Technical Building a 1926/27 Model T Pickup Bed From Scratch, Measurements Needed !

Hey Guys.

I picked up a bunch of 26/27 Roadster panels over NYE including a bun panel, tulip panel and deck lid inner skin, with the intention of using them as patterns to fabricate a whole new body from the cowl back.

As I already have two roadster cowls, the plan is to build up the second cowl into a roadster pickup.

I figured the money from the sale would allow me to purchase the remaining turtle deck panels or even a cheap fibreglass one, I can use for patterns to complete the body.

After studying a few google images, I have devised simple plan to fabricate my own pickup bed. It won’t be a perfect replica of an original but it will be as close as I can get.

 

The plan is as follows:

Use 1x2 Rectangular Hollow Sections for the stake bed framing.
Use 1x2 Rectangular Hollow Sections for the tailgate perimeter frame.
Use 18 Gauge Cold Rolled Steel for the bed sides and front and tailgate skin.

To offset the fact that 18 gauge steel is less structurally sound, I will be making the sides in two sections with flanged edges that will bolt together along the centre and doing a similar thing for the tailgate.

I have access to a slip roll, bend brake and electric guillotine at work as well as an electric bead roller in my home work shop to create the rectangular swages.

 

I’m looking for someone with access to an original bed I can get measurements of the following areas.

The width of the bed taken from the inside.

 

The depth of the bed, taken from the centre of the first measurement to the bed floor.

 

The width and length of the open section, the floor boards fasten to.

 

The final ones are:

The depth of the front panel from the top to the floor boards.

The width of the folds running along the tops of the sides.

The width of the metal strip that sits between the floor boards and the inside of the tail gate.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Bumper

 

I've got a few boxes, but they are full of snow, and I would need snow shoes to get to them at the moment.

 

I have a really good bed but like rusty valley I can't get to it due to snow.

 

My original 27 rear bed panel that I replaced with a Model A piece. The only difference is the T had a battery box.
The tailgates are also identical. Both these are available in quality reproductions if you can't find good originals. My bed was shortened in 1957 so I don't have an original dimension.

 

Thanks for that !

 

Sorry for bringing a year dead post back to life but Ive been working diligently on rebuilding a T bed for a 26/27 cut down touring. I can provide any measurements you need.

 

Any photos of the 26/27 T bed you are building.

 

It’s not mine but a local Rodder is building a 29 Model A Roadster Pickup, and this is the bed he’s building for it. I’ve been getting plenty of ideas from him.

 

Lang’s has a wood bed kit.
This one is pretty fancy.
A very simple and pleasing plank and iron strap bed can be made and used until you figure a steel bed out.
Plank beds were quite common on Roadsters, TTs and tourings converted to trucks.

 

Can't help with bed measurements but, I noticed you'll be fabbing bun panels too. Late '80s to mid '90s Chevy van hoods have the perfect contour for '26-'27 bun panels. I made mine a few years back from scratch. Maybe this'll be of some help...............
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-26-27-roadster-bun-panels-for-cheap.1229214/

 

There’s no need to use Chevy Van hoods. I made up the one on the left from flat sheet after taking a pattern from the original one on the right. I used an English Wheel, Bead Roller and Shrinker Stretcher.

 

More Measurements from last week around the stake bed pockets, tailgate and front panel. The first one is the rear one.

 

Hey Guys.

I spent the morning cutting and sticking cereal boxes together to make up the blanks for the tailgate and front panel. Then I went down to visit my local rod shop to see where he was with his roadster pickup project.

He was gifted another roadster pickup a few weeks ago and to my surprise he had swapped the beds over. The bed he had fabricated is now sitting on the other roadster pickup.

I used the bed he fabricated as a guide to making up my templates and once I got them done, I moved onto the tailgate.

 

I was going to take patterns from the tailgate when he informed me he had an original tailgate. It turns out, he’s had the tailgate for years and it was this one he used to make up the one on the bed he fabricated.

 

So I took the blank pattern I had created and placed it over the inside of the original tail gate and began tracing out the radius and marking out the bolt holes for the hinges. To save time, I marked the halfway point on the tail gate with engineers chalk and folded the pattern over so I only needed to trace once side. I made three of the patterns in two halves that were stuck together to all them to fold in half.

 

The small rectangular pattern above, is the inside measurement of the swage that sits between the hinges.

 

The other pattern I took was of the front panel. I accidentally cut the upper half off before I made this one, but I wrote down the dimensions of the missing sections. I also wrote the the dimensions of the depth and spacing of the swages.

 

I also have floor plans to go off.

 

I’m not sure, I will go to the trouble of making a hardwood floor, it’s labor intensive and expensive, but I will take those dimensions and visit my local lumber hard to see if they can cut up the equivalent out of a one inch thick piece of ply with cutouts for the battery door and hump plate. This will then become the jig for the sides and front.

 

Before I do any of that, I want to get the tailgate made up. The first pickup bed will be the junk one. I’m using sheet metal I have salvaged from work or my local scrapyard to make it up.

I do have two sheets of very nice 18 gauge steel, one of which is zinc anneal. Only once the junk bed is complete and sitting squarely on the plywood base with a fully functioning tailgate will I consider using the zinc anneal.