A little light entertainment: 1939 Ford 1 ton Utility restoration

[jack neville]

some more photos

[jack neville]

and some more showing where the chassis is at. It is almost a complete rolling chassis. Just needs a bit of paint and a bit more work on the front end. Also a photo of the rear body showing how bad it is. The other two photos show a patch over the vent and what I found underneath it. See what I am up against??

[jack neville]

These show the remains of the cab lining on the left side near where the fire extinguisher bracket is mounted. The wooden bracket base was still there with what was left of the lining. I tried to tear it out but it was securely fixed. Unscrewing the bracket I then had to unscrew another piece of wood which was attached to the body as a mounting piece for the wooden bracket base. Have a look at the great lump of wood that was used. It is very neatly dressed and shaped and in perfect condition. The timber is about 75mm x 75mm and about 300mm long. That is some overkill for a fire extinguisher mount!!

[jack neville]

Just spent the last four days pulling the two cabs apart to salvage what will be reassembled to make one cab. Lots of cutting and grinding to get the good bits from one to replace the rusted out bits from the other. I will get them sandblasted and then reweld the pieces back together. The rear extension of the Aussie roadster cab is seen still intact. One thing with the 39 cab is the door pillars and other parts are riveted together first before some extra welds are added. This makes it easy when reassembling as you know you have the piece in the right place. Just line up the rivet holes.

[jack neville]

Some photos showing the rear part of the cab before disassembly

[jack neville]

A few more. I had to melt the lead out of the joins before disassembling the rear section.

[jack neville]

Some of the sheet metal appears to be bronzed together after the timber framework is put in place. These bodies, being made in very few numbers, are quite complex to rebuild. A combination of old timber coachwork and modern (40's modern) sheetmetal technology. After removal of the rear panel you can see how it attaches. It as a foded edge that slides up over another strip that is nailed to the timber work and then is welded at the top so that there is no visible sign of how that panel attaches.