1942 dodge ambulance resto

[jack neville]

the top right section has a badly rotted channel piece which forms the outer gutter. The rust had eaten it away for virtually its entire length. Condensation would be the cause and being a left hand drive vehicle it is worse on the right side than the right, probably due to being parked on the right hand side of roads. Just me guess.

[jack neville]

The outer gutter could not be removed from the inner rotten part as it is all one folded piece. I spent a day cutting this piece in half length ways and cutting and grinding all the excess away. The back corner reinforcement needed some attention as well.

[jack neville]

to rebuild the back corner i had to open up a rear box section to cut out the rusty bit. This allowed about a litre of rust flakes and sand blasters garnet to escape.

[jack neville]

once all the unwanted rot was removed it was a simple matter of sliding in the new folded piece and welding it in place and the adding a new corner piece.

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by jack neville

to rebuild the back corner i had to open up a rear box section to cut out the rusty bit. This allowed about a litre of rust flakes and sand blasters garnet to escape.

Hi Jack,

Have been following your thread with great interest and must say I admire your great skill and workmanship with steel. You seem to be able to resurrect what others like me would consider beyond hope.

If I had even some of your skills I might have been able to save the floor of the 1500 CWT body I salvaged years ago. The deck was like Swiss cheese in a few places and the crossmembers were full of rot and scale also but I bet you could have saved it!

All the best,

[jack neville]

Thank you Jacques. Mig welders and a lot of g clamps are wonderful things.

Fortunately the construction on most of these vehicles is very basic when you pull them apart. If you can get it apart (reasonably) easily, reassembly is (usually) straightforward.

Jake is aiming to have the ambulance at Corowa next year.

[jack neville]

With the body back upright I was able to take a flapdisc to the weld just under the rib where I welded in the patch on the back corner. I should be able to get away with a metal finish and no filler.

[jack neville]

Just a side note whilst I am on this side, you can see where the pioneer tool rack bolts on to the left middle lower side. Most ambulances you see have it bolted on the lower front right side. Jake had some protests on a Dodge forum that the rack was mounted incorrectly and they were never on the left side. The photos of the right side show no holes have ever been drilled in the right side.