11 Cab F8 - Change of Plans

[Bob Carriere]

.... at least you have a good pattern to work from......

Finding a knowledgeable and skilled metal fabricator who is less than 90 years old is a real challenge...... Our local fabricator impressed me last Summer when he scored big on older hydraulic presses....8 and 12 feet .

With no skilled operator available I took the plunge..... more steel was wasted with little results....... then found out he did not have the necessary dies.... available at $100 a foot.....so I scaled up top to a more expensive fabricator whop charged more but used unskilled teens to runt he machinery.... more steel wasted...... Thanks to Grant and a 12 pounds sledge hammer we did the necessary corrections. If I was to do it again I would use thinner gauge steel that can be worked on our own 4 foot brake and modify the build structure to accommodate the max width we can work on and hide some of the butt joints behind existing reinforcements. Those skills are now hard to come buy and the older bends/build sequence is not always feasible with modern equipment.

Cargo boxes may have been built by the original Ford/Chev fabricators but as they ramped up production to War time volume many small cottage industry subcontactors produced a lot of similar parts.... centrally assembled then bolted to a vehicle frame..... I used 3 similar 2B1 boxes and overall the measurements varied by a good 1/4 inch in width and/or length....... not to mention the twisting and bending due to post war abuse....

,,,,but having a rusted hard copy to work from as a pattern... is priceless......

Go for it..... as they don't make them anymore.

BC