Resident truck restorer Lyndsay Whittle laments the lengthy restoration project and the distractions along the way
Finding a final purpose of what to put the Dodge to, moved one step closer this month when my old parts-finding mate suggested he call a truck wreckers and locate a turntable, or a ‘fifth wheel’ as they’re often called.
When considering the final use of my previous restorations it’s been fairly clear-cut as to the configuration the vehicle would finally go on the road as, with the one exception perhaps being the FGK Morris restoration I completed in 2018. With that job I wavered between making it into a flat-top or the tow-wagon, that it finally became.
The reason it ended up in the tow truck configuration was because the K Bedford that preceded it as my first restoration was already performing its duties as a general runabout fantastically, and I didn’t need the hassle of deciding which truck to use when a load of bark or topsoil was required.
Decisions, decisions
By turning the Morris into what is, if I’m to be honest, only a facsimile of a tow truck of the era, I’ve rendered it useless for anything other than a plaything.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Dodge will suffer the same fate if I place a turntable on its back as getting the thing complied as a tractor unit would probably bankrupt me. Nevertheless, I do have to crack on, hence my going down the track of the semi-trailer unit idea.
Not being sure if any of this folly would bear any fruit, I took some measurements and climbed in one of my previous restorations, my trusty Mitsubishi transporter, with the idea of visiting a few of the parts yards to see if they had any suitable turntables in stock.
Strange things happen
I was just about to head off on my excursion when a mate phoned to say he’d seen a turntable up for auction in Tauranga, with a starting price of $250.00. Long story short, I wound up winning the auction.
To make the story even shorter the vendor says he’ll drop it off to me when he’s next in Auckland, which will be very soon, and a much better option than travelling all the way to Tauranga to collect it.
As so often happens in this restoration saga, great strides forward usually take place in the last few days before the magazine’s deadline comes around, in any case I’m hoping the turntable’s arrival will give me something to write about for the next instalment.
Good things take time
Right: Grab handles in the raw
As an aside, I snuck the Dodge out on the road (please don’t tell anybody) a couple of weeks back, and I found that the combination of having no weight over the back axle, along with having a relatively short wheelbase made for a most uncomfortable ride.
Perhaps the best comparison I could use is that it was like climbing up on one of the rodeo machines you can ride at events, it just about shook my teeth out.
Now I don’t think for a moment that by placing a turntable on the truck will transform its ride into that of a Rolls Royce, so I reckon I’ll end up adding a block of concrete to the mix, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on that score too.
Speaking of sneaking out on the road, I do have a most unfortunate tale to tell while on that short trip.
When fitting the rear mudguards a couple of months back, I needed to remove the cable ties that were holding the temporary taillight bracket in place – nothing wrong in that, I guess.
The taillight clusters were a little bit flash for the Dodge, but they were items that I’d procured several years ago, thinking that they may just come in useful someday. Being the tightwad that I am, I figured that although they looked a little too flashy for a truck, I decided to use them for this project.
Well, I’ve heard it said that things happen for a reason (although I personally think that’s a bit far-fetched), and on this occasion, my lack of foresight in not re-attaching with cable ties the bar to the chassis, found me ending up with a smashed set of taillights when the truck went over a bump in the driveway on my return journey.
All’s well that ends well
After cursing my stupidity for the rest of the day, I decided to give up on working on trucks for the time being and concentrate my efforts on carrying out a much-needed cleanup of the workshop, something that turned out to be fruitful.
While cleaning a dark corner I came across two more sets of taillights, one set that was very close to the original style used on trucks of the Dodge’s era and yet another set still had the protective plastic wrapping on the lenses.
Now, I’m usually up for using original accessories but on this occasion, I’ve gone with the newer-looking style.
The reason for this is that the newer units have backing lights built-in, which given that the set I pulverised also had the backers incorporated, will (I hope) make more sense.
Finishing touches
I know that it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I’ve just fitted a couple of grab handles to the interior of the cab. While it seems like such a small amount of progress to make such a fuss about, it really involved quite a bit of work.
I’d spent a couple of months deciding whether I’d get the original handles plastic coated like they originally were, or simply paint them black and make do with that. Well, the fact of the matter is that I’m already over budget on this job, besides which I’m getting too old to be climbing in and out of the cab and having to grab hold of sharp cab edges to make this happen with any sort of ease.
You guessed it, I’ve gone with the paint option, about twenty coats of it in fact.
I only fitted them this morning and already I’m wishing I’d bitten the bullet and painted them months ago – that my friends, is the price of procrastination.
Images by Lyndsay Whittle