[first timer]

I just bought a 1953 Ford F-100 truck and would like to replace the the wood bed. My truck still has the original wood bed but it has seen better days and it has also been painted black at one time, including the metal strips. Is there a good source for pre-cut oak boards and s/s steel stripes? Also, does the entire bed/sides of the truck need to be removed to replace the wood?

[nicenova]

check out the truckstv website thay did a oak bed on one of there projects you probley could find a amswer there

[Kevin45]

Bruce Horkeys Wood and Parts. Look in Classic Truck magazine for his ad. You can e-mail him at woodandparts@yahoo.com

Kevin

[spl_dodge]

No, you do not have to remove the bed sides...atleast I didn't on my 51 Ford...and I suggest Bruce Horkey as well.

May I suggest a different approach - if you are going custom at all. After my truck (the 51) was wrecked, I used a sheet of diamond plated stainless steel sheeting in my bed. I had it bent to flow up the front part of the bed as well as the floor. It looked great.

[bullheimer]

yeah classic truck magazine as well as Custom classic truck magazine. they used to be owned by different people last year but then got bought up like everyone else by, what is it? Primedia?

[Shortstep]

This is not meant to be an advertisement, but a testimonial. A company called LMC Trucks publishes a great series of catalogs for old trucks that they will send you free if you sign up. Even if you don't buy any thing the catalogs give you in depth exploded views of components for your truck. It wont give specific dimensions but does tell roughly how long the boards are and how many boards it takes. I milled my own boards for my GMC truck from pressure treated southern pine. Oak may look better in a show truck but for an outdoor use truck It would not be the best choice. It has too much width expansion per board when exposed to high temp and humidity changes will expand and crack the finish.

[scott ticknor]

Don`t be afraid of making your own wood bed boards. You have all the templates already and if you dont have the tooling,go see your local high school. The teacher will have a few young ones that would love to help you out, I`m sure. The money you put into a "pre-cut" system could go into a more exotic wood. I work in a shipyard and we have a saying that Oak looks great... until your out of the harbor. The tanic acid that is present in oak will cause it to blacken quite qiuckly even when you put a sealer on it. Take a look at Purpleheart, it`s a very dense tropical hardwood from the gumwood family that has great resistance to abrasion and has a wine color that takes well to an oil finish.Regardless of which way you go, stay away from film type finishes (varnish etc) they will become a maintainanace chore to be dreaded! Legend has it that Henry Ford would order parts from suppliers but would stipulate the sizes of the shipping crates,(right down to the thickness and width of the boards) after removing the parts from the crates he would then use the boards in his autos! Whatta guy! Good luck!

[poncho62]

Henry Ford also had his own hardwood forest, near Detriot, that he used for the wood in his cars, including those famous "Woodies".

[Shortstep]

Another great site is www.mar-k.com/ They have detailed info on beds on their site with many pictures and a catalog too. Exotic woods are very beautiful it really depends on if you are gonna have a show truck (parked inside a temperature controlled place most of the time) or a truck to use for real hauling (a load of dirt or mulch for the flower bed). You can spend a lot of money on a real show truck bed but if you leave it outside uncovered it's really going to take a beating.