A little light entertainment: 1939 Ford 1 ton Utility restoration

[jack neville]

With the floor secured and the side panels mostly attached I was able to turn my attention to the rear most cross member which fixes the rear corners but is not supported by the chassis. As this piece is missing on all my utes I have no real idea how it is formed. There is evidence that the bottom of the rear inner corner panels screw to the timber but the holes are small and it does not look strong enough to properly support the corners. I decided to just make it strong enough. I put a 28mm thick piece of timber each side of the corner piece and inserted four 10mm bolts through the lot. The rear section was squared up and clamped in position first so I got the rear tailgate opening nice and square. The ends of the floor strips were then screwed to this timber. Once this was done I nailed the inners corner panel to the corner timber pieces. The back feels very strong and solid.

[jack neville]

The inner guards attach to the side panels with several solid rivets but I have just bolted them together for now.

Next is to make a new rear sill panel. I don't have anything other than some poor photos and some rough measurements I took from another vehicle years ago. There is a recess for a number plate in the panel and it follows the same curve at the bottom of the rear side panels.

I therefore had to cut a section out of my rear timber work to accommodate the recess.

[jack neville]

I had to make some curved pieces on my timber former to match the rear side corners and weld together some folded sections for the number plate recess and top sill. A lot of trial and fit, welding and grinding.

[jack neville]

Fits in place quite well. I will get it sandblasted and then tidy it up with a bit of filler before it gets welded to the floor strips and the side corners.

Then it is on to making these rear outside corner panels.

[jack neville]

A wartime photo of a well equipped Ford roadster ute.

[jack neville]

I was recently talking to good friend Euan Mac Donald and he supplied this for me.
I will need to make another one to match but how cool is it that something like this has survived? And in such good condition and so complete. New timber and canvas and a sandblast. Very happy to have this.

[jack neville]

The rear corner panels are another quirky feature of these vehicles.
The rear timber corner has a strip of steel nailed to its edge which acts as the anchor for the outside edge of the rear corner panel.