Looking at the bottom of the tailgate. Reamed out rust with Dremmel tool, welded holes and ground them flat. Now I has solid steel. It's not perfect, but nothing a little filer can't fix.

Still workin'. Tailgate stripped (actually my buddy Greg did the messy part about a month ago). Pounded out some of the dents on the side. Drilled and re-welded spot welds. Rust had started to grow in the top and bottom seams, so I split it opened and sanded out the cancer. Still need to grind some welds and fill some holes.

03-16-08

Progress slowed down a little this month. I Worked a few hours here and there. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the right side is smooth as a baby's butt. Now onto blocking the left side.

02-10-08

Epoxy etching primer on. Still have some little ripples and blemishes. Next weekend, 2k sanding primer and block sanding on the exterior of the bed and top rail.

02-09-08

Finally - finished blasting the bed and rolled down a coat of POR-15. If it's dry by tomorrow, I'll try to hit the rest of the bed with epoxy primer.

02-03-08

More of the same - now on the drivers side.
* Removed fender and sanded remaining paint
* Filled holes in sides
* Filled gaps around bed-post holes
* Welded rear seam

More crummy weather, still haven't finished blasting the bed.

Also, have different idea for the final look.
* Light grey (gloss)
* Stock height, wide whites
* Yellow & Red Pinstripes
* Door Logo (maybe?)

01-27-08

Welded rear seam and filled some ripples and dents on the right rear of the truck. Got a little more blasting done, but it's raining today, so this won't get finished this weekend.

Did some junkyard reconnaissance for look for a potential IFS sub frame swap. Nothing looked right. I'll probably stick with the solid front axle or maybe a Mustang II kit.

01-19-08

Sandblasting the bed. Hopefully I'll have this nasty job done this weekend. Although I'm being pretty anal about bodywork, I'm NOT going to pound out the dents in the bottom. I figure rhino-liner (or similar) will hide most of them. Besides, I want to use this as a truck when I'm done.

01-10-08

Right side of truck:
* Stripped Paint/Rust from inside fender well
* Filled several holes - Welded and ground
* Welded/ground gaps between bed stake holes and bed sill

01-08-08

Here's the look:
* Caterpillar Yellow
* Lowered 4" front & Back
* Proper truck tires on steel wheels
* Black trim

01/01/08

Two long weekends of work has given the project a gook kick start. Three people (me, my wife, and a buddy) fueled by nice weather and lots of beer, have been able to make some substantial progress. The bed is almost completely stripped of 3-layers of old paint and I'm very happy to find shiny (mostly straight) steel under it all.

Also, I got the carburetor rebuilt and fired the truck up. The worn inline-6 and 4-speed crashbox is good for moving the vehicle around the driveway - and thats about all.

12/24/07

Holy frijoles - this thing is solid. That little dent below the bed took 3- hours of work with a 3-lb sledge hammer to straighten. The dent just laughed at my body hammer. The heavy sheet metal makes even me look like an expert welder. If this was a modern car, I'd be burning holes all over the place, but with this truck, I can make nice purdy beads. I think with some work, I can get another 50-years of service from the truck.

12/23/07

"Fresh from the Farm" - my new 1951 International Harvester L-110 1/2 ton pickup. Just back from an 1100-mile round trip from 'Vegas to Sacramento and back. This will be a 2-3 year project. Right now I'm trying to source parts/mods, accurately assess my skills, and get a vision for what the truck will be. Currently, the plan is something like this:

* Possible engine swap - Cummins 4BT Turbo Diesel and 5-speed trans
* Add Power disk brakes
* Stock suspension - lowered 1-2 inches by removing leaf-springs
* Power steering - maybe
* Stock steel rims with beauty rings and hub-caps - proper tall truck tires, no low profile crap.
* Satin orange or caterpillar yellow paint.

Hitting the bodywork right now. Hoping to have a raw frame in the garage by this summer.