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Part 3: The Bed
trees

Here is the bed with tailgate and head board removed. We were doing a '66 Mustang convertible at the same time, so I wanted to get the bed completed and sent to the barn out of the way. Note our high-tech 4-wheel cart we use to place large in-work items so we can wheel them around the shop or outside for sand blasting or cleaning.




Even though I used a floor kit from Mac's Antique Auto Parts, it still required measuring, re-measuring, cutting, fitting and drilling. This was more detailed since I had built my bed in the 70's from parts and pieces (no repro parts in those days). I started learning body work on this bed back then but it was still good enough for my "all for go, not for show" mentality. I had riveted 1 inch by 1/8 inch angle iron around the sideboards and head board and did not want to remove it, thus my floor fit in on top of the lip, even though the kit was designed to fit under it.




Fitting of the floor is near complete in the pic below. You can see the bolts are in the stainless strips which have been cut to length and drilled. Each hole has hand filed square to accept the stainless carriage bolts (that's 20 of those suckers!). The metal cap on the end came with the kit, but I did not like the way it was going to fit. It was replaced with stainless, bent and cut to my design to give a more finished look that will not scratch. A big hint in this project was to number each board and stainless strip. The front and rear ends were obvious in this case, but would have been so marked if not. I took the boards home and started a 15-day finishing drill. I sanded each board carefully before starting the first of 10 coats of a Danish boat finish called DecoLe. It calls for 24 hours drying between coats. I sanded about every other coat up to the last three, and sanded between each coat. Remember the numbering of the boards? This was done with permanent marker and I also scribed Trees Toy on each board, just for extra ID purposes in case someone "borrows" my truck. The new head board was installed by sliding it in, clamping in place, drilling the holes and installing the rivets.




Here is the finished bed (less the wood floor) in the barn. The blue cloth is hiding the new head board. Disregard the "organized" storage of Vintage Air parts under the bed and many small finished parts hanging on the background wall!




Click here for Part 4: Rear Suspension


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