Funny how despite our history with cars, she didnt want to celebrate by pulling the bed off
I did get it ready to come off, and I am on the fence again about getting it blasted, its still pretty nice, but it sure would save some sanding inside the bed! I was very happy that all the bed bolts came out without spinning and no broken wire plugs, stripped screws, nothing. This truck has always been easy on me, and as the THIRD time doing the truck, I expected no less.
Anyway, some pics of the old girl, more to come as I detail everything. Game plan is a good driver prep, should be at least as nice as the Mustang, but the goal is a low budget "restor most of the parts" partial frame-off LOL
Here is the new digs, 4500 sq ft home and the garage is the smallest I have had in a long time. At least the ceilings are high, but it sure is crowded
Got the bed unbolted and stripped and the bumper off today. The real shame here is, the truck was 90% ready for a quicky paint job in 1995 but the USAF wouldnt wait for me, so it sat for 13+ yrs. Its still good and solid, but its covered in Martin-Senior "Primeez" lacquer primer-filler, which has been sucking up water for all those years.
The bed is still looking good, no rust, but if I didnt get to it, it would have gotten ugly soon. The biggest issue is sanding the years of scratches, THE reason I plan to have it blasted. BTW, that black paint is the original 1968 black paint. I got the bed off an original truck, amazing how this one held up in the Massachusetts winters.
Some pics of the bed corners, they tend to get soft, this one just needs a little cleaning up, glad to see it hung in here all these years
More to come, the game plan is to get the bed blasted and sealed in a modern primer, then go back and make sure its straight.
While that's being done, it needs rear cab corners and I am going to strip and detail the frame and all of its components. I dont plan on pulling the cab off if I can help it, but I will pull the nose and do the same to the front of the frame and the cowl etc.
