A little light entertainment: 1939 Ford 1 ton Utility restoration

[cliff]

looks awesome Jack.

[jack neville]

Thanks Cliff.

Now for the doors. I pulled them apart awhile ago and got them sandblasted.

I left one intact as it was not too badly dented even though the bottom is rusted out. I took the skin off the other mainly so I could access the dents and straighten it out. It too is rusted out in the bottom.

But that was before I had a really really good look at them.

Both look like they have been let go in the wind without the check straps attached and have gone past the limit of the door hinges. They have also had hits in the lock end of the doors resulting in inner frames that are somewhat no longer straight.

A lot of hammering with big and little hammers and a bit of porter power improvision eventually got the inner frames sorted out.

[jack neville]

The door I left intact was reasonably good in the outer skin until I looked at this odd patch in the corner and felt inside. It had a dent about 10mm deep which had been filled with lead. You can see how deep it is when I melted the lead out.

[jack neville]

In between working on the doors I got Matt to come and do the canvas work.
I particularly like the window frame although I put Perspex in it instead of glass.

[jack neville]

The canvas work and lacing on these trucks is quite different to other wartime vehicles.

[jack neville]

The canvas is raw canvas which will be dyed as I could not get the colour I wanted.

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by jack neville

In between working on the doors I got Matt to come and do the canvas work.
I particularly like the window frame although I put Perspex in it instead of glass.

Outstanding work! Can't wait to see it.

[jack neville]

Finally assembling panels that have been waiting their turn.

[jack neville]

Given the amount of dissection this vehicle has undergone I am pretty happy with the way the body has gone back together. There is quite a bit of work to go to get it all aligned and tightened up. The race is on to get it Corowa in a few weeks.

[Mike K]

Is that art or oil painting type canvas that art suppliers sell ?

[jack neville]

Raw 18ounce canvas I imported from US

[jack neville]

The week before the 'Corowa Swim In' was very hectic to get finished on time.
Canvas dyed, (several coats), doors finished and fitted, wiring finished off and numerous other little jobs saw me getting up at 5.00am most days and working till sundown. I planned on getting a few miles on the road to test drive but got nothing more than a few laps around the block so decided to trailer it up to be safe. It rides surprisingly smoothly and quiet and with the 2 1/2" exhaust sounds very nice.
Still a few little things to sort but overall I am very happy with how it has turned out.
I had to make sure John Mackay took me for a drive. I think he enjoyed it.
Not sure what its cruising speed will be yet but on the Back To The Track trip from Alice Springs to Darwin later this year I hope to be travelling in more comfort than most.

[Danny Devers]

Looks good, always a rush at the end

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Spectacular!!! You had to do (and did) many of the sheet metal troubles that scare the pants off most of us. Well done.

[rnixartillery]

Lovely Job Jack ,a real credit to you.

Rob...………..rnixartillery.

[jack neville]

Thank you gents.

When I arrived at Corowa I spied John Mackie sitting at his camp about 100 metres away.
By the time I stopped and got out he was at the back of my trailer. He is an old Ford man from way back and I doubt he has moved that fast in a long time.
He has been very interested in this vehicle for a long time so of course I had to get him to take me for a drive.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Awesome work guys! I have followed your project with great interest.....and the solutions on how to repair and make stuff was very informative.

Well done....what a lovely truck!

[Lionelgee]

Hello Jack,

It is wonderful that the vehicle is back on the road and is in pristine condition. You have deserved the time to have a break and to take things easy.

The only thing is that we will now miss following the progress on this project and witnessing the outcomes of all your skilled work.

So what is the next project - when will it start - and where is the link to it?

Kind regards
Lionel

[jack neville]

Thank you.
I have a Diamond T patiently waiting it’s turn but there are a couple of Morris Tilly owners who will be expecting their stalled project to be taken off the back burner and I have told them it will be ready for Corowa next year.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by jack neville

I have told them it will be ready for Corowa next year.

Hi Jack,
Glad to see you are looking positive! As organisers of the Corowa Swim-In we are already planning for next year

regards, Richard

[jack neville]

It is over two and a half years since The Ford ute hit the road and I guess it is time to get a few things finished. The seat I have been using is out of my Ford/Marmon Herrington gun tractor and has been swapped back and forward.
They are a modified version of the Ford truck seat altered to suit the roadster cab to allow the roof to collapse and stow behind the seat. They are not a very robust design and disintegrate rapidly once the old trucks are allowed to be exposed to the weather. When I built the seat for the Marmy I had only scraps of data to work with and very few photos and no reliable measurements. The seat worked however but there was always difficulties getting the roof to stow behind the seat. A while ago I managed to acquire the remains of an original seat. extremely dilapidated but enough remains to make a better job of the second seat. A lot of detailed woodwork to replicate and I got the spring sets from a civvy Ford truck. It is a very time consuming and fiddly process to rearrange them to copy the ute setup as they are completely different.
It is now ready for Matt Strickland to do his magic and unholster it for me.
I also found that the side panels were never correct which is why I always had trouble with the Marmy. These should now be correct and you can see where I even had to re-correct some of the T nuts even this time. I made an extra pair of side panels to put of the Marmy seat as well.
A very odd thing with these seats is that there appears to be no method of securing the seat. It sits on top of the fuel tank and two drilled holes in the base locate on the two studs on the front corners of the fuel tank. Crash the truck and the seat goes with you into the windscreen. Not so bad on a gun tractor doing not much more than 20 mph I guess but the ute is a bit quicker.

[jack neville]

Spent a day with Matt Strickland while he covered the seat. Used a green vynil that is as close as we could get to the scrap of original material on the old seat i had. Also did the door trims and kick panels. These utes were apparently delivered to the Australian Army from the Ford factory originally finished in a semi gloss finish deep bronze green. I learned this information from Mike Cecil unfortunately after I had already painted the vehicle a sand colour but it was certainly consistent with the green colour I found in places when originally restoring the vehicle. At the time I thought the vehicle must have been repainted that colour post war. According to Mikes info the vehicles were then painted whatever colour was required once delivered. I couldn't imagine the interior would necessarily be painted to match the outside so maybe I will repaint the interior back to the green so it compliments the new upholstery.
Maybe.

[Jan Thompson]

this looks great