The critter was grass green with primer patches. I started removing the old paint and quickly discovered that the green was only the last layer applied to the old girl. The green gave way to white, which gave way to red, then black, followed by a bilious blue and then white again! Almost there, I thought, but then came another green, followed by an orange over what appeared to be the original Ford dark blue. Nine layers of paint, one over the next, apparently without preparation or finish work, not counting the primer patches. Removing that final color got me down to the bare metal body, or so I thought.
I discovered good-quality lead work on the fenders, metal rot pinholes all over the lower cab corners, and enough Bondo of varying ages that many body and bed reveals and reliefs were totally obliterated! The firewall had more holes in it than Swiss cheese, and it was not safe to stand on the floorboards without a piece of plywood for support. Surprisingly, the running boards were reasonably solid and untouched. At least it appeared the truck was 100% original metal. Maybe the paint layers actually did hold the thing together!
Now, as said previously, it is imperative to have a well-thought-out plan for the direction and style the Hot Rod is going to represent. What are you trying to accomplish, other than spending any extra money that might appear? What should it look like? I set up my goals and objectives to guide the development and wrote everything down for future reference. As best as I can now remember, other than deciding not to chop the top and to remove the rain gutters and cowl vent, my plan booklet must have been eaten by the garage mice! It’s easy to remember the basics, but the details often become a free-for-all, especially with all the new technical advances constantly appearing over the years.
So, what was my wanna-be Hot Rod Truck supposed to represent? Why, what I probably could not afford, of course. The design approach was to keep a reasonably stock-looking exterior, leaning toward a ‘gasser’ style undercarriage, but with modifications that would bring it up to current technology and safety standards without being overly obvious. Ladder bars, a tube front axle, and most important, solid metal! Next step: body completely off, time to start on the frame!
