to the floor all the way around the cab wall. Since most of this area was down to bare metal, it was like we were replacing the factory primer. According to PPG, this is an epoxy primer with excellent sealing characteristics, which works out well since there's no telling when our old schooler will finally receive paint. |
Over at Pete's Auto Glass, Ben Tapia was kind enough to cut us a piece of rear glass for the new "full-view" hole in our cab. After he traces his pattern onto the factory-spec safety glass, he slices through one side with the glasscutter, flips the sheet over, and slices exactly on his line again. |
To cut the plastic layer in between the two layers of glass, Ben first squirts the cut section with alcohol, then lights it on fire. It's hard to see the flames in the photo, but they're there. The plastic melts in a few seconds, and the cut piece falls right off. |
Finally, Ben rounds off the razor sharp edges with his giant wet-belt sander and sends me on my way. Ben made the glass from start to finish in about 20 minutes. |
Back at TP, we installed our new glass with a new rubber from Brothers with the string and bruised-fingertips method. We purposely installed the rubber inside-out because we forgot to get the tool to install the lock bead and would be pulling the window out for future primering anyway. But hey, it had to look cool in the meantime. Stay tuned for Part II of our adventures at Totally Polished when we cut down our longbed and grind off gallons of unnecessary Bondo. It looked like it snowed in the shop that day. |