1953 Dodge 'coupe' truck project

[Desotodav]

Wow, it has been just over a year since my last build update, so I suppose that time is well overdue to bring those who are interested up to speed. I apologize in advance as it may be a lengthy story...

The panel beating on my 53 Dodge coupe truck is still an ongoing project, which is thankfully nearing completion! It has been a long and certainly costly project! I have no doubt that there are those who would consider my attention to detail way over the top, but this is my truck so I guess I can do with it as I please.

I decided early in the piece that we would undertake the panel work on this truck in the same process as we did for my 52 truck. It just makes more sense to me to rip everything down to the bare minimum in order to restore the panels to a standard of my liking. I suppose that we are a little unfortunate in a way that many of our smaller trucks here in Oz were produced in what you on the other side of the pond would call a 'uni-body' configuration as this created a fair amount of additional work when is comes to panel restoration. The guys carefully unpicked all of the spot welds required in order to reduce my coupe truck body to a skeleton, and then those panels removed were split inside from out so that they were able to be repaired from both sides.

Most of those panels have small 'saddle-type' metal tabs spot welded to them in order to hold the 'captive nuts' to secure things (such as the rear guard wheel flares and the top bed rails) and there were quite a few of those fittings which I damaged when removing rusty bolts during disassembly. I was able to recycle some replacement fittings  which I carefully obtained from one of my parts trucks - I bought new square nuts for those fittings as well, but I had to tap them to the correct thread before fitting. I wanted to make sure that all of these fittings were perfect while I had access to them as there are not accessible once the panels are welded back together...

[Desotodav]

... the work seemed to be moving along well, but was held up at times due to other rush jobs in the shop (and my supply of funds!). It was comforting to finally see things start to go back together!

The load area panel between the seat and the bed was removed and beat back into shape. It is common to see them bent inward here in Oz due items rolling around in the load area and (I assume) smashing into that panel when the brakes were applied! My panel was not too bad, but it was certainly easier to remove it for re-working.

The old rusty bed channels and flat metal bed floor panels were all made new and replaced. The channels here had a timber beam inserted in their center, which the timber floor boards would screw into. The only problem with that was that water would sit around those timber beams and cause the metal channels to rust out. I had new metal channels made up out of thicker gauge material and will spot-weld a top flat plate over the top of those channels for additional strength (and somewhere to screw the timber floorboards to). A small length of galvanized pipe will be inserted into the channel (before the top plate is affixed) to prevent the top plate for compressing when the body to chassis bolts are inserted to hold the body to the chassis...

[Desotodav]

... I had most of the removable panels repaired by an old friend of mine before he retired. I found the rear of my old suburban van a most suitable place to store these panels to protect them from damage down at my shed...

 

[Desotodav]

... I spend any of my spare time tackling smaller chores. Most of the parts which I put back on the truck are zinc plated. I had the seat slide brackets plated and then put them back together ready for install. I had a number of nuts, bolts and washers plated at the same time. I find that zinc plating is relatively cheap, and a good way to minimize future rust!

I also zinc plated a heap of the small metal tabs while hold various items like electrical wiring, fuel and brake lines. I then used a small heat blower to shrink plastic onto those metal tabs...

[Desotodav]

... I have a set of wheels on the 53 coupe truck chassis at present which are from a 54 truck (they have the 'nibs' on the rims for the hubcaps to push-over as opposed to the earlier clip-on hubcaps). I guess that you would refer these rims as to those fitted to your C series trucks in USA?

I fitted a set of Bob Drake stainless steel trim rings and find that the grooves (or 'ribs'?) really match in well with the same grooves in the hubcaps. I have DeSoto hubcaps on there at present but will most likely be installing my Dodge hubcaps which I am yet to have restored.

I have a set of correct 53 rims (with the clips for the clip on hubcaps) which I will restore and run a set of light truck tires on - for better road handling than ply tires on longer trips. The red 54 rims will probably end up on my 55 DeSoto truck which I may restore down the track...

[Desotodav]

... I made all of the brake lines and have them installed. I removed samples from various trucks and used them as templates. I had a new fuel line made at the same time.

I searched around and found a ceramic fuel filter for the Carter glass bowl attached to the carburetor.

I have found a number of trucks with rusted out lower radiator pipes here in Oz... so I had one of them bent up out of stainless at a local exhaust shop.

I have had a few small pieces painted along the way. My Painter often paints old Harley Davidson frames for one of his clients, so he hangs my parts in the both and paints them at the same time.

The list of small chores for me continues whilst I have the major body parts at the shop. How can so much fun be legal!

May all the beauty and blessings this Christmas season has to offer be with you and your family. Merry Christmas to you all. 

[DJ194950]

Beautiful work and meticulous work!

DJ

[Ram Man 02]

Im glad you updated this thread with your progress. i reread everything and i enjoy your attention to detail.

[48Dodger]

If you're like me.....I bet it feels funny to summarize months and months of hard work into just a few posts....lol.

Looks great Dav....you're on your way to the best vintage truck museum in all of Oz!!!

48D

[Desotodav]

Time really seems to pass so slowly when plodding along with these complete re-builds. It has been some 7 months since I have posted anything on my build thread... but rest assured that there is always something going on!

I dropped the hood pieces and the hood support/radiator cowl piece off to the guys today as they are finally putting the truck back together. It has been a long (and quite expensive) journey but the end is now in sight! The panel repair guys could finish the project in the next month, but my bank account will need another break before then!

I had my son photoshop a few colors from old MOPAR color pallets so that I could try to match an older style color to the 'coupe' truck vehicle shape (photo attached). The original color of the truck was almost like NAVY Grey, which my Painter told me would always look like primer paint so he preferred that I went with another color. In the end... I decided that he was probably correct and I have decided to paint the 'Pop' coupe truck an off-white.  I have booked a final paint slot for January 2018.

I still have all of the electrics and all of the chroming out at friend's shops and don't expect any of those parts back soon. The whole lot should come together nicely over the next 6 months or so though.

I have many more progressive photos of the build, but I have just attached a couple of photos here from my visit to the panel shop today.

[Plymouthy Adams]

with the already painted red wheels, red is obvious body color...

[Jeff Balazs]

Davin;

That color looks mighty familiar........good on ya mate! With the kind of heat we have been seeing here I know I made the correct choice. No worries on the red wheels. Mine are maroon and literally not a day goes by without it getting a big thumbs up from someone. You might try and work some red accents into the cab interior.

Jeff

[Plymouthy Adams]

temperatures in Brisbane are fairly comfortable at the moment......not like the humid mid 90's in my neck of the woods....use the cooler temps to your advantage.....I have already soaked a t-shirt to almost dripping this morning working on my current barn project of another 9 x 12 loft section to lay down removed car panels so to be out of the way yet protected also....

Edited July 21, 2017 by Plymouthy Adams

[Reg Evans]

33 minutes ago, Jeff Balazs said:

Davin;

That color looks mighty familiar........good on ya mate! With the kind of heat we have been seeing here I know I made the correct choice. No worries on the red wheels. Mine are maroon and literally not a day goes by without it getting a big thumbs up from someone. You might try and work some red accents into the cab interior.

Jeff

Ya mean like this ?

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

I think if you son was to go back and edit the photos and add your current WWWs and the rims as they are now...could be the deciding factor on the very color you choose...

[pflaming]

If you paint it that bright red, when you go Ru hunting, they will spot you 10 kilometers away, maybe consider a matt black! LOL

 

[Jeff Balazs]

Here is what I ended up doing with my truck. Never even considered this until I was pretty far into the build. Just didn't like the way the Dodge cream color looked on the wheels once I had the truck painted. Got inspired by the maroon-ish color of the truckmaster heater I bought from GGDAD. I have since made a horse blanket cover for my seat to make it better for the dog. It is maroon/black with a bit of white in an southwest type pattern. Works out great and is actually more pleasant than sitting on vinyl. I would add that a "little" red goes a long way.......This and the wheels are plenty.

Jeff

[RobertKB]

Looking at the colour choices, I personally like the lighter green below the grey. To me white never shows off the nice curves these old vehicles have. I understand the reason for going with white in hot climates but not the route I would go. As always, your vehicle...............do what suits you.

Edited July 21, 2017 by RobertKB

[Plymouthy Adams]

two tone that sucker...get the white for the temp control....the lower body for flash in the pants....!!

[pflaming]

My dash. I didn't / don't like the towers, this lessens their visual impact to my taste. I added an oval tach in the radio speaker grill. 

Edited July 21, 2017 by pflaming

[48Dodger]

Time for another update......or at least a thought or two about the direction!

48D 

[Jeff Balazs]

6 hours ago, 48Dodger said:

Time for another update......or at least a thought or two about the direction!

48D 

He probably went walkabout.........or is on a fair dinkum holiday.

[Desotodav]

Time sure passes by quick these days. Thanks for the reminder Tim. I have been away with charity work, and working plenty of overtime at work while I have been back home!... but things have been happening on my old 'Pop truck'.

I had all of the LUCAS electrics refurbished by our local Auto Electrician and now have them all back together, but I am yet to have them painted. My smaller side projects on the coupe truck have seen me playing around with transmission speedo adapters (to cater from 4.1 to 3.54 diff swap), dual horns, handbrake cable, gas tanks, casting of Desoto and Fargo hood emblems, external door locks, horn ring, and steering wheel.

The panel work on the truck has been slow (mostly my blame as I have been directing funds toward our investment properties of late), but our coupe truck is nearing completion. I thought the truck was looking good a couple of weeks back with both doors and hood pieces fitted, but we have had a minor setback with one of the doors since then so the truck looks less complete at present! The process now involves working clockwise around the front of the truck from the dash area to perfect gaps and undertake minor adjustments. The external door lock will soon be installed on the opposite side door with the use of a USA door latch mechanism (thanks to Mark aka ggdad1951). I was hoping to have the truck in final paint at the end of January 2018, but this may not happen until April/May 2018 now as I want the truck to sit in primer for a couple of months prior to paint.

I should also have the running boards back all repaired and looking new by this Christmas.

I have been looking at all of the screw/bolt holes in the firewall over the past few days as it seems that quite a few holes have been added during the many years that the truck spent out west as a pig shooting truck. I didn't realize that there were so many holes to identify in the firewall!

It has been a long and costly project... but it appears that the end is finally in sight!

Edited December 6, 2017 by Desotodav

[ggdad1951]

lookin good mate!

did I read that correct?  You are casting new emblems?

[48Dodger]

Dang Dav, I thought I had some gas tanks.......or do you need those to make it through the Outback????

48D