Projects 1956 Chevy Carryall new wood body

No computers for me, thanks!! The 15 year old computer I'm typing this on and a digital camera that might be older than that are my only concessions to tech. I don't even own a cell phone, and if I can help it I never will!!

 

yeah, we were talking about 1950s Suburbans, not late models. They did make 3/4 tons later on. I owned an 87 for a while, I know about them.

 

Was the 3612 considered a 1 ton chassis?

 

@mamllc I loved the last build, so will happily follow this one! To all the guys who say Woodies are expensive, this proves why.

 

Thanks!.

The Power Wagon I mentioned in the first post was the last one. Here's the link.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/50-power-wagon-woodie.1201808/

 

3100 and 3200 series are half ton, 3600 is 3/4, 3800 is one ton. The first two numbers are the chassis weight rating and wheelbase, the last two are the body style

 

This is my first time working with this body style so I'm learning as I go. So, Carryall was Chevys name for a late 50s steel bodied truck that was not offered in 3/4 ton. You could, however, buy a 3/4 ton chassis from Chevy and have Cantrell build a wood body for it. Everyone seems to want to call this truck a Carryall, is that what Chevy called it, or did they even have a name for it?

 

Chevy had nothing to do with it after the chassis left their factory. It's a Cantrell truck, they got to name it.

 

Wow is not enough to say. I would love to see a video of how thos finger joints are actually cut. It is very apparent you are a true master woodworker.

 

No cell phone? We could start our own club.

 

Count me and @Moriarity in.

 

There's a factory brochure on the Old Car Brochures website, it shows the 1/2 ton and 1 ton variants: https://oldcarbrochures.org/United ...ans/1956-Chevrolet-Panels-Brochure/index.html

 

There are 1/2 and 1 ton variants of the Panel Truck.

The Suburban Carryall (in 1956) only came in 1/2 ton. There are two variants of it, the 3106 rear door version, and the 3116 tailgate version.

Is that what you meant?

 

All I can say is WOW!!! As a fellow woody owner I will be following the build and looking for my lobster bib so I don’t drool all over the place

 

What a kool project. You definitely have our attention and thank you for keeping us updated with your progress.

 

Yes, I was agreeing with you - I posted the link so others could see factory documentation (plus it's always fun to look at old brochures.)

 

From the literature I have it looks like Cantrell called this body the "Huntington". It was available in different wheelbases and several different trim levels. They would have installed it on anyones chassis, the front doors would have been made to match the cowl and the rest of the body would be the same no matter whose chassis they were fitting it to. I also have copies of registration and title for this truck, it was registered and titled as a Carryall. Probably because thats how the owner filled out the forms. Had to call it something.

 

Huntington is a town on the North Shore of Long Island, have to find out what town Cantrell was in. On a clear day I can see Huntington from my front yard 35 miles away as the Crow flies.

 

Cantrell was in Huntington Station NY. Perhaps right at the end they didn't have the energy left to get creative with body names.

 

Now that the pillars are located it's time to permanently attach them to the truck and fill the holes inside of the back doors. I had to build brackets to support the steps inside of the doors, and will likely add a second one. I didn't have a lot to go by but I think this is at least similar to what Cantrell would have done.

 

are you going to make that 2nd tread just a 1/2 width--seen ladders made that way

 

fantastic

 

Beautiful

 

Neat-O really liking the finger joints.

 

It's done, wont have a second tread.

 

Nice.

 

Time for a roof. I have nothing left of the original so I am kinda winging it here. Most of the station wagon roofs were finished off pretty nicely, on some of the truck bodies they built a rather crude header and covered it with an upholstered panel, which I would rather not do. The shape of these pieces are such that carving them out of a finished piece of wood would be a monumental project. Instead, I make patterns out of scrap wood and bondo just to get the shape, then use my duplicating mill to copy them into blocks of Ash. The piece of wood above the header is a temporary brace to hold the correct shape in the sheet metal while I made the header pattern.

 

Very nice workmanship!