Now that my lovely bride and I have retired, we've been rescuing dogs full time for Mikaela's Mutt Motel in Clarksville Tennessee for a few years. I have been using a 1969 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser to do rescue and transport, but it is a bit rough on the dogs. View attachment 6730447 I stumbled upon a 1990s era hot rodded 1939 Ford panel truck 10 miles from my house, and made it mine. It had a bad transmission, but is a 350 SBC/TH 350 combo with 12 bolt rear and Mustang II front end. Already has AC, power steering, disc brakes all around. Really straightforward stuff. We are currently replacing the transmission and undoing PO chicanery with the goal of making it a driveable dog transporter.
Kudos to you for doing this rescue work. My wife and me sponsored a local dog shelter, helping whereever possible and taking home the big old dogs, the great Danes. Those and the Pitbulls usually never get another chance. Our dogs had to travel in my old MB Sprinter but if such a nice panel truck became available here in Germany, I would add it to my fleet. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the kind words. I've spent the last month derodding it to a certain extent. The builder used stovebolts to hold on the side panels and then glued them in with bondo. The wiring is garbage, and they glued in the original non safety gl*** windshield with sealant. Also, the welded in these hideous benches in the back which serve no purpose than to destroy cargo room. I'm afraid I'm going to have to destroy the windshield frame to make it right Also, none of the raw steel they welded in had any kind of paint or preservative.
Yup. Civilized dogs always get to sit up front. Lots of dogs aren't though and they get to be in back in a kennel. Started tearing out the space wasting benches in back today I really wish they weren't welded in.
In case it matters, the outside looks pretty good. You will conquer the rest. Why is it rodders generally choose metal instead of wood. That would have been so much easier to fix.
Very cool, good on you and your wife! I'm sure your p***engers tails will be wagging while enjoying the ride.
Yep. And wood is quieter. You might also notice they tubbed the wheel wells, which is retarded because the frame doesn't allow bigger wheels and tires than are on there
Finished pulling the p***enger side bench. Decided to leave the battery box in. Noticed you can see daylight right down to where the tailpipes exit. That's no bueno, for CO.
Started pulling some interior tin off. The failure of the PO to seal the car from exhaust gases and other intrusion is the worst thing I've found so far. But dread naught, I have the tools and knowledge to fix this.
It has basically an open exhaust right now, so I need to get the local shop to weld in some actual mufflers anyway. While they are doing that I'll have them put some tips on it
Very cool. As this is for a good cause...are you accepting donations for parts? I'm sure I have something it needs in my stash.
I did some soul searching and decided this is going to be a "good enough" fix it job for now. So I am making simple floor panel extensions to close off the rear quarters and panel bond them just for the time being. Goal is to make it right someday though.
Kudos to your efforts! Just had a thought, in order to refresh the interior air and remedy the possibility of stray CO and interior odors, you might look into RV Fantastic fans. They are designed for ceiling vents, which may not be cosmetically pleasing but perhaps a reverse scoop arrangement since you have the metal working gear at your disposal.
TIP. Your new exhaust? Have your exhaust exit the side of the Delivery behind the rear wheels. What I have learn building several Deliveries is that the flat shape rear of the body causes a vacuum/vortex that keeps, and circulates exhaust fumes behind the vehicle that will ALWAYS seep in the rear doors...no matter how well sealed. Exiting out the side will eliminate that build-up of exhaust fumes behind the Delivery. All 3 of these required modifying the exhaust to "side exit"...which really helped.
Thats a cool ride, I'm sure you and the dogs will enjoy the ride in a hot rod, and look cool doing it! HRP
You know, that might be a good idea. I'll definitely look into it Great suggestion. I had a 1970 Chrysler station wagon and a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser that accomplished that with a reverse spoiler/wing to accomplish the same thing. Am going to dump exhaust out the side now. Edited to add, my 1969 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser does that exact thing.
Pulled off the driver's side panel. I can save it easy, but need to seal it off. At this point I'm not going to even attempt to get it back to stock. Just get it driveable and have fun with it
Since this is going to be a running restoration, I chose 1/4 rubber mats to make up for the lack of proper flooring Found this at the local Home Depot. Huh
Henry used laminated safety gl*** in all his windshields since 1927 He had an engineer severely cut up when he crashed testing a prototype Model A. The Rouge had it's own gl*** plant and they developed what they called Triplex - 2 thin sheets of gl*** with cellulose plastic in between.
The Jalopy Journal
