I am probably just dreaming but i have thought about building a pickup along the lines of the early Diamond T pickups. I would start by cuting down a riveted aluminum truck cab but the fenders wouldnt be easy. Were there any trucks back in the 30s or early 40s that had square fenders like the construction trucks dumps,mixers ?
Unless you're obsessed with making the fenders from scratch, there's several places that sell fenders for older pickups and such in fiberglass or metal. Here's a sample: http://www.classglassperformance.com/Dodge Trk.html I'm a Dodge guy so naturally...... Or this one: http://bebops-glassworks.com/ Sounds like a fun project!
I never thought about reperduction stuff that would be the way to go. I have seen some older trucks for sale that would be ok for this but they need alot of work to start with i wouldnt be useing that much of the orignal truck if you got in a fenderbender it would be hard to find parts and i dont realy like cuting up complet old trucks.
If it was me (and maybe it will, someday, lol) I would find a one ton dually, long box, extended cab with a tired body or some cab damage, something inexpensive with a long frame. In my case probably a Dodge, mid to late 90's with the Cummins 6BT mechanical engine. Strip all the body off and build back from the frame up. Kenworth cab maybe, narrowed and shortened. Maybe even a small sleeper on behind, old style. Put a four speed brownie behind the five speed manual tranny. Put a retarder on it and a flipover gooseneck hitch to pull my equipment trailer with. Okay dammit, now I'm sketching it up, it's all your fault!
Sounds like a good plan.I had thought about useing a 1954 1 1/2 GM frame i have changeing rear ends to a newer 1ton and drilling the front hubs to match the rears.I dont know what engine i would use that would be the biggest cost of all.I need to get several other things done before i could start.
I have seen a lot of ton and a half trucks in the weeds around here that would look good with some 22.5 wheels and stacked to make a fun truck. I can't stand having. the same truck everybody else has or can just buy. Got to be different
my saying is "its not what you buy but what you build" & the other that goes along with building a truck like that " its just money" I have built 2 so far & am getting started on my 3 truck
Right now i have a 67 GMC that i have used for the last allmost 30years. I have a 53 chevy 1 ton that i got this summer that has been seting. Its almost to good to modify.
A guy could use the axles out of an older F-450 with the font I beam axle, no drilling hubs and disc brakes to boot. Or even one of those mid 90s Chevy 3500 HDs would have the I beam axle too.
I scraped 3 F450s this summer. I thought about saving some of the axles. The only deal i wouldnt like about useing newer front axles under a older truck is the width but if you were building from scratch you could make the front fenders cover the tires and look right.