Art & Inspiration Multi-Function Running Boards

I saw the ***le 'multi-purpose running broads' my eyes are dyslexic

 

The one with the Tommy Gun seem legit.

 

A lift up wood bed area would be much easier to configure. Love the mob aspect of the running boards. Don’t care for the exposed snaps but something less obvious would be ok.

 

Makes me think of the little doors in the rockers of a bed side just forward of the wheel opening in lates 60’s pickups.

or closer in that it was a hot rod someone had a kick panel that had a fastener at the top. When opened it laid down on the floor with a tool roll attached to the back side of the panel

 

Now, if that belonged to @Bandit Billy I bet he would have another use for that.
Can anybody guess what?
Here's a hint!

 

Interesting but...
Even if you don't have running boards and weight reduction is the goal consider this option.
By replacing the stock bench seat in my 'A' and loading the underside with "just in case" tools, (a nice tool roll with the bare essentials is the plan) I gained about a 50% weight advantage using this cut down 3rd row seat. Back folds down as well and it has 4" fore and aft adjustment. Cost - Free.

 

I actually gave careful consideration to adding club storage under the bed on the truck but there just wasn't that much room considering how low it sits and the exhaust/suspension/driveline. And a Sunday carry bag does fit behind the seat. Always wanted a golf club door though.

 

Whats yer handicap?

 

Thanks for the 10 Bullets reference.

 

You wouldn't know there was anything there unless it was open,. Neat, especially if you have a couple of machine guns in there! Got me thinking now (just tools, no guns!).
In those days, a lot of the cars came with a comprehensive manual which showed you how to do some fairly complex jobs, roadside. Nowdays they take their car to the dealer to empty the ashtray.
How small are the people who belong to a golf club that can fit in that little space?

 

Ashtray??? Haven't seen one of those in a new car in years!
Andy

 

I proposed deep running boards incorporating lockers here, to get the raised fenders to work:

The idea comes from something which had a brief vogue on expensive British cars around 1930.

Possibly under the infuence of his friend Le Corbusier's militant functionalism, Gabriel Voisin believed the spaces behind a car's front wheels ought to be used for storage:


Coachbuilders Million Guiet had a more elegant execution of much the same idea, which became something of a trademark for them, as on this 1929 Talbot:

Clearer on this Bugatti:

 

There were inverted-wing running boards, curiously as the advantages of aerodynamic downforce were as yet poorly appreciated, as on this 4½-Litre Bentley by Gill & Son:


I couldn't find a pic of the "brief vogue" I mentioned in my previous post online, so I had to dig out my copy of Mr. Green's Bentley book:
This 6½-Litre car bears fabric saloon coachwork ungainly enough that, if it survives, it has almost certainly been replaced with yet another Le Mans replica tourer body. Note the running boards, however, made by one S. Thomas under the name Sagito.
A much prettier tourer with the Sagito treatment.

Green describes this 4½-Litre all-weather coupé by Gurney Nutting, with lockers along the aforementioned Voisin lines, as "the pride of Mrs. Jewell's eye":

 

I've been around this joint for a minute or 3, and in the past I've mentioned viewing these pinky-up cars for inspiration. I have a lifetime with them, little to no br*** stuff, predominantly depression era. There were some tools but focus was on simple like a tire change at best. Trying to **** a spare from a 30s Packard is herculean at a minimum.
I sensed a wee bit of irony in this though @Ryan as you've candidly expressed your affection for GP racing, which at times or select events indeed requires a roadside repair to stay in the race vs, how'd you say it, "...one mishap from major disaster at all times." Who went to the drag strip without tools? Fkn nobody, right? Street cars perhaps but even then. Fkn eh, we had tools ready for our street race endeavors too. Can't hang around waiting for road service when Johnny Law was ready to drag your **** to impound. Don't worry Cap'n, it ain't going soft to think ahead.
Back on topic, truck tool boxes are a kool idea, and with most of the cars we have there's dedicated space from the OEMs but just not in the boards. I "feel ya" in the context of what you're showing us which is more akin to the list of old man goodies on old restored cars. The proud papa pose when the varnished tool box gets put in front of the car, the same car with extra fog lights, headlight eyebrows, 2 spares, a trunk rack with a trunk of course, and sometimes even more extremes. This rabble around here? Our take along tools are used, have character, and are lucky to even be in some form of containment. The Thompson is optional

 

I had a set of fenders off my 29, spare tire mounts for both left and right front fenders.
I had an idea to make drop in toolboxes using replacement spare tire wells and patch panels. The 'top' of the toolbox would carry the same curvature as the fender so from a distance, the fender would appear smooth. The half moon toolboxes could be lifted out to provide a basic set of tools for the side of the road.

 

Speedy, I had the same idea, but to use it as an ice chest

 

Old Craftsman tool box between the frame rails and a lockable box on the stake bed

 

I saw a hot rod pickup, OT for here, but it's entire tray floor slid out on rollers, you opened the tail gate & slid it out, revealing storage boxes for tools etc & access to fuel tank, brake lines, diff etc. it also doubled as a table when rolled out. An interesting idea I hadn't seen before.

 

The other thing a number of the 30/98 Vauxhall's I've worked on have are starage boxes on the rear seat floor straddling the tail shaft with a neat half turn latch which locks the floor in place.
They have a 3rd arm but no radius rods to get in the way, might be tricky in an early Ford