Hello Wayne,
I have just been doing some digging and I found an article written by John Merton for the Morgan Owner's Club of Australia about Australian coachwood timbers. It mentions the following: "The preferred timber was spotted gum, closely followed by blue gum then some other Eucalypt species and coachwood (Ceropetalum apetalum)". These findings were backed up by mechanical tests carried out courtesy of Boral Timbers Inc.
The Morgan Owner's Club of Australia's (April, 2002) journal is called the
Morgan Ear. The three page version that I cited from is Merton, John (2005) Coachbuilding Timber Selection. Accessed 28th November from
http://www.morganownersclub.com.au/C...0Selection.pdf
The Morgan Owner's Club also have a Technical Section with more information about framework. Accessed 28th November from,
https://sites.google.com/site/morgan...sis/body-frame
I figure if it is good enough for the body of a Morgan it should do well for a body of a Chevy.
P.S. I went to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries - the Forestry is under their umbrella in Queensland and I found a Fact Sheet on Spotted Gum. Accessed 28th of November 2015 from,
https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/forestry/...es/spotted-gum
Corymbia maculata formerly
Eucalyptus maculata uses are as follows:
Engineering. As sawn or round timber in wharf and bridge construction, railway sleepers, cross-arms, poles, piles and mining timbers.
Construction. As unseasoned timber in general house framing and as seasoned dressed timber in cladding, internal and external flooring, linings and joinery. Also in fencing, landscaping, retaining walls and as structural plywood and hardboard.
Decorative. Internal fine furniture, outdoor furniture, turnery, joinery, parquetry.
Others. Tool handles, boat building (keel and framing components, planking, decking), coach, vehicle and carriage building, agricultural machinery, sporting goods (baseball bats, croquet mallets, spring and diving boards, parallel bars) and bent work. It has been used for butcher´s blocks, meat skewers, mallet heads, ladder rungs, wheel spokes, wine casks and broom handles. Spotted gum is the main Australian species for tool handles which are subjected to high impact forces, such as axe handles.
Kind Regards
Lionel