Restoration: Dodge — Part 14
The latest updates from the Dodge restoration
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The tinted windscreen adds a special touch
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It was great to report some progress in Part 13 last month, particularly when the number 13 is generally associated with things not going so well, so getting the all-important coat of paint on the cab was the stepping stone in making the push towards finishing the job at hand.
Once the cab was finally painted, I wasted no time in informing Jeremy at Bespoke Auto Glass that the truck was ready to receive the windscreen and the three rear windows.
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Jeremy from Bespoke Auto Glass fitting the screen
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When Jeremy said that he could be out to get the job done in a week or so, I had a feeling of finally getting somewhere with a job that seemed to be dragging the chain for weeks. We were on a roll, or at least I thought we were.
For months I’d been figuring that a finish coat of paint was the all-important step in getting the truck largely closed in because then I could fit all the lights to the roof and make that part of the exercise watertight.
I’d still have to sort some kind of temporary fix to fill the holes in the doors where the wind-up windows and quarterlights would eventually go, but at least I’d then be able to carry on with the rest of the interior stuff while I figured a way to sort through the massive task of making new quarterlight frames — a job that looked straightforward at first but is looking more and more difficult every time l pluck up the courage to look at them.
Nevertheless, we were on a roll for the time being and a day after I’d cut and polished the roof, all the top lights were fitted and Jeremy’s visit to install the glass was only a day or two away.
Things were going along swimmingly, and the weather was behaving itself in a most uncharacteristic manner. Now, I know you’re all waiting to hear that Jeremy had to cancel at the last moment, but no, that wasn’t the case, as the day dawned nice and fine with the man of the day arriving early.
We started with one of the rear curved windows, which went in relatively easily, however, Jeremy wasn’t overly happy with the way the non-original rubber he’d sourced was fitting around the corners.
While this was somewhat disappointing, we both agreed it would at least keep the water out in the meantime. However, it did mean that the first part of the job was unable to be checked off, for the moment at least.
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Unfortunately, the corner window rubbers didn’t fit as well as Jeremy would’ve liked
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Next, it was the turn of the large flat piece of rear glass, which thankfully fitted as expected. Although, I think it’s fair to say that when taking the corner window rubbers into account, we hadn’t got off to the most auspicious of starts for the day.
Then it was time to fit the windscreen — the part of the job where we faced a couple of choices as to which screen to fit.
There was the screen that we took out of the truck some months ago, which is of a bog-standard safety glass variety and could be refitted legally to the truck, However, there was another option that I found quite attractive — a tinted, laminated screen with a pretty-looking shaded segment along the top.
This screen came out of the donor cab my mate Noel Galloway had found for me.
I accept full responsibility for choosing to use this screen, as I do feel I twisted Jeremy’s arm to use it rather than refit the original one.
This part of the operation went smoothly, with the end result looking pleasing to the eye.
The problem was that we were unable to remove all the remnants of the lichen that had almost covered the cab of the donor truck, glass, and all, and it wasn’t until the screen was safely fitted to the truck that I spotted a couple of chips that only showed up after polishing the screen with window cleaner.
The jury’s still out as to whether the chips can be repaired but suffice to say that our luck was rapidly running out.
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Cab insulation is next on the list
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Another lucky streak was about to come to a crashing end as no sooner we’d closed the cab-in than I started feeling a little unwell while doing some tractor mowing for my mate Murray, which is part of the deal that we have for him allowing me to invade his workshop to carry out my restorations.
At first, I put the sniffles down to hay fever, but by now, you’ve probably guessed that it was something a whole lot more sinister. After about three years of avoiding it, I’d finally joined the COVID-19 club.
To make matters worse, I’d infected my poor wife Christine as well. I couldn’t understand why I’d been consigned to the spare bedroom. The restoration was placed on hold for a week, but like everything, bad things also eventually come to an end.
It wasn’t long before we were back on the job with the first task being trying to get my head around the most complicated door-latching mechanism I’ve ever set eyes upon.
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The quarterlights will be difficult to repair
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I can see some problems on the horizon, not only with the latching system but also with the quarterlights, because of the complicated shapes in the rubbers, which are going to be difficult to recreate.
As I can see, this part of the equation is going to take some time to resolve. So, I’m going to be setting a priority on getting the truck mobile enough to be able to move the rig to a covered location.
This move should have a multi-functional purpose in getting the truck into a position where it won’t have to be covered up at the end of every day, allowing work to be carried out in inclement weather and providing an opportunity to photograph progress from a different perspective from the shots of the past year or so.
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Test fit of the heater plinth
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I’m sure this move will be as pleasing to the long-suffering readers as it is to the restorer himself. One bit of good news to report is that I’ve figured out how I’m going to refit the plinth that the heater sits on. More about that next month.
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