Fletcher's Customs restores a 49 for a customer! Wow look at the rust

[Guest boilermaker]

Well I posted some pics on the old forum last year sometime. We are in the process here @ www.fletcherscustoms.com of restoring a 49 Pilothouse for a local customer. We actually started with two trucks and are still looking for parts to be able to finish the project. The first truck we started with had no floor at all thanks to rust, so we found another and after media blasting found it had a few gallons of bondo in the cab wall. So what do you do?? Cut the cab wall out of the truck with no floor and weld it inthe better of the two trucks!

check out this link for tons more pics of the truck!

http://www.fletcherscustoms.com/customers/Customers

here are some pics

[Rich Gengo]

Nice work!

[grey beard]

Pilothouse cab backs usually rusted because of rear window seals shrinking at the butt joint - or after the roof rusted through - take your pick. Nice patch work!

[Guest boilermaker]

This truck has been a real nightmare! We have been on this project since July of 05. Started with a very rusty 48 1/2 ton that was original to the owner. Basically gave up on it and and purchased a 49 five window to use instead. Upon blasting of it realized it was also in need of lots of love.

We are still looking for tons of parts if anyone can help out.

Need both front fenders, or at least good lower sections of both

both running boards

rear bumper

tailgate

[BobT-47P15]

Hi. I usually hang out on the P15-D24 forum. Sounds like this truck is indeed the nightmare type. I was in a local resto shop here in the Joplin, MO area a while back. They were restoring a 50 Chevy pickup of the same sort. The fellow I know who works there said you can buy just about every panel needed for a Chevy cab new reproduction nowadays. Probably won't be that lucky on a Dodge though. It would seem to me that a person could go out and find a more solid vehicle to buy for less money than repairing a bad one already owned. But then there is the nostalgia factor......"I bought it new", "it belonged to grandpa",etc.

[Guest boilermaker]

yeah but round here these things are none to be found! So we work with what we got. WHen this thing is done this will be a high #2 resto. It'll be completly like new , using all the original style and NOS parts.