First things first, my name is AJ and im new here. Im gonna ask alot of questions, some of which might not make sense. Thats why im asking. Most of my friends just think my ideas are crazy and dont make sense. I own and operate a mobile food truck that sells slow smoked BBQ. I currently serve out of a '23 trailer that was put together by simpletons. Its falling apart after 2 seasons and the bank still owns about half of it. Ive tried to get "them" to uphold the warranty and they just flat out stopped responding. the solution, take all my bottled up rage over getting screwed and turn it into productive energy and build a COE mobile food truck. Every other truck looks the same, all P30 based delivery trucks from the 80s. Prior to starting this bbq thing I was a mechanic and I graduated from wyotech almost 10 tears ago. I like to think this is within the realms of possibility. I have a couple carpenter friends that will ***ist with building out the interior/kitchen area and ive found someone that has all the pieces to this puzzle in his yard. I havent purchased anything yet and id like to here everyones $0.02 before i spend a penny. This will not be a cheap project once it starts. Now this is my plan I want to mount a '52 chevy or '54 gmc, he has both, on a 1996 ford f600 frame that already has a 5.9l 12v ***mins and a 5spd manual trans. (180,000 miles) I think its only 2wd but that doesnt really matter. I plan on cutting off the back of the cab and extending the roofline back about 16+ feet so it looks like a bus. I need atleast a 6.5 foot ceiling and I dont want to mess with the cabs roof line so I plan on raising the cab up off the frame however much I need to get the desired interior working height. I plan on constructing a floor from 1" plywood covered in diamond plate. Raising the cab should also help with any potential clearance isseus with the cab floor and that sweet, sweet 5.9L. I was also thinking I could widen the cab to smooth the transition from cab to 8 foot wide body/kitchen. I was thinking that some lateral ribs could be welded off the frame to give me my desired 8' width, then just bend some tubing to form what would be the main hoop on a roll cage. maybe 4 or 5 of them. Or use smaller tubing and put them 16" on center. I was thinking i could just skin it with sheet metal (what guage?) and rivet it to the ribs. I think it would look a little like an old fighter plane with the rivets and bare metal (with some clear on it or something to keep from oxidizing). Or just weld it to the structre and do all the body work nice and smooth and paint it nice. Theres so many other ideas and details Im not thinking of right now but dinners aleady cold. Thank you in advance.
sounds like alot on your plate. no pun intended. sounds like a real eye catcher when finished. dont know where your at but you may want to involve your controling health dept. in the materials and plans before the start.. luck to ya..
I think raising the cab that much would look really ugly.I have a pic of a green '51 Ford COE on my PC somewhere where they grafted an Airstream travel trailer body onto the ch***is and it looked really cool. I will see if I can find it and post it on here
could not figure out how to post a pic of it on here so added a pic to my '48 COE build album you should be able to see it on there cheers Willy
Thanks Willy, Ive been scouring the forum for pictures of insperation, ive seen the green airstream grafted onto the coe, the dude cut the back of the cab and part of the roof off. I like it but i think it would be easier and look better if the roof line went straight back. I have also been thinking if I was to lift the cab, I could chop the top, I like the small windows. I was thinking a chevy grill would be easy to add 2 more of the horizontal grill bars and relocate the bumper, or hide it behind some fender and front grill extensions. I was thinking of some way to extand and enlarg the fenders so they will totally tuck the wheels. Any more pics of your airbags? How tall is the 50s chevy/gmc cab from the floor to the ceiling and how wide is it? Thanks for the help, any suggestions are greatly appreciated, even if i dont like them. thank you.
If you want enough room with out the truck cab being too high you might want to consider finding a 1970's GMC front drive motorhome for your ch***is. The frame is pretty low and would probabkly give you the interior height you need. You could also step the frame down if you needed to since all the mechanicals are at the front. the rear just has trailer axles on it. Been thinking of another LCF project on this type of ch***is........
Hey AJ, Check out the rig on this link http://www.greenmachinecatering.com/the-fleet/ I had a buddy on the coast check out the truck, it was for sale a year ago. It did not have the beef to move the new catering trailer.
I got a plan to have more than enough beef. Just gotta keep fuel consumption reasonable. That isn't easy with size 12s.
I like the GMC front wheel drive idea as it would give you plenty of head room without the roof being up at treetop level
You could get the adapter from a 4bt frito lay truck and be able to bolt to the GMC trannny with your 6bt
I'd like to stay away from modifying the drive train if possible. I forgot to mention this project has a 4 month deadline. I'm trying to build it durring winter, when sales are down, without a garage. Colorado winters are mild compared to new England winters. Dropping the Coe on the f600 frame is the cheapest rOute available. Does anyone have recommendations on airbags and controllers? The bag set up I have on my tundra helps with load but isn't the softest ride unless there is 5psi in them. I've seen a triple bag set up on someone's Coe and liked it a lot. Any suggestions?
I got a concrete slab in the back yard. I'd like to think that once the exterior is done, the inside can be done when it gets really nasty, for a month. Our winters can be very mild. All the more reason for you guys to share your wealth of knowledge.
Good luck with that time line. I know first hand how much time it takes when you start cutting these trucks up. Find some friends to help. I spent 9 months putting mine together and I worked non stop. I was completely burned out by the time it was in a usable condition to pull our camper. Just some food for thought.....Now get to work and we need to see progress picture.
The only reason I think this is even remotely possible is because I have 2 friends with tools and skills that will be helping. Can anyone tell me the approximate weight of the Chevy and gmc cabs from 1952-54?
I also have a food concession business and know many others who do. I, and most others, avoid a truck-based kitchen like the plague for the simple reason that a breakdown will prevent you from getting to or from your venue. Your can always make other arrangements to get your trailer to the site though. Build yourself a nice tow rig and leave it at that - and you won't have to rush it either! As for your trailer, if you're mechanically inclined as you say, fixing the problems with it shouldn't be a big deal either. There's an old saying "a farmer always builds the barn first". Get your trailer fixed up properly before you start worrying about a fancy rig. Lastly, a fancy rig attracts attention but its the quality of your product that puts money in your pocket - the exterior of my trailer looks like **** compared to many others but the inside is spotless and the product is awesome - I'm always at full capacity! And not making payments on a $70,000 trailer means I can keep prices down. Good luck, whatever you do.
I hate having the trailer for several reasons, the biggest is every day i walk into it and fire up the line, im reminded how i was taken advantage of and it makes the entire experience alot less rewarding. We just served at one of those obstical course runs were they hand you a water bottle and a beer ticket and had a blast but it could have been better. it always can. Its hard to drop this grudge. I also see many advantages to making this coe idea happen. I will be able to roll up to smaller parking spots than i currently can, I will spend 20-30% less on fuel, save even more if i burn my fry oil. Not have to deal with temperatures that exceed 125 while we blanch fries. have more work efficient space and if something breaks,I'll be able to fix it and only blame myself. Its also gonna look less "country fair" and more representative of the company ideas and food. Were asked often What type of bbq is this? I tell them its Vermont style bbq. (im from VT originally). We like a texas style dry rub and a kansas city style sauce served carolina style with a pinch of slaw on top. Were from vermont and we do what we want. chevy(or gmc) exterior+ ford f600 frame+ ***mins power= bad @$$ rig texas+ kansas city+ carolina= wicked good BBQ
i thought about doing this a few years ago because in my head i was thinking it would be a good hit at the local car shows and maybe even at the goodguys events locally. i just dont have the coin to make it happen. i have cooked professionally for 9 years and all my friends say i am a good cook. (cheap attempt at seeking funding) when i was looking to make this happen a guy here in town has a bookmobile that i thought about buying before he told me how much he was asking for it and i have slowly been recovering from sticker shock. then add in the cost of making everything sanitary enough for the f.d.a. to authorize it safe enough for service. i really would love to make this happen. i still think about making my current coe into a food truck i just cant bring myself to grafting the cab onto a newer truck
G***ersteve: You mention FDA so you must be in the US but I would suggest you look into the local laws. In Canada any food establishment including mobile vendors are inspected only by the local health departments. I get inspected once a year by my local guy as a formality only, to ensure there are no major findings but since I travel to various shows I am inspected at each one by the local health department. All inspections are free. The regulations are all pretty basic, mostly regarding food heating, cooling and storage as well as cleanup and sanitization methods. Most areas will have a website where you can access every piece of info and it does not vary significantly from one place to the next. Compliance is not difficult. Get rid of your negative at***ude and go for it - there's some good coin to be made!
i have never looked into the health inspections. not that i am ever worried about failing them because i always was the employee to pull the equipment away from the walls to clean. yes i am in the usa
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